Free Staff Rota Template UK

There is no general statutory notice period for shift changes in UK law today. Your employment contract or written statement of particulars should say how shift patterns are set and how changes are communicated, and changing shifts without reasonable notice could be treated as a breach of contract. The Employment Rights Act 2025 will give zero-hours and similar workers a right to reasonable notice of shifts and to payment when a shift is cancelled at short notice; the government lists these for 2027, and the notice period itself is still to be set in regulations.

Adult workers (18 and over) are entitled to 11 consecutive hours of rest between shifts under the Working Time Regulations 1998. Workers aged 16–17 are entitled to 12 hours. These rest periods cannot be averaged — each 24-hour period must include them. Some sectors, such as healthcare and transport, can use compensatory rest arrangements instead, but the rest must still be provided.

Yes. Workers aged 16–17 cannot work more than 8 hours per day or 40 hours per week. They are generally prohibited from working between 10pm and 6am, with limited exceptions in hospitality and retail where work until midnight may be permitted. They must also receive 2 consecutive days off per week, compared to the 1 day required for adult workers.

At minimum, a shift rota should list each employee's name, their shift start and end times, break durations, the day of the week, and the department or role they are covering. Including total weekly hours helps you stay within the 48-hour average limit. You should also note any employees on annual leave or statutory sick leave so their shifts can be covered.

Shift swaps should be agreed in writing (even informally by message) and approved by a manager before the swap takes place. Both employees should confirm the new arrangement. Record the swap on the rota so you have an accurate record of who actually worked each shift — this matters for payroll, working time compliance, and insurance. Make sure the swap does not create a rest period violation for either employee.

Yes. The template works for any UK business that operates shift patterns, including pubs, restaurants, shops, care homes, warehouses, and manufacturing. Adjust the shift times and employee rows to match your operation. For sectors with specific rules — such as the 48-hour opt-out being common in care homes — you should keep separate records of any opt-out agreements.

The template records planned shift times and calculates paid hours for each day and week, but it does not connect to payroll software. For that, you would need timesheet software like TimeTally, which lets employees clock in and out, calculates overtime at your configured rates, and exports directly to Xero, QuickBooks, or CSV for payroll processing.

List everyone with their role and contracted hours, mark approved holiday and other absence first, then decide how many people you need on each day and shift. Fill in shifts to meet that cover, check that nobody has less than 11 hours between finishing and starting again and that anyone working more than 6 hours gets a 20-minute break, then share the rota with your team in good time. The example rotas on this page show the result for a shop, a restaurant, a care home and an office.

Put staff names down column A and the days across the top, with a start time, end time and unpaid break for each day. Paid hours for a day are MOD(end − start, 1) × 24 − break minutes ÷ 60; the MOD makes overnight shifts work. Add a weekly total per person and a count of staff working each day. Our free template already has these formulas, plus an 11-hour rest check and a 48-hour flag, so you can download it and type in your shifts.

Download the free Excel template on this page and open it in Excel or Google Sheets: it works out paid hours, weekly totals and daily cover for you. A spreadsheet suits a small, stable team. Once you need staff to see their shifts on their phones, leave on the rota and clock-ins that become timesheets, TimeTally does that for £3 per employee per month, with a 14-day free trial.

No UK law sets a general notice period for rotas today; your contracts and written statements decide it. Two weeks ahead is a common minimum and four weeks is usual in care. The Employment Rights Act 2025 will give zero-hours and similar workers a right to reasonable notice of shifts, with the minimum to be set in regulations; the government lists it for 2027.

Usually, yes. A shift rota plans who should be working and when — it is a scheduling tool. Timesheet software records what actually happened. Most businesses need both: the rota to plan coverage, and timesheets to track actual attendance, calculate pay, and stay compliant. TimeTally does both: a rota your team sees on their phones, and clock-ins that become timesheets.