Why Paper Rotas Are Costing You Money

If you're still building your care rota on paper or in a spreadsheet, you're spending more than you think. Here's the real cost of manual scheduling.

Time costs

A typical care coordinator spends 4-8 hours per week building and adjusting the rota manually. That's 200-400 hours per year — the equivalent of 5-10 full working weeks. At an average coordinator salary, that's £3,000-6,000 per year spent on a task that software handles in minutes.

Error costs

Manual rotas are prone to double-bookings, missed calls and scheduling conflicts. Each missed call risks:

The cost of a single missed call that results in a complaint can far exceed the annual cost of scheduling software.

Staff frustration

Carers who get their rota late, find it changed without notice, or discover clashes are more likely to leave. Staff turnover in care is already high — poor scheduling makes it worse. Recruiting and training a replacement carer costs £1,000-2,000.

Compliance gaps

Paper rotas don't create audit trails. When CIW or CQC ask who was scheduled where and when, you're relying on memory and incomplete records. Digital scheduling creates an automatic, immutable record of every shift and call.

The alternative

Modern care scheduling software like CareCallAI lets you:

At £49/month, it pays for itself in the first week of coordinator time saved.