Insights

Across the care sector, providers continue to face deepening pressures in rising workforce costs, increasing reliance on agency and bank staff, and growing expectations around transparency, compliance and audit readiness. Yet one of the greatest operational challenges often lies in the most fundamental workforce process of all – reliably tracking who worked, when, where, and for how long.

In many care homes, Time & Attendance (T&A) still relies on manual sign-in sheets, siloed systems or outdated and expensive hardware. While these methods may feel familiar, they can create inefficiencies and risks. Illegible handwriting, forgotten signatures and retrospective adjustments can lead to inaccurate records, disputes with suppliers and errors in payroll or invoicing. For managers already stretched thin, time spent resolving discrepancies or chasing missing data is time taken away from residents and frontline teams.

This becomes more complex when care homes depend on a flexible workforce mix. Agency shifts, short-notice bookings and variable hours mean records must be both real-time and reliable. Without robust T&A data, the true cost of care can be obscured, compliance checks become reactive rather than preventative, and financial accuracy is harder to guarantee.

Why digitising T&A matters
Digitisation offers a transformative opportunity to bring efficiency to a traditionally manual process. Modern T&A systems allow staff to clock in and out digitally, removing ambiguity and reducing the risk of human error. This shift not only improves the accuracy of timekeeping but also strengthens governance.

For care homes, the benefits are tangible:

Accurate monitoring and real-time visibility
Managers can see exactly who is on site at any given moment, supporting safe staffing, preparing for inspections, and ensuring that ratios align with clinical need and regulatory expectations. Having reliable data at your fingertips improves roster planning and helps identify patterns such as regular lateness, early departures or frequent short-notice cover.

Automated timesheets and streamlined financial processes
Digitised T&A means timesheets are generated automatically from verified time logs. This reduces disputes with agencies, ensures that homes are only paying for the hours actually worked, and significantly decreases administrative burden. For finance and procurement teams, this level of accuracy supports tighter cost control and faster, more transparent reconciliation.

Stronger compliance for agency and bank workers
Digital T&A provides clean, auditable records that align with frameworks and CQC expectations. It creates a traceable link between who worked and their compliance status, ensuring that homes always have an accurate audit trail for every shift.

Finding a T&A technology partner
While digitisation can feel like a significant shift, the right solution makes it simple and scalable. Venta® is Neuven’s flexible time and attendance software that seamlessly integrates with your own mobile devices – providing real-time T&A capture, automated timesheets, robust compliance integration and clear workforce reporting without the need for costly hardware.