Did you know that 7.6m working age people in the UK have a disability? If you’re not actively recruiting talent, then your competitors probably already are! The Disability Confident scheme helps employers make the most of talents that disabled people can bring to your workplace and over 13,000 organisations have already signed up. Disability Confident [...]

Three new website features are coming soon to PA Pool! Highlighted profile for PA’s/Carers to attract more work with our new Premium PA feature Evaluate your Carer or your employer with our improved Star Ratings feature Identify when you are free for work or let PA's know exactly when you need cover with our new [...]

Do you employ your own personal care assistants? Exciting news! PA users can apply for money for training to develop their own skills as an employer and to pay for training for their PAs. If you’re a PA user, find out more and download the application form from the Skills for Care website. If you’re [...]

There’s a whole workforce of disabled people out there, just looking for the right opportunity… There’s no reason why disabled people cannot be valued members of staff, but they are often overlooked because employers find it awkward to deal with a disability, cannot see past that disability, or wrongly assume that it means they can’t [...]

PA Pool is an alternative to care agencies, a quicker and more cost effective way than using an agency to find a carer – or for personal care assistants looking for new clients… Finding a Personal Care Assistant (PA or Carer) is not simple. It’s not like employing someone to work in an office – [...]

PA Pool are pleased to announce that we have now partnered with Surewise.com to offer our members 20% off your self-employed carers insurance. As a self-employed carer, there are many responsibilities you need to think about, from taxes and communicating with your clients effectively, to protecting yourself should anything go wrong. When managing your own [...]

NHS England is running a people’s experience survey to understand the progress of implementation of personal health budgets, integrated personal budgets and personal wheelchair budgets. Please help us promote this survey to as many budgets holders as possible so we can hear a wide range of views. It’s vitally important that we hear directly from [...]

It’s long overdue, but five new disability champions have been appointed by the government to ensure businesses don’t forget about their disabled customers. The five - listed below - will join 14 existing champions who have already made great strides in improving accessibility from industries as diverse as insurance to music. Using their industry influence, [...]

Latest image-based characters used in text messages and social media include disabled characters… Who needs words when you have emojis? The image-based characters are used across social media and text messages and include things as varied as aubergines and Christmas trees. Yet until recently, disabled people were not well represented. However, the latest batch of [...]

If you employ personal assistants (PAs) or carers, using a personal budget from health and/or social care or with your own money, you can apply for funding to pay for training… If you’re a PA User - find out more and download the application form from the Skills for Care website. If you’re a PA, [...]

Oh tidings of comfort and joy may be the chorus line from ‘God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen’ but in Philadelphia, US, this year Santa has brought comfort and calm to an autistic teenager. Michelle Arnold Healy takes her son - 19-year-old Jack – to see Santa in their local shopping mall every year. Sadly, Jack [...]

The name Briony Williams will no doubt be familiar to fans of the Great British Bake-Off, but for those who don’t follow the series, you might be interested to learn that Briony, a former contestant, has a disability - her left hand stops at the wrist. At no point did the show mention her disability [...]

Today marks World Mental Health Day. Presented by the World Federation of Mental Health, the goal is to help raise awareness of mental health and to remove the stigma that is attached to it. Every year one in four adults, along with one child in ten, will have a mental health issue. These conditions can [...]

If you employ your own personal care assistants using a social care personal budget, you can apply for money from Skills for Care to pay for training for yourself and your staff. The money can cover the direct costs of training, travel costs and the cost of hiring replacement PAs. Find out more about the [...]

Make a note on your calendar because Tuesday 13 November has been earmarked as the UK’s first ever accessible shopping day, aimed at getting retailers to take all kinds of disability seriously. The initiative has already been backed by the government and major high street stores such as Argos, Asda, Sainsburys and Marks and Spencer. [...]

Facebook and Twitter say they could do more to prevent online abuse… PA Pool, the website that helps disabled people find suitable carers, has welcomed the spotlight falling on protecting disabled people online. Social media giants including Google, Facebook and Twitter have been questioned by MPs following a call from model Katie Price for ‘Harvey’s [...]