How to manage your shifts and allocations

Your job schedule is the heart of Agency Accelerator. It is where you see every shift you have been asked to cover, decide who is going to work it, and follow that shift all the way through to an invoice.

Everything sits in one place, under Jobs in the left-hand menu. You can look at your week as a list or as a calendar, open any shift to read the detail, and put forward the workers you believe are right for it.

This guide follows the whole journey: finding your jobs, reading a shift properly, allocating a worker, and checking what you will be paid once the shift has been worked.

Before you begin

To post and schedule jobs for your own direct clients, you also need an active Agency Accelerator Pro licence.
Only Care Hires verified workers can be put forward for Care Hires jobs. For your own direct client jobs, you can put forward your internal workers as well as Care Hires verified workers.
The rates, cancellation terms and timesheet deadlines that apply to a job all come from your agreement with that provider. It is worth reading the agreement before you start filling shifts, so nothing on the invoice comes as a surprise.
A worker needs an approved profile, the right worker type and the required skills before they will appear as eligible for a shift.

Opening your job schedule

Select Jobs in the left-hand menu.
Your schedule opens on List View, showing every job with the All filter applied.

Three controls sit above the list on the right: a search icon for finding a job by reference or provider, a Date picker for moving to a different day or week, and + POST JOB for creating a new shift.

Choosing the right view

The toggle in the top-left corner switches between two ways of looking at the same information. Neither is better than the other — they answer different questions.

List View

Use List View when you need the detail of individual shifts. Each row is one shift, and the columns tell you:

Worker — who is doing the shift, their worker type and the agency they belong to. An unfilled shift reads No worker allocated.
Provider — the client and the exact site the shift is at, for example Elder Hearts Care Home and Elder Hearts South. Always check the site as well as the client name, as large clients run several.
Job start/End time — the start and end date and time. An overnight shift shows two different dates.
Breaks — the paid and unpaid break time built into the shift, or No Breaks Assigned.
Estimated/Actual charge — what the shift is expected to be worth and, once it has been worked, what was actually charged.
Status — how far the shift has progressed.
Timesheet — the state of the timesheet, such as Not Allocated, Not Started or Invoiced.

The job reference sits at the top of each row, for example JB-2024-AA-16469, with any badges that apply to that shift beside it:

Job Note and CH Admin Note — a note has been attached, either by the provider or by our team. Worth reading before you fill the shift.
Agency Posted — the shift was posted by your agency rather than by the provider.
Bank Holiday — the shift falls on a bank holiday, so bank holiday rates apply.
A red countdown, such as Job starting in 8h 22m 24s — the shift is about to start and is still unfilled.

The three dots at the end of a row hold the actions available for that shift.

The calendar view

Select the second option in the toggle to switch to the calendar. Depending on which set of jobs you are looking at, it is labelled Employee View or Agency view. This is the view to use when you are planning rather than checking one shift.

Your workers run down the left, the days of the week run across the top, and the day you are on is highlighted. Reading it:

The first row holds your Open Shifts, with a running total such as 11 Open Shifts and a View All link. These are the shifts still waiting to be filled.
Under each worker’s name you will see their worker type and the hours they are already booked for against their contracted hours, for example 42.5/40h. A red warning triangle means they have gone over — check this before you give them anything else.
A blue tick beside a worker’s photograph means their profile is verified.
Each shift card shows the times, the length of the shift, the client, and an icon telling you the client type: the Care Hires logo for a Care Hires verified client, and the building icon for one of your own direct clients.
Leave is shown in place as an On Leave card — Sick Leave, Annual Leave – First Half or Annual Leave – Second Half — so you can see at once why someone is unavailable.
A flame icon marks an urgent shift.
An empty cell shows + Post Job. Select it to create a shift for that worker on that day.

Use the A–Z strip down the left-hand side to jump to a worker, or All to see everyone. The status filters and the filter icon work here too.

Tip: Fill your open shifts from this view rather than from the list. Because leave and booked hours sit alongside, you can see who is genuinely free before you commit to anyone.

Care Hires jobs and direct client jobs

In List View, the toggle on the right-hand side separates your work into two sets:

Care Hires Jobs — shifts for Care Hires verified providers. These work exactly as they always have.
Direct Client Jobs — shifts for your own clients, sometimes called off-panel clients. Scheduling these needs an active Agency Accelerator Pro licence.

Please note: Only Care Hires verified workers can be allocated to Care Hires jobs. Direct client jobs can be covered by your own internal workers or by verified workers, which gives you more room to move when a shift is hard to fill.

Understanding the job statuses

The tabs above the list — All, Urgent, Open, Open Over-due, Suggested, Allocated, Completed and Cancelled — are both a filter and a summary of the journey every shift takes.

Open — the shift is available and nobody has been put forward for it yet.
Urgent — the shift starts very soon and is still unfilled. A red countdown shows exactly how long you have.
Open Over-due — the shift was not filled in time. It can often still be covered, so it is worth checking rather than ignoring.
Suggested — you have put one or more workers forward and are waiting for the provider to decide.
Allocated — a worker has been confirmed for the shift. The timesheet reads Not Started until the shift begins.
Completed — the shift has been worked. Once billing has been processed, the timesheet shows as Invoiced.
Cancelled — the shift is not going ahead. Any cancellation fee is worked out from your agreement with that provider.

Opening a job to see the full detail

Select any row in the list, or any card in the calendar, and a panel opens over the top of your schedule.

At the top of the panel you will see the client’s logo and name, the site, the date the job was created, the job reference with a copy icon beside it, and the current status badges — for example OPEN and NOT ALLOCATED. The three dots in the corner hold the actions for that job.

Shift Summary

This is the part to read properly before you put anyone forward.

Start Time, End Time and Job Duration — the full span of the shift.
Blocks — longer shifts are split into blocks, each with its own start and end time and its own icon for day or night. A shift running 08:00 to 23:00, for example, may show Block 1 as 08:00–15:00 during the day and Block 2 as 15:00–23:00 overnight. This matters, because night hours are usually charged at a higher rate.
Break Information — the Unpaid Break and Paid Break built into the shift, with the type of break shown beside each, such as Rest or Lunch. Unpaid breaks are deducted from the charge.
Skills — the qualifications the worker must hold, for example NVQ L2.
Worker Type — the role required, such as Support Worker.
Gender Preference — a preference set by the provider, or Any.
Job Posting Reason — why the shift exists, for example Annual Leave.
Job Notes — instructions from the provider about the shift itself.
Internal Notes — notes for your own team only.

Use the arrow at the right of the Shift Summary bar to collapse the section once you have read it.

Allocating a worker to a shift

Allocation is a two-part conversation. You put workers forward, and the provider confirms who they want. The Allocations section records both halves across four tabs: Eligible Workers, Suggested Workers, Selected Workers and Rejected Workers.

Step 1: Look through your eligible workers

Open the Eligible Workers tab. The number in brackets tells you how many workers could cover this shift. Narrow the list down using:

Search — to find a worker by name.
The agency dropdown — to look at one agency at a time.
Filter by Skills — to show only workers holding a particular qualification.

Each worker card gives you what you need to make the decision:

Their name, worker reference number and agency.
View Worker Skills — select this to see their full skill set.
A green tick confirming how many of the skills required for this job they hold, and how many additional skills they have on top.
Rates from Agreement — the agreement reference the rates come from, and the hourly rate for each block of the shift, with day and night rates shown separately.

Please note: If a card tells you the worker’s cost configuration has not been set up, their pay rate is missing, so profit and loss cannot be calculated for the shift. Select Go to Setup to add it. You can still put the worker forward in the meantime.

Step 2: Put your worker forward

Find the worker you want on the Eligible Workers tab.
Select SUGGEST on their card.

You can suggest more than one worker for the same shift. Where a shift is urgent, or the provider is particular about skills, putting two or three names forward gives them a genuine choice and fills the shift faster.

Step 3: Check what you have suggested

The job status changes to SUGGESTED and your worker moves across to the Suggested Workers tab, with the number in brackets updating to match.

If circumstances change — the worker becomes unavailable, or you would rather send someone else — select WITHDRAW on their card. They return to Eligible Workers, and you are free to suggest somebody else.

Step 4: Wait for the provider to confirm

The provider then reviews the names you have sent.

Anyone they confirm appears under Selected Workers, and the job status changes to ALLOCATED. The worker’s name then shows against the shift in both your list and your calendar.
Anyone they turn down appears under Rejected Workers. Nothing has gone wrong — go back to Eligible Workers and put a different name forward.

Tip: Before you suggest anyone, glance at their booked hours in the calendar view. Putting forward a worker who is already at 42.5 of 40 hours is how avoidable overtime and compliance problems begin.

After the shift has been worked

Once a shift is complete, the job panel gains a Billing Estimate/Summary section and a Timesheets button at the top.

The Job Estimate table shows how the figure is built up, line by line:

Shift Blocks — each block of the shift, day and night shown separately.
Hourly/Fixed Rate — the rate applied to that block.
No of hours — the hours charged for that block.
Total — the value of that block.
(-) Unpaid Breaks — unpaid break time, deducted as a negative line.
Estimated Total — the estimated value of the whole shift.

Please note: This is an estimate, worked out from the average worker fees held by Care Hires. The final figure can differ from your contract once any additional contract fees are applied, so treat it as a guide rather than as an invoice.

Select Timesheets to submit the hours actually worked. Once billing has been processed, the job shows as COMPLETED and INVOICED, and the Actual charge column in your list is filled in alongside the estimate.

Tip: Submit your timesheets before the cut-off time in your provider agreement. Miss it and the shift rolls into the following week’s invoice, which delays your payment by a week.

Posting a new job

You can create a shift from either view:

Select + POST JOB at the top right of your schedule.
Or, in the calendar, select + Post Job in an empty cell to create a shift for that worker on that day, with the date already filled in for you.

Complete the shift details — client and site, date and times, blocks, breaks, worker type and skills — then post it. The shift appears in your schedule as an open job, ready to be allocated.

Please note: Posting jobs for your own direct clients requires an active Agency Accelerator Pro licence. Without it you can still set up and manage your client profiles, but not schedule work against them.

Learn more about posting shifts

If something looks wrong

Most of what you see on a job comes either from the provider or from your agreement, so it is not always something you can change yourself.

The rate looks wrong — check the agreement reference shown on the worker card against your agreement. If the two do not match, contact our Support Team quoting that reference.
A worker is missing from Eligible Workers — check that their profile is approved, that they hold the worker type and skills the shift requires, and that they are linked to the right location.
A job is stuck in one status, or a shift you were expecting has not appeared — contact our Support Team with the job reference number, for example JB-2024-AA-16469.
The charge or the timesheet does not look right — get in touch before the invoice is raised, as it is far easier to put right at that point.

You can reach us using Raise a ticket, Knowledge base or Email us on your Overview page, or by phone during our support hours.

Check out our step-by-step guide to managing your job schedule, shifts and allocations: