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

It is worth working through this tab for every new client during onboarding, and revisiting it whenever a client changes how they operate.

Before you begin

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

Finding your client settings

Select Clients in the left-hand menu.
Find the client you want in the list on the right-hand side of the screen. You can type into Search Text, use the filter icon beside it to narrow the list further, or tick Care Hires Clients Only to show just your on-panel clients. Use the page numbers at the bottom to move through the list.
Select the client's card to open their profile. Their client reference number sits underneath their name — for example, CL-2026-AA-01732. It is worth noting this down, as our Support Team will ask for it.
Use the column of icons to the right of the client details to move between panels. Select the cog icon to open Settings. The panel you are currently viewing is highlighted in orange, and you can hover over any icon to see its name.

The Settings tab is made up of two sections: Special Rate Configuration and Other Settings. Each has a chevron in its header, so you can collapse a section you are not working on and keep the screen tidy.

Special Rate Configuration

This section tells the platform when this client's day and night rates begin and end.

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

Because different sites under the same client can run to different timetables, these times are set per site.

Reading the Current Configuration List

Current Configuration List shows what is already in place.

If nothing has been set up yet, a yellow message appears telling you that no special rates have been configured. This is normal for a new client and simply means the platform will fall back on your standard rates until you set the windows.

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

Setting the time windows for a site

Select Configure Settings. A window opens.
Use the Site dropdown at the top to choose the site you are configuring. Always do this first — the times you enter apply only to the site selected here.
Enter a Start Time and an End Time against each rate type you use. Times are entered in the 24-hour format, for example 08:00 and 19:59.
Select Save. Choose Cancel if you want to close the window without keeping your changes.
Repeat for every other site belonging to this client.

The rate types explained

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

Day Rate – Weekday — applies to jobs starting within the window you set, Monday to Friday. A typical setting is 08:00 to 19:59.
Night Rate – Weekday — applies to jobs starting within the window you set, Monday to Friday. A typical setting is 20:00 to 23:59.
Friday Night Rate — applies to jobs starting within the window you set on a Friday night only. Use this where a client pays a premium for the start of the weekend.
Day Rate – Weekend — applies to jobs starting within the window you set, Saturday and Sunday.
Night Rate – Weekend — applies to jobs starting within the window you set, 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 beneath Night Rate is important. 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 precedence and the general one is ignored.

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. Adjust the times so each one finishes before the next begins — this is why end times are usually set to 19:59 or 23:59 rather than 20:00 or 00:00.
A shift is split automatically. Where a shift crosses from one window into another, the platform works out how many hours fall in each and applies the right rate to each portion. The breakdown appears on the client invoice and on the worker's payslip, so both sides can see how the figure was reached.
You only need to set what you use. Leave a rate type blank if the client does not have one, and the platform will fall back to the next applicable rate.

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

Other Settings

The second section holds two settings that control how the platform communicates with this client and what appears on their paperwork.

Notification Settings

Agency Accelerator can email a client automatically when something changes on one of their bookings. This is particularly useful for off-panel clients, who have no login to the platform, as it keeps them informed without anyone from your team having to pick up the phone.

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

New worker allocations — sent when a worker is assigned to a booking, including 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 client the new worker's details straight away.
Cancelled shifts — sent when a booking is cancelled, including 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.

The table on screen lists each of the client's sites under Site Name, with a tick box for each under Job Notifications. Hover over the information icon in the column heading for a reminder of what the setting does.

To change which sites receive notifications:

Select Configure Settings beneath 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 alongside 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 enabled 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 made here is recorded in the Client Audit Log, along 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. It is a small conversation that avoids a busy shift manager receiving updates they never asked for.

PO Number

Some clients, particularly larger groups and NHS trusts, will not process an invoice unless it carries a purchase order number.

When this setting is enabled, a PO Number field appears on jobs, timesheets and invoices for this client, so the reference is captured at the point of booking and carried all the way through to billing.

To change the setting:

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

The dropdown is greyed out until you select Configure Settings. This is deliberate — it stops the setting being changed by accident while you are reading the page.

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

If something is not working as expected

Most of what sits on this tab is maintained by your own team, so the majority of corrections are a case of reopening the relevant window and saving the right values.

Please 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 is receiving none when it is ticked
The PO Number field is not appearing on jobs, timesheets or invoices after being enabled

Check out our step-by-step guide to configuring your client settings: