An entrepreneur whose father died before care at home could be arranged has built a digital platform that is transforming how families find care across the UK.
After experiencing first-hand how difficult it was to arrange support for his own father, Pairly co-founder Will Flint set out to create a faster, simpler way for people to access care when they need it most. Years later, he put his own platform to the test when searching for care for an uncle living more than 250 miles away – finding suitable support in the three minutes it took to heat a bowl of soup.
That personal experience became Pairly, a digital marketplace that connects families with care providers based on individual needs, location and real-time availability.
Launched in 2023, Pairly has reached a significant milestone through its successful partnership with The Access Group. Access Health, Support and Care provides a comprehensive suite of solutions that help deliver integrated, high-quality health and social care services. Through this partnership, Pairly now gives care seekers access to live availability across approximately 25% of the UK social care market, covering providers in 86% of UK postcodes. With several additional partnerships in advanced discussions, Pairly is on track to make more than 50% of the UK’s social care market’s live availability accessible through its platform by the end of 2026.
The growth comes as demand for social care continues to rise.
Finding care is one of the most important decisions a family will ever make, yet it is rarely planned for. Unlike pensions or mortgages, care needs often arise unexpectedly following a fall, a dementia diagnosis, a hospital discharge or a sudden decline in health. Families are then left to navigate a fragmented and often confusing system during one of the most stressful periods of their lives.
Many spend days searching online, contacting provider after provider and trying to understand complex funding arrangements, only to discover there is no capacity or that services cannot meet their needs.
The consequences extend well beyond individual families. Delayed hospital discharges linked to a lack of available care are estimated to cost the NHS more than £2 billion each year, with around 11% of hospital bed days occupied by patients who are medically fit to leave but cannot be discharged because appropriate care is unavailable.
Pairly is already demonstrating measurable impact. In Somerset, one of the first local authorities to pilot the platform, results achieved within four months included:
- 318,271 hours of care sourced through the platform.
- Potential savings of £18,512 identified from a single 52-day inpatient case.
- Average search times reduced from more than five hours to less than three minutes per client.
- Around £90 saved in broker resource costs for every search completed.
Will Flint, Co-founder of Pairly, said:
“Too many families are forced to make life-changing decisions with limited information and under enormous pressure. Our mission is to make finding care simple and transparent – giving families confidence and genuine choice, while helping providers connect with the people who need them most. We’re proving that technology can remove friction from one of society’s most complex systems, benefiting families, care providers and the NHS alike.”
Pairly believes the future of social care depends on earlier planning, better information and technology that helps people remain independent for longer. But for the millions of families facing immediate care needs today, having quick access to trusted information and providers with real-time capacity can make all the difference.
By bringing together families, care providers, local authorities and technology on one platform, Pairly is helping to reduce stress, improve access to care and create a more efficient health and social care system.
About Pairly
Pairly is the UK’s first real-time care marketplace, connecting families with available care providers at the moment they need it most. Through a single platform, families can find, compare and request care with live availability. In partnership with The Access Group, Pairly puts 25% of the UK social care market’s availability at the fingertips of care seekers across 86% of UK postcodes. Founded by Will Flint and Mark Oswald, who between them have delivered more than 5 million hours of home care across the UK, Pairly is headquartered and developed in the UK. www.pairly.com
