Company details

HEADCOUNT

25-99

ORG TYPE

Non-profit

SECTOR

Impact and NGOs

WEBSITE

http://www.pettypool.org.uk/

About the company

Petty Pool is a Cheshire-based charity that runs a specialist vocational college for young people (typically 16–25) with learning disabilities and difficulties, plus outdoor education and community services. The charity’s work is built around preparation for adulthood, including employability, independence, and community participation. Petty Pool also runs supported internship and work-placement links with employers as part of learner pathways. Employer messaging emphasises inclusion, safeguarding, and staff culture.

Locations and presence

Petty Pool is centred on the Sandiway (Cheshire) site, with delivery also spanning outdoor provision branded “Venturewood” and community programmes in the region. The charity serves learners across areas including Cheshire, Halton and Warrington, and staff roles are mainly site-based with some community-facing work.

Palpable Score

64.1

/ 100

Petty Pool looks like a supportive employer with unusually specific adjustments for candidates who find interviews difficult, plus visible salary and term-time structures in several packs. The score is capped because early-career entry routes into Petty Pool as an employer are not clearly packaged as 0–3 year pathways, and outcomes data (retention, promotion timing) is mostly indirect.

Pillar 1: Early-career access

Score

11.0

/ 20

The company advertises frontline and support roles that can be accessible earlier in a career, such as Learning Mentor style posts and bank Support Worker roles (rather than only senior leadership hiring).
Petty Pool includes job families that are often “entry-point” in education and care settings (mentoring, support work, site roles), but the public careers area does not show a recurring graduate, apprentice, or trainee pipeline for staff.
The company publishes supported internships as part of learner programmes, but those are described as unpaid and aimed at learners rather than a paid early-career staff route, so they cannot lift entry-level access scores for employment.

Pillar 2: Hiring fairness and transparency

Score

14.0

/ 20

The company sets out candidate support for neurodiversity in multiple application packs, including sharing interview topics in advance and offering flexibility around interview protocols and timings.
Petty Pool job packs typically include clear basics like salary, hours, reporting line, and how to apply, which reduces guesswork for first-time applicants.
The company often routes applications via emailing a CV and covering letter to a named contact, but the step-by-step selection stages and timelines are not consistently laid out as a single, predictable process.

Pillar 3: Learning and support

Score

14.7

/ 20

The company includes explicit CPD and quality practice expectations in teaching and support-facing role packs (participation in CPD, observations, peer review, and reflective practice).
Petty Pool describes a collaborative, adaptive learning culture in recruitment materials, which is a practical signal for day-to-day support rather than “sink or swim.”
The company’s work is inherently multi-disciplinary (education, community support, outdoor learning), which can create strong on-the-job learning, but onboarding detail is not consistently described role-by-role.

Pillar 4: Pay fairness and stability

Score

12.7

/ 20

The company publishes salary figures in several role application packs, including mid-level and support roles, which supports pay clarity compared with many charities.
Petty Pool also lists staff benefits in some job documents, including term-time working patterns and holiday structure, which is a stability positive for early-career hires.
The company does not provide a single, consistent “benefits and pay” page for staff roles, and not every vacancy channel makes pay ranges easy to compare.

Pillar 5: Early-career outcomes

Score

11.7

/ 20

The company reports external recognition for workplace engagement through Best Companies accreditation and rankings, which supports a positive culture signal for staying power.
Petty Pool references internal progression directly in a senior recruitment pack (“due to internal progression”), which is a concrete indicator of movement within the organisation.
The company has mixed third-party review coverage, and Petty Pool does not publish early-career retention, time-to-promotion, or progression pathways for support roles, limiting verifiable outcomes.