Care home rota software for safe staffing in the UK
Rota and staff scheduling software for care homes. Plan nurse, senior carer and carer cover for every shift, fill gaps from your own team before calling agency, and keep the hours and training records the CQC expects to see.
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Shifts built by role — nurse, senior, carer
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DBS and training expiry tracked by role
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Open shifts offered to staff phones
Where care home rotas go wrong
The pressure points that generic scheduling tools were never built for.
A full rota is not the same as a safe one
Regulation 18 asks for enough suitably qualified, competent, skilled and experienced staff — not enough names. A night with three carers and no senior, or a nursing home with no nurse on the floor, is a gap however full the rota looks.
Nights and weekends break first
A carer calls in sick at 6am and the only people who can cover are already near their hours. Agency fills the shift at a premium, and the same gap opens again the following weekend.
Sleep-ins are paid differently from waking nights
Since the Supreme Court’s 2021 Mencap ruling, a sleep-in worker is only entitled to the minimum wage for time spent awake for the purposes of working. That makes the record of each wake-up a pay record, not just a care note.
Twelve-hour shifts meet working time limits
Long days, handovers that overrun and back-to-back nights push staff towards the 48-hour average and the night worker limit. By the time it shows in a spreadsheet, it has already happened.
Care home rota software built around safe staffing
Cover by role, not just by headcount
Build each shift around the roles it needs — nurse, senior carer, carer, domestic, kitchen. Perfect Match fills shifts by matching availability, skills and qualifications.
DBS and training tracked by role
Set the certifications each role requires, including DBS checks, and see expiry dates and gaps at a glance, so renewals are chased before they lapse.
Open shifts filled from the phone
Offer an uncovered shift to eligible staff with one notification. Swaps are checked against qualifications before they are approved.
Working time warnings
Warnings for missing breaks, short rest between shifts and staff approaching their maximum hours, raised while you build the rota rather than after payroll.
Clocked hours from a kiosk
A tablet time clock at the staff entrance, with optional photo verification, gives you timestamped start and finish times — including the handover that ran over.
Wage cost in pounds, then Xero
See the cost of the rota as you build it, so an extra shift is a decision, and send approved timesheets to Xero Payroll UK.
For residential, nursing and specialist care
Residential care homes
Day, twilight and night patterns with a senior on every shift, and a rota residents’ families can rely on.
Nursing homes
Registered nurse cover planned into every shift first, with carers and seniors built around it.
Dementia and specialist units
Staff with the right training placed in the right unit, and consistent faces for residents who need them.
Respite and short stays
Occupancy that changes week to week, so the rota has to flex without dropping below safe levels.
Bank and part-time staff
Availability collected in the app, so bank staff are offered shifts they can actually work.
Groups with several homes
One view across every home, with staff shared between sites and each site’s rota kept separate.
What a care home rota has to evidence
Care homes sit under two sets of rules at once: the CQC’s registration requirements and the employment law that applies to every UK employer. The rota is where both meet.
CQC registration and Regulation 18
Providing personal or nursing care in England is a regulated activity that needs registration under the Health and Social Care Act 2008. Regulation 18 of the 2014 Regulations requires "sufficient numbers of suitably qualified, competent, skilled and experienced persons" to be deployed, with the training, supervision and appraisal to do the job. Schedule 3 adds the recruitment records you must hold, including criminal record certificates.
Track DBS checks and certificationsWorking Time Regulations 1998
A 48-hour weekly average over 17 weeks (with a written opt-out), a 20-minute break over six hours and 11 hours’ rest between working days. Night workers must not average more than 8 hours in 24, and cannot opt out of that. Round-the-clock services can use compensatory rest, but it still has to be given — and a night-to-day changeover is where it usually goes missing.
Read the rota laws guideNational Minimum Wage and sleep-ins
£12.71 for workers aged 21 and over from 1 April 2026. Handovers, mandatory training and the minutes after a shift ends all count as working time. For sleep-ins, only time awake for the purposes of working counts, so a record of when staff were woken and for how long protects both the worker and the home.
Read the minimum wage guideRight to work checks
Every carer’s right to work must be checked before they start. Many care staff hold time-limited permission, including sponsored workers, and their documents have to be checked again before that permission expires. A missed follow-up check can leave you open to a civil penalty.
Read the right to work guideHoliday, sick pay and what comes next
5.6 weeks’ statutory holiday, with 12.07% accrual for irregular-hours bank staff. Statutory sick pay from day one since 6 April 2026. The Employment Rights Act 2025 is also expected to bring reasonable notice of shifts and payment for short-notice cancellations, subject to consultation.
What changes and whenCalculate your rota savings
See how much manager time and money your care home could save with RosterElf rota software.
Your current rostering
Based on 70% time reduction with automated rostering
Your potential savings
No credit card required
Free rota and hours templates for care homes
Excel downloads with no signup, built on UK working time rules.
Rolling rota template
Worked 4-on-4-off and continental patterns with a daily cover count.
OpenStaff availability template
Collect bank and part-time availability before the rota is built.
Open17-week hours tracker
The rolling average behind the 48-hour limit, with amber and red thresholds.
OpenHoliday entitlement calculator
Pro-rata 5.6 weeks, plus 12.07% accrual for irregular-hours staff.
OpenReviews from our customers
Read what our clients have to say about us
Andrew Nathan
November 13, 2025
"We are extremely happy with Roster Elf, it's a great improvement on the previous system we were using. Sean and all the staff have been fantastic, really know their stuff and make using RosterElf a pleasure."
Monica Van De Laak
October 16, 2025
"Sean was an amazing help, very patient and thorough."
Mary C.
October 13, 2025
"I can see my roster, enter availability, put leave in advance and clock on and off easily."
Why care providers choose RosterElf
Comparing options? Our UK rota software buying guide sets out what to look for.
Built for shift-based teams that run around the clock
Rota, training records, absence and hours in one place
Staff see their shifts and claim open shifts on their own phones
Clocked hours that stand up as evidence of time actually worked
Wage cost in pounds while you build, not after payroll runs
Free plan for small homes, with no card required to start
Real support from people who understand your business
Our team knows UK rota and working time rules, and can walk you through setting up your home. No call centre, no ticket queue.
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Help with roles, rota setup and working time settings
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Import your team and go live in a day
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Real people, not a chatbot
Care home rota questions
Staffing, sleep-ins, working time and recruitment checks for UK care homes.
- Regulation 18 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 requires providers to deploy "sufficient numbers of suitably qualified, competent, skilled and experienced persons", and to support, train, supervise and appraise them. What counts as sufficient depends on the needs of the people you support, so your rota needs to show the skill mix on each shift, not just how many people are on it.
- Since the Supreme Court’s 2021 judgment in Royal Mencap Society v Tomlinson-Blake, sleep-in workers are only entitled to the minimum wage when they are awake for the purposes of working, not while they are permitted to sleep — provided you supply suitable sleeping facilities. If someone is expected to work for most of the night and can only sleep between tasks, the whole shift may count. Many providers pay a sleep-in allowance under the contract on top. See our minimum wage guide.
- The 48 hours is an average, normally over 17 weeks, and staff can opt out in writing. Night workers are different: they must not work more than an average of 8 hours in 24, and they cannot opt out of that limit. Jobs that need round-the-clock staffing can qualify for compensatory rest instead of the usual break pattern, but the rest still has to be given. See our rota laws guide.