  We consider the Pauli operator in $\mathbb R^3$ for magnetic fields in
$L^{3/2}$ that decay at infinity as $|x|^{-2-\beta}$ with $\beta > 0$. In this
case we are able to prove that the existence of a zero mode for this operator
is equivalent to a quantity $\delta(\mathbf B)$, defined below, being equal to
zero. Complementing a result from [Balinsky, Evans, Lewis (2001)], this implies
that for the class of magnetic fields considered, Sobolev, Hardy and CLR
inequalities hold whenever the magnetic field has no zero mode.
