Care home rota software that shows you're safely staffed before you publish

Every care home rota is a safety document. It decides whether there are enough people on the floor at 3am, whether a senior carer is there to lead the shift, whether the person helping Mrs B with the hoist has done their moving and handling training. When it goes wrong, residents feel it first.

Yet most small homes still build the rota in a spreadsheet, chase availability through a WhatsApp group and keep training dates in a separate file. The registered manager is the only one who can see the whole picture, and only when they sit down and cross-check everything by hand.

What care home rota software needs to do

Rota software built for shops or restaurants will put names in boxes. A care home needs more than that:

• Staffing levels per period, not per day. Days, twilights and nights have different minimums, and a night is not "covered" because Tuesday has twelve people on it overall.
• Skill mix. A senior carer on every shift, a nurse on every nursing shift, a trained first aider, someone who can administer medicines.
• The fit and proper check, every time. Nobody on the rota whose mandatory training, DBS or right to work has lapsed.
• Fast gap filling. Sickness at 6am needs bank staff on their phones, not a ring-round from the office.
• A record you can show. Inspectors ask how you decide and maintain staffing levels. Dated, published rotas are part of the answer.

The rule behind it: Regulation 18

There is no fixed staff-to-resident ratio for care homes in England. Regulation 18 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 requires "sufficient numbers of suitably qualified, competent, skilled and experienced persons", and CQC's guidance says providers should have a systematic approach to deciding staff numbers and the range of skills needed, reviewed continuously as people's needs change.

In practice that means three things: a way of working out what each period needs (many homes use a dependency tool), a rota that meets it, and evidence that you check. Regulation 19 adds that everyone you employ, including bank and agency staff, must be fit and proper, with the pre-employment information in Schedule 3 confirmed before they start.

In Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland

No UK nation sets a fixed staff-to-resident ratio for care homes, but the regulator, the staffing law and the staff checks are different in each:

• Wales: Care Inspectorate Wales (CIW) regulates under the Regulation and Inspection of Social Care (Wales) Act 2016. Regulation 34 of the Regulated Services (Service Providers and Responsible Individuals) (Wales) Regulations 2017 requires a sufficient number of suitably qualified, trained, skilled, competent and experienced staff at all times, and you must be able to demonstrate how you decided the numbers and types of staff. Care workers must be registered with Social Care Wales within six months of starting. Our care home rota guide for Wales covers it in detail.
• Scotland: the Care Inspectorate regulates under the Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010. Since 1 April 2024, section 7 of the Health and Care (Staffing) (Scotland) Act 2019 has required every care service to ensure that, at all times, suitably qualified and competent staff are working in numbers appropriate for people's health, wellbeing and safety. Care workers register with the SSSC (apply within three months of starting, registered within six), and background checks use the PVG scheme rather than DBS. See our guide to the Staffing (Scotland) Act for care homes.
• Northern Ireland: RQIA regulates under the Residential Care Homes Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2005 and the Department of Health's minimum standards. Care workers must be registered with the Northern Ireland Social Care Council (NISCC), and criminal record checks go through AccessNI. See our RQIA inspection checklist.

England is the only one of the four with no register for care workers (registered managers register with CQC). Nurses register with the NMC wherever they work.

How ShiftComplete builds a safe care home rota

ShiftComplete for care runs in the browser on any phone, tablet or computer. Nothing to install for the office or for care workers.

1. Set your cover rules once

For each home, set the periods you work (for example days 08:00 to 20:00 and nights 20:00 to 08:00, or a separate twilight) and, for each one, the minimum number of staff and the roles you need. "Nights: 3 staff, at least 1 senior carer" is one rule. Change it when dependency changes.

2. Staff give their availability on their phones

Care workers mark days as available, partial or off weeks ahead, with a note ("school run, can't start before 9"). Holidays are recorded, so nobody gets rota'd on a day they've booked off.

3. Build the rota and see every gap

As you place shifts, each period shows as covered or short. A night with three carers but no senior is short. Publishing with a gap asks you to confirm, so a gap is a decision you made, not something nobody noticed.

4. Warnings before someone unsafe goes on

If you put someone on whose mandatory training has expired, whose DBS check needs renewing, or whose right to work or visa has lapsed, ShiftComplete warns you at the point of rota'ing them. The dates come from the training matrix and the staff compliance file, which store DBS certificate number, issue date and Update Service status (never the certificate content), right to work and visa dates.

5. Fill gaps with open shifts

Post a gap as an open shift to the staff you choose, including your bank staff. The first to accept gets it, or you approve who takes it. No ring-round, and a record of who was offered what.

6. Publish to everyone's phone

The published rota appears on each staff member's phone. Up to four time blocks per person per day, custom areas (for example Ground floor, Memory care unit, Kitchen, Laundry) and day notes ("GP round 10am", "Fire drill after handover") keep everyone on the same page.

Rest and night working

Long days and nights are where working time rules slip. The basics for adult workers under the Working Time Regulations 1998, which cover England, Wales and Scotland (Northern Ireland has its own Working Time Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016): a 20-minute break when working more than six hours, 11 hours' rest between working days, and night workers should not work more than an average of 8 hours in 24 (workers can't opt out of this limit, though GOV.UK lists exceptions, such as jobs that need round-the-clock staffing). Build these into your patterns rather than checking afterwards. Our care staff rota template shows common day, twilight and night patterns.

More than the rota

Rotas are where most homes start, but the same app keeps the rest of your Regulation 17 and 18 evidence in one place:

• Training matrix with expiry warnings and certificate photos.
• Supervisions and appraisals, signed by both people on their phones. See our supervision and appraisal guide.
• Daily and weekly care checks with photos and names: fire alarm tests, emergency lighting, fire drills, water temperatures and flushing, hoist and sling checks, bed rails, kitchen fridges, cleaning.
• Certificate due dates for gas, electrical (EICR), PAT and LOLER examinations.
• Care audits with scores and action lists.
• Incidents recorded by initials or room number only, with a prompt when one may need a CQC statutory notification.
• Complaints and compliments log.
• An inspection pack in one click, grouped under CQC's five key questions, with a full audit trail behind it. Our CQC inspection checklist shows what to have ready.

What it doesn't do

ShiftComplete works alongside your care-records system. It does not do care plans, eMAR or medication administration records, or daily care notes, and it never asks for clinical detail. Incidents record residents by initials or room number only. Your data is hosted in the UK (London).

What it costs

£2.49 per active staff member per month. No minimum, no contract, every care feature included. A 30-staff residential home pays £74.70 a month; a 45-staff home pays £112.05. The first 60 days are free with no card needed, and there's a free 15-minute set-up call if you'd like a hand getting your cover rules in.

Who it's for

• Single residential care homes where the registered manager or deputy writes the rota.
• Small groups that want each home's staffing visible in one place.
• Homes moving off paper and spreadsheets after a "requires improvement" on staffing or governance, or a new manager inheriting a box file.

ShiftComplete was built inside our own hospitality group, Kirkham Hospitality, where it has run the rota and daily checks every day since February 2026; the care version adds the staffing rules, training and evidence care homes need.

See how it works for residential homes on our care homes page. Running a nursing home? Read how to staff a nursing home rota or go to the nursing homes page.