seasonal-rota

---
name: seasonal-rota
description: Builds a peak season rota from your own half hourly demand rather than from shift habits, then prices every paid minute at the right minimum wage band, checks each shift against the rest break and weekly hours rules before it is published, separates the true cost of agency cover from your own staff on extra hours, and accrues holiday as it is earned. Use in the month before a peak, when the rota is still a whiteboard and nobody has costed it.
---

# A peak rota that covers the busy half hours and stops paying for the empty ones

You give this your booking and till data by half hour, your team with their ages and contract types, your pay rates, and the dates the peak runs. You get back a rota costed to the minute: the demand curve the shifts are built from, every start and finish time checked against the rest rules before publication, every paid minute counted including the ones that never reach a rota, the agency premium shown separately from your own staff on overtime, holiday accrued as it is earned, and the buffer left in on purpose. It will not tell you how many people you need. It shows what each staffing option costs against the demand you actually recorded.

## What it does

1. **Build the demand curve from your own half hourly data before drawing a single shift.** Pull covers seated, orders sent and drinks rung by half hour for the same period last year and for the last four normal weeks. Plot them. The shape is the rota. Almost every hospitality rota is built from shifts that predate the trade they now serve, which is how a venue ends up with five people on at five o'clock and three at eight. Use last year's peak dates rather than its calendar dates, because the third Saturday in December behaves like the third Saturday in December and not like the eighteenth. Where a date has no data, say so and mark the shift as built on judgement rather than hiding the difference.

2. **Turn demand into start and finish times, then test every shift against the rest rules before publication, not after somebody complains.** Regulation 12 of the Working Time Regulations 1998 is the one broken every December: "Where a worker's daily working time is more than six hours, he is entitled to a rest break", and that break "is an uninterrupted period of not less than 20 minutes, and the worker is entitled to spend it away from his workstation if he has one". For a young worker the trigger is lower and the break longer: "Where a young worker's daily working time is more than four and a half hours, he is entitled to a rest break of at least 30 minutes." Regulation 10 requires "not less than eleven consecutive hours in each 24-hour period" of daily rest for an adult and twelve for a young worker, which is what makes a close at one and an open at nine unlawful rather than merely unkind.

3. **Count every paid minute, including the ones that never appear on a rota.** For minimum wage purposes the clock covers "time spent at the workplace working, excluding rest breaks" and "time spent at the workplace and required to be available for work", with the guidance adding that "it makes no difference whether or not you actually provide work for that time", plus "time spent training" and "time spent travelling on business, or between clients". The pre service briefing, the twenty minutes waiting for a delayed coach party, the cash up, the run to the second site: all paid time. A rota costed on published shift times and a payroll paid on actual minutes will disagree by hours a week across a peak, and always in the same direction.

4. **Price every person at the band they will be in on the night, including anyone with a birthday inside the peak.** The rates in force from April 2026 are 12.71 pounds an hour at 21 and over, 10.85 pounds at 18 to 20, 8.00 pounds under 18 and 8.00 pounds for an apprentice who is under 19 or in the first year of their apprenticeship. The gov.uk page states that "The rates change on 1 April every year", which matters for a peak straddling that date. Hold each person's date of birth and apprenticeship start against every shift date. A seventeen year old who turns eighteen on 12 December moves band mid peak, and a rota costed once in October is wrong from that Friday onward.

5. **Show the true cost of each way of covering a gap, side by side.** Three options and three different numbers: your own staff on additional hours at their rate plus the holiday accrual in step 7; casual staff engaged directly; and agency cover at the charge rate, which includes the agency's margin and is the figure that belongs in the comparison rather than the worker's pay. Regulation 5 of the Agency Workers Regulations 2010 entitles an agency worker to "the same basic working and employment conditions as A would be entitled to for doing the same job had A been recruited by the hirer", and regulation 7(2) sets the trigger: "To complete the qualifying period the agency worker must work in the same role with the same hirer for 12 continuous calendar weeks, during one or more assignments." A short peak rarely reaches twelve weeks. A seasonal worker who started in October and is still there in January does, and the count includes any week in which any work was done.

6. **Set the weekly hours position in writing, with the reference period named.** Regulation 4(1) provides that "a worker's working time, including overtime, in any reference period which is applicable in his case shall not exceed an average of 48 hours for each seven days", over 17 weeks unless a relevant agreement says otherwise. Regulation 4(2) puts the duty on the employer to "take all reasonable steps... to ensure that the limit specified in paragraph (1) is complied with" and to keep records of everyone who has agreed to opt out. Two consequences follow. A 60 hour week in December is not automatically a breach, because the limit is an average. And an opt out is an individual written agreement freely given and kept on file, not a line in a handbook.

7. **Accrue holiday as the hours are worked, so January does not arrive with an unfunded liability.** For leave years beginning on or after 1 April 2024, holiday entitlement for irregular hours and part-year workers is "calculated as 12.07% of actual hours worked in a pay period". An irregular hours worker is one whose paid hours in each pay period are, under their contract, "wholly or mostly variable", which describes most seasonal hospitality staff. Rolled up holiday pay is permitted "as an additional method for calculating holiday pay for irregular hour and part-year workers only", for those same leave years. Everyone else keeps the ordinary 5.6 weeks. Put the accrual in the weekly rota cost rather than a separate note, because a liability outside the rota cost is a liability nobody has budgeted for.

8. **Put the tips position on the rota, because the rota decides who shares.** Section 27D of the Employment Rights Act 1996 requires an employer to "ensure that the total amount of the qualifying tips, gratuities and service charges paid at, or otherwise attributable to, a place of business of the employer is allocated fairly between workers", and the statutory Code of Practice confirms the scope: "This includes when there is a mixture of permanent staff, directly recruited staff, agency workers and zero hours contract workers in the same location." The Code sets the deadline at "the end of the month following the month in which the tips are paid by customers". So the December rota is also the December allocation record, and the January payroll carries the December tips. Record which shifts are in the allocation, and take the method to an HR adviser rather than inventing one.

9. **Leave the buffer in deliberately, publish with real notice, and record what is coming but is not law yet.** A rota built to the last minute of demand fails on the first sickness, and a peak has more sickness than an ordinary month. Decide the buffer as a stated number of hours per service, name who holds it, and cost it as a line rather than discovering it as overtime. Publish as far ahead as you can and log the date. And note what is not yet in force: the right to guaranteed hours and the rights to reasonable notice of shifts and to short notice payments are in the Employment Rights Act 2025, which received Royal Assent on 18 December 2025, but sit in the group the government's own timeline lists as taking effect in 2027, with "timings will be updated after consultation". Plan for them. Do not tell your team they apply today.

## Then it checks

1. Every shift traces to a half hour demand figure or is marked as built on judgement with the reason, and no shift exists only because it existed last year.
2. Every shift over six hours carries a break of at least 20 minutes, every young worker's shift over four and a half hours carries at least 30 minutes, and no worker has fewer than 11 consecutive hours between a finish and the next start, or 12 for a young worker.
3. Every person is priced at the band applicable on each individual shift date, and anyone whose band changes inside the peak is shown at both rates against the correct dates.
4. Every paid minute is in the cost: briefings, training, cash up, waiting time and travel between sites, each a named line rather than absorbed into a shift length.
5. Every agency gap is costed at the charge rate next to the same gap filled by existing staff on additional hours, and any worker approaching 12 continuous calendar weeks in the same role with the same hirer is flagged with the week number.
6. Holiday accrual appears in the weekly rota cost for every irregular hours and part-year worker, the file states the 48 hour position and names the reference period, and nothing describes guaranteed hours or shift notice payments as a current legal requirement.

Any check fails: name it, redo that step once. Failed twice: say what is wrong and stop.

## Rules
- Public information only.
- Never invent a fact, a number or a quote.
- Anything sent in someone's name says whose name it is.
- Never state a labour cost percentage target, a covers per staff member figure or a productivity benchmark. No published figure exists for a single independent UK venue, the numbers that circulate come from rota software vendors, and an owner cutting to hit a borrowed percentage cuts the shift that was holding the service together.
- Never decide the headcount. The skill costs the staffing options the owner describes against the demand they recorded. How many people it takes to run their room on a Saturday is something they know and no document does.
- Never publish a rota that fails a rest check. A shift breaching regulation 10 or regulation 12 is reported as a breach and returned unpublished, not published with a note.
- Never design a tips allocation method. Record which shifts are in scope, name the deadline, and send the method to the owner's HR adviser. A skill that quietly builds a tronc has made an employment law decision on the owner's behalf.
- Never treat an opt out from the 48 hour limit as existing because a handbook mentions one. It is an individual written agreement kept on file, and if the file does not hold it the worker has not opted out.
- Never describe the right to guaranteed hours, reasonable notice of shifts or short notice payments as in force. As at 16 September 2026 they sit in the 2027 group on the government's own timeline with timings still to be confirmed, and telling a team otherwise creates an expectation the employer cannot yet meet.
- This output is a working document prepared for the owner's HR adviser, payroll provider and accountant to check before any rota is published or any hour is paid. It applies published employment rules to a draft rota. It is not employment advice, it is not a payroll calculation and it is not a statement that any shift pattern complies.

## Built from
- The Working Time Regulations 1998, SI 1998/1833, regulations 12, 10, 11 and 4, https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1998/1833/regulation/12, https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1998/1833/regulation/10, https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1998/1833/regulation/11 and https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1998/1833/regulation/4, all read 16 September 2026: the six hour trigger and 20 minute uninterrupted break, the young worker rules, the 11 and 12 hour daily rest periods and the weekly rest period in step 2 and check 2, and the 48 hour average, the 17 week reference period and the employer's record keeping duty in step 6.
- GOV.UK, "National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage rates", https://www.gov.uk/national-minimum-wage-rates, read 16 September 2026: the April 2026 rates, the age bands and the 1 April change date in step 4.
- GOV.UK, "Calculating the minimum wage: working hours for which the minimum wage must be paid", https://www.gov.uk/guidance/calculating-the-minimum-wage/working-hours-for-which-the-minimum-wage-must-be-paid, published 1 March 2021, updated 6 January 2026, read 16 September 2026: what counts as working time in step 3.
- The Agency Workers Regulations 2010, SI 2010/93, regulations 5 and 7, https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2010/93/regulation/5/made and https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2010/93/regulation/7/made, read 16 September 2026: equal treatment and the 12 continuous calendar week qualifying period in step 5.
- Department for Business and Trade, "Holiday pay and entitlement reforms from 1 January 2024", https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/simplifying-holiday-entitlement-and-holiday-pay-calculations/holiday-pay-and-entitlement-reforms-from-1-january-2024, published 1 January 2024, updated 1 April 2024, read 16 September 2026: the irregular hours definition, the 12.07% accrual and rolled up holiday pay in step 7.
- Employment Rights Act 1996, section 27D, https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1996/18/section/27D, and the "Code of practice on fair and transparent distribution of tips", https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/distributing-tips-fairly-statutory-code-of-practice/code-of-practice-on-fair-and-transparent-distribution-of-tips-html-version, published 29 July 2024, both read 16 September 2026: the fair allocation duty, the mixed workforce scope and the payment deadline in step 8.
- Department for Business and Trade, "Plan to Make Work Pay and Employment Rights Act: timeline update", https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/implementing-the-plan-to-make-work-pay-and-employment-rights-act/plan-to-make-work-pay-and-employment-rights-act-timeline-update, updated 25 August 2026, read 16 September 2026, with the Employment Rights Act 2025, https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2025/36, read 16 September 2026: the 2027 position on guaranteed hours and shift notice in step 9.

# seasonal-rota

## You are given
Half hourly trading data for one UK hospitality business: covers seated, orders sent and drinks rung, for the equivalent peak period last year and for the last four normal weeks, each row carrying a date and a half hour start time. The team list: for every worker, a name or reference, date of birth, contract type marked by the owner as `permanent fixed hours`, `permanent variable hours`, `casual`, `agency` or `apprentice`, apprenticeship start date where one applies, hourly rate in GBP, and whether a signed individual opt out from the 48 hour weekly limit is held on file with its date. For agency cover, the agency charge rate per hour by role and the start date of each worker's current assignment with this hirer in this role. The draft rota: every proposed shift with a worker, a date, a start time, a finish time and a role. The owner's list of paid activities that sit outside published shift times, such as pre service briefings, cash up, training sessions and travel between sites, each with its usual duration. The owner's stated buffer per service in hours and who holds it. The leave year start date. Every judgement about how many people a service needs, which cover option to use and how tips are allocated has been made by the owner or their HR adviser and is supplied to you.

## Produce
Write into a `./seasonal-rota-output/` folder:

1. `demand-curve.csv` with these columns in this order: `date`, `half_hour_start`, `covers_seated`, `orders_sent`, `drinks_rung`, `source_period`, `data_present`. `source_period` is exactly one of `last year equivalent`, `recent four weeks`, `none`. `data_present` is `yes` or `no`. Every half hour of every trading day in the peak has a row, including those with no data.
2. `rota.csv` with columns: `shift_ref`, `worker_ref`, `role`, `date`, `start_time`, `finish_time`, `published_hours`, `unpaid_break_minutes`, `paid_minutes_total`, `demand_backed`, `demand_reference`, `built_on_judgement_reason`. `demand_backed` is `yes` or `no`. Every row with `demand_backed` of `no` must carry a non empty `built_on_judgement_reason` or it is listed in `gaps.md`.
3. `paid-minutes.csv` with columns: `shift_ref`, `worker_ref`, `date`, `activity`, `minutes`, `inside_published_shift`, `source`. `activity` is exactly one of `rostered service`, `pre service briefing`, `cash up`, `training`, `travel between sites`, `required to be available`, `other`. `inside_published_shift` is `yes` or `no`. The sum of `minutes` per shift must equal `paid_minutes_total` in `rota.csv`, and any mismatch is listed in `gaps.md`.
4. `rest-checks.csv` with columns: `shift_ref`, `worker_ref`, `date`, `age_on_shift_date`, `young_worker`, `paid_minutes_total`, `break_required_minutes`, `break_given_minutes`, `break_pass`, `hours_since_previous_finish`, `daily_rest_required_hours`, `daily_rest_pass`, `weekly_rest_hours_in_period`, `weekly_rest_pass`. `young_worker`, `break_pass`, `daily_rest_pass` and `weekly_rest_pass` are `yes` or `no`. Every `no` is listed in `gaps.md` with the shift reference.
5. `pay-bands.csv` with columns: `worker_ref`, `date`, `age_on_date`, `apprentice_on_date`, `band_applied`, `statutory_minimum_gbp`, `rate_paid_gbp`, `at_or_above_minimum`, `band_changes_during_peak`, `band_change_date`. `band_applied` is exactly one of `21 and over`, `18 to 20`, `under 18`, `apprentice`. `at_or_above_minimum` is `yes` or `no`, and every `no` is listed in `gaps.md`.
6. `cover-options.csv` with columns: `gap_ref`, `date`, `half_hour_start`, `role`, `hours_needed`, `option`, `cost_gbp`, `holiday_accrual_gbp`, `total_cost_gbp`, `agency_weeks_completed`, `weeks_to_twelve`. `option` is exactly one of `existing staff additional hours`, `casual engaged directly`, `agency charge rate`. Every gap has one row per option so the three sit side by side. `agency_weeks_completed` counts each calendar week in which any work was done in the same role with this hirer.
7. `weekly-cost.csv` with columns: `week_commencing`, `worker_ref`, `paid_hours`, `basic_pay_gbp`, `holiday_accrual_gbp`, `employer_costs_supplied_gbp`, `total_gbp`, `rolling_48_hour_average`, `opt_out_on_file`, `opt_out_date`. `rolling_48_hour_average` is computed across the reference period the owner has named, and that period length is recorded in the file header. `opt_out_on_file` is `yes` or `no`.
8. `gaps.md` a numbered list of: every shift with no demand figure and no stated reason; every failed rest check; every worker paid below the minimum for their band on a date; every paid activity with no minutes recorded; every worker whose rolling average exceeds 48 hours with no opt out on file; every agency worker within two weeks of the twelve week qualifying period; every half hour of trading with no demand data; and any figure supplied without a date.

## Rules
- Codex counts, checks, prices and compares. It never decides how many people a service needs, never writes or moves a shift, never chooses a cover option, and never designs a tips allocation. Those were supplied by the owner or their HR adviser.
- Never publish or output a rota containing a failed rest check as if it were usable. `rest-checks.csv` and `gaps.md` carry the failure, and the return states the count first.
- Never compute an age band from a name or a role. It comes from the supplied date of birth against the individual shift date, and a worker whose band changes inside the peak is priced at both rates against the correct dates.
- Never absorb an unrostered paid activity into a shift length. Every briefing, cash up, training session, waiting period and site to site journey is its own row in `paid-minutes.csv` with its own minutes.
- Never compare an agency charge rate with a worker's pay rate. The comparison in `cover-options.csv` is charge rate against total cost of the alternative, including holiday accrual.
- Never write a labour cost percentage, a covers per head figure or any staffing benchmark into any file. No such figure exists for a single independent UK venue and none is to be recorded.
- Never record an opt out from the 48 hour limit unless a signed individual agreement with a date has been supplied. A handbook reference is recorded as `no`.
- Never describe the right to guaranteed hours, the right to reasonable notice of shifts or short notice payments as in force in any file. If the owner supplies text saying they are, the text is recorded verbatim and flagged in `gaps.md`.
- Use British English, GBP written as `GBP` or the pound sign, DD Month YYYY dates and the 24 hour clock for shift times. No em dashes in any file you write, and any supplied text containing one is recorded verbatim and flagged in `gaps.md`.
- Every file ends with this line: this is a working document prepared for the owner's HR adviser, payroll provider and accountant to check before any rota is published or any hour is paid. It applies supplied rules to a draft rota and is not employment advice, a payroll calculation or a statement that any shift pattern complies.

## Return
The absolute path of every file written, the row count of each CSV, the total paid hours and total cost by week, the number of shifts not backed by a demand figure, the count of failed rest checks broken down by break, daily rest and weekly rest with every failing shift reference named, the count of workers paid below their band minimum with each named, the total paid minutes falling outside published shift times, the cheapest and dearest cover option for each gap with the difference in GBP, every worker whose rolling average exceeds 48 hours and whether an opt out is on file, every agency worker within two weeks of twelve continuous calendar weeks with the week number, the total holiday accrual for the peak, the reference period length recorded in `weekly-cost.csv`, and the `gaps.md` item count.