Rostering and Staff Handover, including Daily Checks

The Children’s Homes Regulations and Quality Standards include requirements on staffing levels in Children’s Homes which must be met at all times. In order to ensure that each home provides good quality care for the children accommodated, the rota is based on the needs of the service.

The requirements expect the whole staff team and the staff on each shift to be competent to provide the care and service necessary for the children and young people accommodated.

The home must be staffed at all times of the day and night at or above the minimum levels specified in the home’s Statement of Purpose. The staff must be sufficient in number, experience and qualification to meet the needs of the children. The health, safety and welfare of children and young people and the staff should be safeguarded at all times.

Having the correct staffing for the home includes ensuring the home has a rota that takes into account these requirements and, if due to shortfalls, extra staffing is needed a system is in place to ensure staffing levels are maintained at the minimum requirement.

Systems that support the above not only include sufficiency of staff, but also pay attention to having an experienced and qualified staff team with allocated staff coordinators for each shift that ensures the smooth running of the home. Ensuring thorough shift handovers takes place to plan the shift in terms of ensuring good quality and robust continuous care of children and young people is key to good practice.

The following guidance applies to any worker who is required to cover a shift because a worker on the rota is not available or an additional worker is needed. The guidance ensures that workers should not work excessive hours, shifts should be covered by staff who are familiar with the establishment wherever possible, and children are not put at risk by staff who are unsuitable or have not been fully vetted.

Practice Guidance - Covering a Shift

The following steps to cover a shift should be followed in the order listed:

• Ask for a volunteer to change shift to cover the requirement;
• Use the 48 hour rule to move staff shifts to cover the requirement;
• If any additional cost is to be incurred in covering a shift the Operations Manager must be consulted;
• Offer the shift to a part time worker at the home;
• Offer the shift to a relief/reserve worker (make this arrangement through the Relief/Reserve Pool of the home or by requesting a relief/reserve from another home, (with permission from the registered manager);
• Offer the shift to staff on an overtime payment; and
• Contact a staffing agency through Comensura (with manager’s permission).

Agency staff should not be put on rota without the approval of the Head of Care or the Operations Manager. Before putting an agency worker on shift, the manager must obtain and keep an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service Check, full employment history, evidence of training in food hygiene, first aid, and physical intervention as well as safeguarding and child protection. They must also receive an induction into the home’s routines, health and safety, medication and fire procedures and children’s Care Plans.

The competence of a shift must be assured at all times and this consideration may influence who is asked to cover the shift. A culture of flexibility in covering shifts should be encouraged within the staff teams in Children’s Homes so that the health, safety and welfare of children and young people and staff can be assured.

Professional staff need to have access to management support at all times.

Children's Home Managers who are off duty frequently provide support to workers on a good will basis. This guidance is not intended to discourage such good practice. It does provide a clear process for deciding when management support is required, and who is available to provide it. The guidance requires management teams to reach agreement to share responsibility of on call duty management to share support, so that no individual manager is required to be available for long periods or on rest days. Management teams from similar homes may also wish to develop partnerships to allow mutual support at times of difficulty.

Rotas should, should as far as possible, be written to provide management cover on duty at all times. Each shift must have a designated shift coordinator, either a RCCW who has completed the Diploma for the Children and Young People’s Workforce (Social Care) in Level 3 or above or an equivalent qualification or a suitably experienced and trained relief/reserve, who agrees to lead the shift as development opportunity.

The main rota will show the allocated shift coordinator. In circumstances where the shift coordinator is absent then the manager going off duty/on call should decide, in consultation with the staff coming on duty who will lead the next shift and how decisions are to be made. This should be recorded in the daily log.

In circumstances where the shift coordinator is a relief/reserve, they should receive a thorough handover to ensure they have sufficient information and advice to enable them to deal with anticipated decisions during the shift.

If it is not possible to identify a manager from the home, a manager on duty at another home will be identified to provide support and advice. An identified manager from the establishment will be available for support if needed, and this information will be recorded in the daily log. If it is not possible to identify a manager from the home, a manager on duty at another home will be identified to provide support and advice.

This ensures adequate management support in normal circumstances. If specific concerns exist a risk assessment should be carried out to determine whether additional management support is required. Where necessary the Home’s Manager should report the need for addition management support to their Operations Manager.

A Registered Manager’s first priority is to achieve good quality consistent care to ensure stability for the children living in the Children’s Home. In order to do this the following should be avoided:

• Use of staff who are not familiar with the home;
• Use of agency workers (this should only be considered when all other options and alternatives have been exhausted and should not exceed to more than half of the shift being familiar/established with the home); and
• Overuse of established staff working additional hours (registered managers must follow the requirements of the European Working Time Directive, subject to local agreement).

The registered manager must ensure and take account of:

• The conflicting needs of the service and plan the rota around those needs, which means deploying staff in an economic and efficient way in order to meet the needs of the children and young people looked after in the residential establishment. Therefore the rota needs to be properly planned to factor in shift handover time in order to plan and carry out care planning programmes without compromising the all over care of children and young people, key carers and individual time spent with each child accommodated and time to complete records;
• Clear arrangements for staff to deputise in the registered person’s absence, for example the person deputising must have at least one year’s supervisory experience. This would be undertaken by the Deputy Manager;
• Members of staff who coordinate a shift have substantial relevant experience of working in the home, therefore, temporary staff or those who have not completed their induction, assessment and mandatory training must not be asked to take on the shift coordinator’s role (refer to Shift Handovers and Daily Checks Between Staff, Shift Co-ordinator Role);
• Staff working in the home, including volunteers and students, are at least 18 years old and at least 21 if they are to be given a management role. In addition, no member of staff should be appointed or work with children unless they are 4 years older than the oldest child/young person accommodated (in line with DCC Recruitment and Selection procedures);
• The home does not fall below the requirement to have all of residential children’s workers competent in the relevant or equivalent qualification in Diploma Level 3 or above for the Children and Young People’s Workforce (Social Care). Registered Managers also have to have a Level 5 Diploma in Leadership and Management for Residential Childcare (QCF) (Jan 2015);
• That all staff are aware not to give children and young people responsibility over other children/ young people living in the home or to ask children or young people to take a staff member’s role in order to compensate for lack of staffing as this may lead to the bullying of other children and young people. It is also imperative that children and young people are supervised appropriately by the staff on duty;
• That the Department’s Disciplinary procedure is in place and that staff are clear that they may be sent home, as a neutral act, pending consideration of, or completion of an investigation of, any suspicion or allegation of abuse or serious concern relating to the safely of welfare of children. The registered manager should also ensure that staff are aware of the difference between the staff disciplinary processes), and Child Protection Enquiries and Criminal Proceedings (refer to Derbyshire County Council Disciplinary Procedures).

In order to achieve the above standards, other the registered manager is required to:

• Make every effort to ensure that no more than half the staff team on duty at any one time by day or night at the home are to be from an external agency and that no members of staff from an external agency are to be alone on duty at night in the home;
• Ensure that staff arrangements for staff sickness and absence enable the home's staffing policy to be maintained, refer to the Derbyshire County Council Sickness Absence Procedures;
• Ensure that the numbers of staff looking after children and young people is increased if the child’s needs or the number of children and young people is above the minimum required by the Statement of Purpose or where other circumstances require this in order to safeguard and promote the welfare of each individual child and young person;
• Ensure any home’s risk assessment and/or child/young person’s Safe Care Plan (Risk Assessment) has been carried out and recorded in writing, identifying any likely risks to children and young people, staff and members of the public when only one member of staff is on duty at any one time. The Risk Assessment has to demonstrate that there is no unacceptable level of risk from any such arrangement (see Lone Working Procedure). Ensure that arrangements are in place whereby children and young people always have a member of staff responsible for them and that the children and young people know who those staff members are.

The key aspect to achieving a satisfactory rota for the home will be in ensuring an established rota pattern to allow for good advanced planning. Registered managers and residential children’s care workers will need to communicate effectively and have a system in place to allow for accurately recording any adjustments needing to be made for absences or workload.

The registered manager is responsible for devising and maintaining a main rolling rota (usually a 4/6 week rota) which is established to:

• Provide 24 hour cover with the agreed number of allocated hours and posts within the home;
• Ensure all employed workers meet with the department’s recruitment and selection standards;
• Meet the needs of the service (whilst it is good practice to provide a rolling rota, the registered manager and the department may change the rota, in consultation with the staff, as needs and service change).

The registered manager should regularly monitor, review and adjust the rota to address and facilitate changes such as:

• Annual leave;
• Training plans;
• Diary commitments;
• Sickness;
• Supervision; and
• Meetings.

When devising a rota, the registered manager should take account of and meet the following principles:

• Contracted hours - each member of staff will have a set amount of contracted hours, this will include planned absence, such as, annual leave, bank holidays and training;
• Management cover - rotas should, as far as possible, be written to provide management cover on duty at all times, including weekends;
• Handover times - the rota should be planned so that a daily handover can take place, for example, staff starting and finishing times should be planned in such a way that there is an overlap of at least half an hour to ensure that proper considered discussion can take place and effective planning made between the shift team (see Shift Handovers and Daily Checks Between Staff below);
• Working patterns - as far as is possible the rota should be fair, equitable and written to establish identified patterns of working, i.e. a combination of pro-rata sleep in’s, weekend working, rest days, late, early and flexi shifts (including waking nights shifts for those homes that require such a service) and shift coordination;
• Shift coordination – the rota should highlight which member of staff is the nominated shift coordinator on any given shift (see Shift Co-ordinator/Leader Policy);
• First Aid – the rota should highlight which member of staff is the nominated First Aider on any given shift (see First Aid, Household Remedies and Medication Procedure);
• Named lines - all lines should be allocated to the named person recruited to that post to show their established working pattern with the start and finish time;
• European Working Time Directive - the rota should follow the European Working Time Directive, i.e. working no more than 48 hours in a given week with 2 consecutive rest days in any given week;
• Flexibility - A culture of flexibility in covering shifts should be encouraged within the staff teams in the Children’s Homes so that that the health, safety and welfare of children and young people and staff can be assured;
• Flexi shifts – if needed can be allocated, this is normally a mid-shift (9 - 5 or similar) in order to provide time for key carers to plan for their key child and catch up on paper work. However, the person covering the flexi shift is also required to be flexible and may be needed to change their shift to a late or early to meet the needs of the service. Where possible registered managers should confirm the required hours to be worked no later than 48 hours prior to commencement of that shift). For more urgent need registered managers will discuss with the staff the needs of the rota;
• New recruits - are not expected to work unsupervised or become a 1st or 2nd member of staff working on duty until they have completed their mandatory induction and training;
• Temporary staff - the rota must also take account of agency, temporary, volunteer and student staff and ensure that time is allocated for induction training;
• Agency staff - should not be put on the rota without the approval of operational manager. The registered manager must obtain and keep an enhanced DBS check, full employment history, and evidence of training in Level 3 Diploma Children and Young People’s Workforce (Social Care), Food Hygiene, and First Aid at Work, Fire Protection, Physical Intervention and Safeguarding and Child Protection;
• Agency workers must also receive an induction into the homes routines, Health and Safety Procedures and children’s Individual Placement Care Plans and Safe Care Plans. Wherever possible, registered managers should cover shifts with agency staff who have worked in the home before and are familiar with its staff and children;
• Gender - the staff team should be gender balanced so that on a day to day basis children and young people are looked after by both male and female workers.

Other homes - in certain circumstances, residential children’s care workers may be asked to work in a home other than their usual base to ensure adequate staffing arrangements, this should be agreed with the registered manager of the home where the member of staff is based and the registered manager of the home where the member of staff is being allocated to.

Rota proforma – the record must show:

• The names of staff allocated to work a specific shift;
• The day;
• The date;
• The start and finish time, including sleep in duty and/or waking night shift (if relevant) and the flexi shifts;
• Rest days, Annual Leave, TOIL, Training, Sickness and any other Absences;
• The allocated shift co-ordinator;
• The allocated 1st aid representative; and
• The manager on call and duty manager.

Original Rota – A copy of the original rolling rota must be kept. This must not be changed in any way, other than by the registered manager. From this this a copy of the rota may be broken down into the 4 – 6 weeks. The daily changes, such as, vacancies, annual leave, sickness, training, toil, extra hours worked and who these are set against should be highlighted on this rota as evidence of what individuals have worked and must be kept as a record for any checks to be made.

The following steps should be followed in the order listed when needing cover for a shift(s):

• Contact a member of the management team to alert them of the shortfall and to gain authorisation for changes. Ideally this is the coordinators responsibility;
• Any additional cost incurred in covering a shift must be authorised by the operational manager;
• Move the flexi worker over to cover the requirement;
• Use the 48 hour rule to move residential workers over to cover the requirement;
• Offer the shift to part time workers or volunteers;
• Offer the shift to relief or reserve workers;
• Approach other Children’s Homes to request cover from residential children’s care workers (take account of the travel distance and hours already worked and seek authorisation from the registered manager of the home being requested to provide cover);
• Offer the shift to staff on overtime payment or TOIL (seek authorisation from the registered manager, authorisation will also be needed from the operational manager);
• Contact a staffing agency (authorisation must be given by the operational manager and head of Service).

The competence of a shift and the needs of the children and young people must be the priority and assured at all times and this consideration may influence who is asked to cover the shift, for example. It may be deemed necessary to ask a more experienced worker, a gender appropriate worker or a key carer dependent upon the group and tasks required.

If a predicable absence is identified then account will need to be taken of individual circumstances ensuring the least disruption to the working patterns of the whole team and the registered manager must ensure equitability across the team to avoid dependence on certain individuals working excessive hours.

Ensure that any changes to the rota are highlighted on the rota and recorded in the communication book with details of who agreed and authorised the changes.

In urgent circumstances where the needs of a child/young person or children/young people in the home require staff to be deployed over and above the normal staffing levels, the Registered Manager should seek approval from the Operational Manager or the Head of Care or the Locality Manager for the child/young person concerned.

For planned circumstances where the needs of the child/young person or children/young people in the home require staff to be deployed over and above the normal staffing levels the Registered Manager/On Call or Duty Manager should request and seek approval from the Registered Manager of the other home where the worker is based.

Professional staff needs to have access to management support at all times. Registered managers and the Deputy Managers in the Children’s Homes, frequently provide support to workers through the on call system for Children’s Homes.

This guidance is not intended to discourage such good practice. However, it does provide a clear process for deciding when management support is required and who is available to provide it.

The guidance requires:

• Management teams to reach agreement to share responsibility and support so that no individual manager is required to be available for long periods or on rest days;
• Management teams from similar homes may also wish to develop partnerships to allow mutual support at times of difficulty.

The rota should ensure adequate management support in normal circumstances.

If specific concerns exist a Risk Assessment should be carried out to determine whether additional management support is required, this should be reported to the operational manager.

If staffing shortages occur and no manager is on the duty the shift coordinator should take the lead. In these circumstances staff on duty should receive a thorough handover to ensure that sufficient information and advice to enable them to deal with anticipated decisions during the shift. The duty or on call manager or shift coordinator going off duty should decide, in consultation with the staff coming on duty, who will lead the next shift and how decisions are to be made. This should be recorded in the communication log or shift handover sheet.

An identified manager from the establishment will be available for support if needed. If it is not possible to identify a manager from the home, a manager on duty at another home will be identified to provide support and advice.

If the above arrangements fail or additional support or advice are needed the Children’s Rapid Response (Out of Hours) Team will give advice on practice and procedural issues and the Operational Manager can be contacted in for authorisation purposes or for further advice.

Additionally in urgent or serious circumstances if the above alternatives have been attempted and failed then the Operations Manager or Head of Care should be contacted.

Previously the Registered Managers and Deputy Managers have, on a good will basis, been available out of hours, to staff on duty for advice and guidance. Arrangements regarding general out of hour’s calls should be discussed with the managers and the team. The Children’s Rapid Response (Out of Hours) Team are also available to provide assistance with problem solving, advice on behaviour management, however, staff housekeeping issues should be discussed with the homes management team.

For more serious matters, i.e. those incidents reported to DCC Children’s Safeguarding and Ofsted staff on duty must report these to the management team (the registered manager and deputy manager have access to a departmental mobile phone).

For other less serious incidents agreement should be reached at the staff team meeting or before the registered manager or their Deputy leaves the shift.

The purpose of staff handovers meetings from one shift to the next shift is to ensure that crucial information from events of previous shift is verbally passed on/handed over by using a staff handover form/sheet.

Staff handovers are crucial and must take place daily from for all shifts from staff finishing their shift to the staff coming on duty for their shift (morning shift to afternoon shift, afternoon shift to waking night shift and waking night to morning shift).

Sharing and passing on of important information is absolutely crucial relating to the children and young people in our care. This includes any events that have taken place during the shift and any relevant tasks that need to be undertaken to ensure the smooth running of the home.

Information that is passed on from one shift to another helps to ensure good practice and effective service provision, as a well-planned shift enables the staff team to be prepared. This forward planning is the basis for a successful and positive experience for all.

In order for staff handovers to be efficient and provide correct and essential information to the next shift, the staff on duty must complete/record on the homes handover sheet that is passed on from shift to shift (over a 24 hour period).

During the handover the member of staff providing the handover should refer to the handover sheet to ensure that staff coming on duty are fully informed receiving the handover so that they can plan appropriately.

Handovers need to take account of other information that needs to be shared and recorded such as the following:

• The Daily Log Book and Children’s Individual Daily Running Logs should be referred to in order to ensure the correct information is relayed;
• The Diary, along with the Shift Handover Planner should be used so that staff are aware of any appointments and tasks to be completed;
• The Communication Log Book should be read and any messages and communication discussed;
• Petty Cash and Activity Monies should be checked, handed over and signed for by each shift when handing over and checking;
• Any Serious Incidents that have taken place should have been recorded and will need to be discussed, so that the staff coming on duty are clear about following through on identified outstanding actions or strategies. A record of actions should have also been recorded in relevant documentation, such as the child’s file, Safe Care Plan or Risk Assessment, key sessions and the child’s Individual Placement Care Plan.

Other documentation for the home will also need to be discussed and followed up, such as, the log books (physical intervention, complaints, and accident/injury), the child’s Safe Care Plan and/or Risk Assessment, their Individual Placement Care Plan or key session should be referred to and the relevant information handed over

Any prescribed Medication or changes to medication risk assessments and checks should be noted, handed over and signed for.

N.B. It is crucial that any outstanding actions and tasks are carried forward on the handover sheets until they are fully completed.

Throughout the shift handover and shift planning the supervision of the children and young people must be maintained. The shift coordinator will need to agree who will provide the supervision of the children and young people.

As a general rule it is only necessary for 1 member of staff to provide the handover to the staff coming on duty, whilst the 2nd member of staff from the previous shift ensures full supervision of the children and young people takes place. Ideally all staff coming on duty should be present at the handover to receive a full handover.

Time in the handover should be allocated for the staff coming on duty to plan the shift, so that once the staff going off duty have departed the staff commencing their shift are ready to fully supervise the children and provide activities, rather than leave children and young people unsupervised whilst discussion continues to take place in the office.

Handover meetings usually take 30 minutes at the start of every shift - 15 minutes for previous staff to handover and then 15 minutes for the staff coming on duty to plan, whist staff who have been on duty supervise the children and young people to enabled the staff coming on duty to prepare for the shift ahead

When the handover meeting is completed the staff who have been on shift and those coming on shift must sign the handover sheet to confirm that the information that has been passed over is correct and that they agree with this.

Each shift (early/late and waking night) must have an allocated shift coordinator and it is shift coordinators responsibility to ensure that anyone coming on later also receives a handover, so that everyone is clear about their responsibilities and tasks and that all have a clear understanding of the plans for the shift and who is responsible for any actions agreed on the shift (please refer to Shift Co-ordinator/Leader Policy).

The home’s handover record sheet template has a section for each shift (early/late and waking night) and must be completed fully with any checks that are listed ticked off when completed, with the initial of the person completing the task and any comments needed to be made.

Any tasks that have not been completed MUST be carried over to the next shift for completion and these tasks should be continued to carry over until they have been completed.

Any tasks that have not been relevant for the shift should not be left blank and should record as not applicable (N/A) for that shift so that there is no ambiguity regarding which tasks have/have not and do not need to be completed.

The handover template record sheet/shift planner comprises of the following:

• Day and date;
• Name of allocated shift coordinator;
• Name of manager on call/duty;
• Name of waking night staff;
• Name of sleep in staff;
• Name of person providing handover;
• Names of staff receiving handover;
• Name and time of staff on duty;
• Name of child/young person and their bedroom number;
• Staff responsibilities regarding welfare of child/young person;
• Jobs/tasks to handover;
• Jobs/tasks and paperwork outstanding, incident reports forms and updates to parents/carers, social workers, IRO’s, managers and files;
• Any additional jobs/tasks – to who and what;
• Regular daily tasks list with who has completed these and comments, such checks: (diary checks, daily planner, rota, fire doors/log/alarm, bedrooms, water temp, kitchen, medication, petty cash, keys, medication cabinet and stock recorded and medication/any omissions);
• Information being passed onto completed by and comments, such as, managers, social workers, IROs and parents, school);
• Checks and checking that children’s and young people’s files are up to date, such as, (risk assessments, Individual Placement Care Plan, child’s action plans, key sessions, restorative sessions, medication administered, main files updated, incident reports, daily logs, main files updated, incident forms);
• Bedrooms – handover and actions needed;
• Name of child or young person who’s Safe Care Plan and/or Individual Placement Care Plan has been amended, reasons and actions;
• Night time routines including any changes to Safe Care Plans or Individual Placement Care Plans;
• Other duties and jobs;
• Reflective Practice - successful outcomes on shift and what will we do next time; and
• Actions still outstanding to be carried forward to be carried forward until completed.

In cases where staff have taken children and young people away on holiday or for a short break, handover meetings and the handover sheets/documentation must still be completed, for example, if you are away from the home, on activities or on a holiday or a short break.

This should be relayed to the manager on call/duty and conformation that handover has taken place by the shift coordinator. N.B. Wherever possible, managers should go and check that tasks are still being completed (see Holidays and School Trips Procedure).

N.B. If for any reason, in exceptional circumstances, a handover has not taken place then it is your responsibility to inform the on call/duty manager so that plans can be made and risks managed.

Registered and Deputy Managers are responsible for ensuring the handover template is relevant to the home in order to support and help staff to plan their shift but also evidence events of the shifts. The document is a working tool and will therefore change when needed to incorporate relevant information and checks.

Managers should check the handover sheets on a regular basis, particularly in times of difficulty.

N.B. It is particularly important that when staff are in different circumstances from the home, for example, when taking children and young people on holiday or on a short break.

In cases of Annex A, Managers need to ensure that the staff accompanying the children and young people are clear about the expectations that handovers still need to take place and be recorded.