no-show-cover

---
name: no-show-cover
description: Works out who can actually be called in to cover a no-show shift without breaching their own rest or hours limits, and follows the welfare-check steps Acas sets out for the missing worker at the same time, instead of a panicked group message that solves one problem by quietly creating another. A shift covered by someone already close to their weekly limit, or who finished a closing shift nine hours ago, is not a safe fix, and it is checkable in the time it takes to send that message. Use the moment a shift is not covered and before anyone is called in.
---

# Cover the gap without breaching someone else's limits, and check on the missing worker properly

You give this who has not shown up, who is available to call in, and their recent hours. You get back who is actually safe to call based on their rest and hours position, and the order Acas sets for trying to reach the missing worker.

## What it does

1. **Define the no-show before reacting to it.** Acas states: "Unauthorised absence is when someone does not turn up for work" and either has no permission from the employer beforehand or has not followed "the organisation's reporting policy for unexpected absence." A worker who texted two hours ago about a dead car battery is a different situation from total silence, and the first job is establishing which one this is, because it changes both how urgently cover is needed and how the missing worker should be approached afterwards.
2. **Follow the contact order before assuming the worst.** Acas sets out a sequence: "first check for a planned absence, then try the employee's work contact details, personal contact details, and emergency contact, in that order," and only after that fails does it move to "visit the home address if appropriate, or ask the police for a welfare check if there are serious concerns about the employee's safety." Work the list in order and record each attempt, rather than jumping straight to a home visit or straight to writing the shift off as abandonment.
3. **Check every candidate for cover against their actual rest gap before calling them.** Regulation 10(1) of the Working Time Regulations 1998 entitles a worker to "a rest period of not less than eleven consecutive hours in each 24-hour period during which he works for his employer." Someone who closed last night and is being asked to open this morning may already be inside that 11-hour window before they have even picked up the phone, and the regulation does not care that the alternative was leaving the shift uncovered.
4. **Check every candidate against their running 48-hour average too.** Regulation 4(1) caps "working time, including overtime, in any reference period which is applicable in his case" at "an average of 48 hours for each seven days." The person who always says yes to an extra shift is often the one closest to this limit, precisely because they keep saying yes, which makes them the worst default choice rather than the easiest one.
5. **Record what happened, because the pattern matters more than the single night.** Acas advises that "employers should record when an employee is late for work or has an unauthorised absence" so that patterns can be spotted "both for individuals and across the organisation." A single no-show with a good reason is a different conversation from someone's third unexplained one this month, and the record is what tells you which conversation you are about to have.

## Then it checks

1. The no-show is classified as planned-absence-missed-communication, unexplained, or a welfare concern, before any cover decision is made.
2. The Acas contact order has been worked through in sequence, with each attempt and its outcome recorded.
3. Every candidate for cover has their gap to their last shift's end calculated, and nobody under 11 hours is called.
4. Every candidate for cover has their running 48-hour average checked, and the call-in is not made to whoever is simply quickest to reach if a less-stretched option exists.
5. The no-show is logged against that worker's own record, so a repeat pattern is visible the next time this happens.

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 call in cover whose daily rest gap is under 11 hours or whose running average would exceed 48 hours, even where no other cover is available; naming the gap to the owner is the job, not quietly filling it anyway.
- Never skip to a home visit or a police welfare check before the earlier steps in the Acas contact order have been tried and recorded, except where there is a genuine and immediate safety concern.
- Never record a no-show as a disciplinary matter before the missing worker has had the chance to explain; this skill logs the event, it does not conclude the cause.
- This output is a working document prepared for the owner to check against their own absence policy, rota and rest records, and for their adviser to check any pattern that may need a formal process. It applies Acas guidance and the Working Time Regulations 1998 to the night's events; it is not legal advice and it is not confirmation that the response taken was reasonable in every circumstance.

## Built from
- Acas, "Not turning up for work: Unauthorised absence and lateness", https://www.acas.org.uk/absence-from-work/unauthorised-absence, no revision date shown on the page, read 3 November 2026: the definition of unauthorised absence, the contact order for a no-show, and the advice to record patterns, behind steps 1, 2 and 5.
- The Working Time Regulations 1998, regulation 10, https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1998/1833/regulation/10, SI 1998/1833, read 3 November 2026: the 11-hour daily rest entitlement a covering worker must not be put under, behind step 3.
- The Working Time Regulations 1998, regulation 4, https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1998/1833/regulation/4, SI 1998/1833, read 3 November 2026: the 48-hour average limit a covering worker must not be pushed over, behind step 4.

# no-show-cover

## You are given
The missing worker's name, the shift they were due on, and whether any message or planned-absence note was received before the shift. A log of contact attempts already made, if any, with channel (`work contact`, `personal contact`, `emergency contact`, `home visit`, `police welfare check`), time, and outcome. A list of candidates available to cover, each with their last shift's end time and their running hours total for the current reference period. This worker's own absence and lateness history, if a prior log exists.

## Produce
Write into a `./no-show-cover-output/` folder:

1. `no-show-record.csv` with columns: `date`, `worker_name`, `shift_due`, `classification`, `advance_notice_received`, `notice_channel`. `classification` is exactly one of `planned absence missed communication`, `unexplained`, or `welfare concern`.
2. `contact-log.csv` with columns: `attempt_ref`, `channel`, `time`, `outcome`, `sequence_position`. `channel` is one of the five listed above. `sequence_position` is the order this channel should appear in per the Acas sequence; a row out of order is flagged in `gaps.md`.
3. `cover-candidates.csv` with columns: `candidate_name`, `last_shift_end`, `shift_needing_cover_start`, `gap_hours`, `daily_rest_verdict`, `current_reference_period_hours`, `hours_if_covering`, `average_if_covering`, `weekly_average_verdict`, `eligible_to_call`. `daily_rest_verdict` is `pass` or `below 11 hours`. `weekly_average_verdict` is `pass` or `exceeds 48 hours`. `eligible_to_call` is `yes` only if both verdicts are `pass`.
4. `absence-pattern.csv` with columns: `worker_name`, `incidents_last_90_days`, `incident_dates`, `pattern_flag`. `pattern_flag` is `yes` if `incidents_last_90_days` is 3 or more, otherwise `no`.
5. `gaps.md` - a numbered list of: any contact attempt made out of the Acas sequence order; any cover candidate called despite `eligible_to_call` being `no`; any shift left with no eligible candidate found; and any `pattern_flag` of `yes`.

## Rules
- Codex counts, matches and checks. It never decides whether the missing worker had a good reason, and it never selects who gets called; it reports who is eligible and leaves the choice among eligible candidates to the manager.
- `gap_hours` and `average_if_covering` are calculated from supplied times and totals, never estimated.
- A candidate with `eligible_to_call` of `no` stays in `cover-candidates.csv` with the reason shown; never remove them from the file.
- Never mark a contact attempt as made unless a time and outcome were supplied for it.
- Use British English and DD Month YYYY dates. No em dashes in any file you write.
- Every file ends with this line: this is a working document prepared for the owner to check against their own absence policy, rota and rest records, and for their adviser to check any pattern that may need a formal process. It applies Acas guidance and the Working Time Regulations 1998 to the night's events and is not confirmation that the response taken was reasonable in every circumstance.

## Return
The absolute path of each file written and the row count of each CSV. The classification given to the no-show. The contact sequence followed, with any step out of order named. Every cover candidate's eligibility verdict, with the ineligible ones named and why. Whether a shift was left with no eligible candidate. The absence pattern flag for the missing worker, if raised. The `gaps.md` item count.