Care staff rota template: day, twilight and night patterns with staffing levels

A care home rota isn't just a list of who's in. It's your answer to "how do you know there are enough of the right people on duty?" This template gives you a staffing levels planner, a weekly rota and a safety checklist. Copy the tables into Excel or Google Sheets, or print them.

Common care home shift patterns

Pick the pattern that suits your residents and staff, then keep it consistent so people can plan their lives around it.

Build in a 15 to 30-minute overlap at each change so handover happens on paid time, not in the car park.

Part 1: staffing levels planner

Fill this in before you put any names down. The numbers come from your dependency tool and your knowledge of the residents, not from last month's rota. Add a row for each unit or floor if they're staffed separately.

Example only. A 30-resident home with mixed dependency might decide: days 5 carers plus 1 senior; twilight 1 extra; nights 2 waking carers plus 1 senior. Another 30-resident home with more people needing two to assist will need more. Your dependency tool decides, and you should be able to show how.

Outside England

There's no fixed ratio in Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland either, but the planner matters even more in two of them:

• Wales: regulation 34 of the Regulated Services (Service Providers and Responsible Individuals) (Wales) Regulations 2017 says you must be able to demonstrate how you decided the numbers and types of staff, and the statutory guidance asks for a "demonstrable, measurable and systematic approach" that, for home care, includes geography and travel time. Care Inspectorate Wales regulates. See our care home rota guide for Wales.
• Scotland: section 7 of the Health and Care (Staffing) (Scotland) Act 2019 has required appropriate staffing at all times since 1 April 2024, and the Care Inspectorate looks for how you assessed it. See our guide to the Staffing (Scotland) Act.
• Northern Ireland: RQIA inspects staffing against the 2005 regulations and the Department of Health's minimum standards. See our RQIA inspection checklist.

Part 2: the weekly care staff rota

Home: ____________ Week commencing: ____________ Published by: ____________ on ____________

Codes: E early, L late, LD long day, T twilight, N night, OFF, HOL holiday, S sick, TR training. Mark the shift lead with *.

The three bottom rows are the important ones. Count each period against your planner. If any day or night is below the minimum, or has no lead, it's a gap, and the rota isn't finished.

A filled-in example (part of a week)

Notice that every day and every night has a senior marked as lead, nights split between two seniors so neither goes over the night limits, and the bank worker is on the rota by name.

Part 3: before you publish

• Every period meets the minimum staff in your planner, unit by unit.
• A named lead on every period (a registered nurse on every period in a nursing home).
• Medication-trained, moving and handling-trained and first aid-trained staff on every period that needs them.
• Nobody on shift with expired mandatory training, an expired DBS check under your policy, or lapsed right to work (check your training matrix).
• Anyone working more than 6 hours has a 20-minute break planned, and cover for it.
• 11 hours' rest between shifts: no late finishing at 21:30 then an early starting at 07:00.
• 24 hours off in each 7 days (or 48 in 14).
• Night workers averaging no more than 8 hours in 24, and offered a health assessment.
• Nobody averaging over 48 hours a week without a signed opt-out.
• Sponsored workers within the hours on their certificate of sponsorship.
• Holidays and training days shown, so absences don't look like gaps.
• Day notes added: GP rounds, hospital appointments, fire drills, new admissions.

Tips that make a paper rota work

• Publish at least two weeks ahead. Care workers often have second jobs and childcare.
• Keep every published version. Dated rotas are evidence of staffing levels. In England, Wales and Scotland, holiday records now have to be kept for six years (since 6 April 2026), and keeping old rotas with them is the simplest way to show who worked when.
• Write changes on the rota, not in WhatsApp. Swaps should be agreed with the manager and recorded.
• Review the planner when dependency changes. A new admission needing two to assist changes the numbers.

The working time rules in Part 3 come from the Working Time Regulations 1998, which cover England, Wales and Scotland. Northern Ireland has its own Working Time Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016, and the 2025 holiday record rule doesn't extend there, so check NI guidance for your home.

Or let ShiftComplete run it for you

ShiftComplete for care does the counting and checking this template asks you to do by hand:

• Set minimum staff and required roles for each day, twilight and night period. The rota shows each period as covered or short, and publishing with a gap asks you to confirm.
• Warnings when you put someone on whose mandatory training, DBS, right to work or visa has lapsed.
• Open shifts to your bank staff's phones; the first to accept gets it, or you approve.
• Staff availability and holidays from their phones, up to four time blocks per person per day, units as areas, day notes.
• The published rota on every staff member's phone, with every version kept.

It runs in the browser, costs £2.49 per active staff member per month with no minimum or contract, and the first 60 days are free with no card needed. Read more about care home rota software or see it on our care homes page.