Managing & Updating Client Settings

Every client works a little differently. One care home treats anything after 18:00 as a night shift, another does not start its night rate until 20:00. One finance team will not pay an invoice without a purchase order number on it, another has no use for one. Some clients want an email the moment a worker is allocated; others would rather hear nothing at all.

The Settings panel on a client's profile is where you record those differences. Set it up once and the platform bills, notifies and paperworks that client correctly from then on, without anyone on your team having to remember the exceptions.

Work through this panel for every new client during onboarding, and revisit it whenever a client changes how they operate.

Before you begin

You need a user access level that allows you to edit client settings. If the Configure Settings buttons are missing or the fields are greyed out, speak to the main user on your account.
The client needs at least one site. If no sites appear, add them in Site Management first. See How to set up a new client.
Each section saves on its own. Always select Save inside the window you are working in before moving on, or your changes will be lost.

Finding the client's settings

Select Clients in the left hand menu.
Find the client in the list on the right. You can type into Search Text, use the filter icon beside it, or tick Care Hires Clients Only to show just your Care Hires clients.
Select the client's card to open their profile. Their reference number sits under their name, for example CL-2026-AA-01783. Note it down, as our Support Team will ask for it.
Select the cog icon in the column of icons beside the profile. The panel you are on is highlighted in orange, and you can hover over any icon to see its name.

The Settings panel has two sections: Special Rate Configuration and Other Settings. Each has a chevron in its header, so you can collapse the one you are not working on.

Special Rate Configuration

This section tells the platform when each of the client's day, night and weekend rates begins and ends, so it can price shifts correctly.

Most agencies charge more for unsociable hours, and most clients agree slightly different hours for them. Rather than correcting pay and invoices after the event, you set each site's hours here, and the platform splits shifts across the boundaries for you.

Reading the current configuration

Current Configuration List shows what is already in place.

If nothing has been set up yet, a yellow message tells you that no special rates have been configured. This is normal for a new client. The platform uses your standard rates until you set the windows.

Underneath, Site special rate start/end times is where the times for each site are set. Click here to manage the configuration for each site and the Configure Settings button both open the same window.

Setting the time windows

Select Configure Settings. A window opens.
Use the Site dropdown at the top to choose the site you are configuring, or choose Select All Sites to apply the same times to every site.
Enter a Start Time and End Time for each rate window you use, in 24 hour format, for example 08:00 and 19:59.
Select Save, or Cancel to close the window without keeping your changes.
If sites have different times, repeat for each one.

The rate windows explained

The window lists six time windows, each with a sun or moon icon so you can tell day from night at a glance.

Day Rate – Weekday: jobs starting within the window, Monday to Friday. A typical setting is 08:00 to 19:59.
Friday Night Rate: jobs starting within the window on a Friday night only. Use this where a client pays a premium for the start of the weekend.
Night Rate – Weekday: jobs starting within the window, Monday to Friday. A typical setting is 20:00 to 23:59.
Day Rate – Weekend: jobs starting within the window, Saturday and Sunday.
Night Rate – Weekend: jobs starting within the window, Saturday and Sunday.
Night Rate: a general night window covering Monday to Sunday, for clients who make no distinction between weekday and weekend nights.

Please note: The red message under Night Rate matters. This general night window is a fallback only. If you have set times for weekday nights, Friday nights or weekend nights, those more specific windows take priority and the general one is ignored.

The windows say when each rate applies. What you charge for each one is set on the client's rate card. See How to Configure Rate Cards for Your Clients.

Rules the platform applies

Windows cannot overlap. If a day window ends at 20:00 and a night window starts at 19:30, the window will not save. This is why end times are usually set to 19:59 or 23:59 rather than 20:00 or 00:00.
Shifts are split automatically. Where a shift crosses from one window into another, the platform works out how many hours fall in each and charges each part at the right rate. The breakdown appears on the client invoice and the worker's payslip.
You only need to set what you use. Leave a window blank if the client does not have that rate.

Tip: Set these windows before the client's first shift is booked. Changing them later does not recalculate work that has already been processed.

Other Settings

Notification Settings

Agency Accelerator can email a Direct Client automatically when something changes on one of their bookings. Direct Clients have no login to the platform, so these emails keep them informed without anyone on your team having to pick up the phone.

When notifications are on for a site, it receives updates for:

New worker allocations: sent when a worker is assigned to a booking, with the worker's name, your agency name, the job reference, the shift date and the start time.
Changes to allocations: sent when the original worker is replaced, showing the new worker's details straight away.
Cancelled shifts: sent when a booking is cancelled, with the job reference, the site, the shift date, who cancelled it and the reason given.

Emails are branded as "{Your Agency Name} | Powered by Agency Accelerator", so your agency stays front and centre. They go to the contacts set up for each site in Site Management.

The allocation email also includes a secure link the client can use to see every worker you are sending to their sites. See How your direct clients can see the workers you send them.

The table lists each of the client's sites under Site Name, with a tick box for each under Job Notifications.

To change which sites receive notifications:

Select Configure Settings under the table.
Tick the box beside a site to switch its notifications on.
Untick the box beside a site to switch them off.
Select Save.

How this works with your agency settings:

If a site is unticked, all job notifications for that site are stopped, whatever your agency level settings say.
If a site is ticked, the platform follows your agency level settings, and only the notification types you have switched on there are sent.

In other words, this tick box is a master switch for the site. Which of the three emails actually go out is decided by your agency wide notification settings.

Every change here is recorded in the client's Audit Log, with who made it, when, and what the setting was before and after. If a client tells you they have stopped receiving emails, the audit log will tell you why.

Tip: Agree with each client at onboarding whether they want these emails, and who should receive them. It is a short conversation that saves a busy shift manager getting updates they never asked for.

PO Number

Some clients, particularly larger groups and NHS trusts, will not process an invoice without a purchase order number.

When this setting is Enabled, a PO Number field is available on jobs, timesheets and invoices for this client, so the reference is captured when the job is booked and carried through to billing.

Select Configure Settings beside the PO Number field.
Choose Enabled or Disabled.
Select Save.

The dropdown is greyed out until you select Configure Settings. This stops the setting being changed by accident.

Please note: Switching this on makes the field available. Your team still needs to complete it when raising each job. If a client's finance team is rejecting invoices for a missing PO, this is the first setting to check.

If something looks wrong

Most of this panel is maintained by your own team, so most corrections are a case of reopening the right window and saving the right values.

A shift has been charged at the wrong rate. Check the site's time windows here, then the rate card for that site.

A time window will not save. Check for overlapping times. Set end times to 19:59 or 23:59 rather than 20:00 or 00:00.

A client says they have stopped receiving emails. Check the site's tick box under Notification Settings, your agency level notification settings, and the site's contacts in Site Management. The Audit Log shows any recent changes.

Contact our Support Team, quoting the client name and reference number, if:

a site is missing from the Notification Settings table or the Site dropdown
a time window will not save even though your times do not overlap
a shift has been split across the wrong rates, or has not been split at all
a client is receiving notifications when their site is unticked, or none when it is ticked
the PO Number field is not appearing on jobs, timesheets or invoices after being enabled