Free rota app for UK teams

Most UK workplaces still build the rota in a spreadsheet, screenshot it and drop it into a group chat. It works right up until someone books leave, swaps a shift or misses the latest version — and then the manager spends their Sunday evening fixing it. A rota app removes that, but only if the team actually uses it and it does not cost per person. This guide covers what to look for in a free rota app in the UK, and how to have next week's rota published in about ten minutes.

What "free" should actually mean

Be careful with free tiers: many cap you at a handful of staff, hide clock-in or holiday tracking behind a paid plan, or charge per seat the moment you grow. WorkPilotAi is free while in open beta with unlimited staff, unlimited rotas and every feature switched on, no card required. When paid plans arrive they will not be per seat, you will get notice, and you can take your data with you as CSV at any point.

Checklist: what a UK rota app needs

• Drag-and-drop weekly rota with a draft state, so nothing goes out half-finished
• Publish to staff by email and in-app notification, not a spreadsheet in a group chat
• Staff requests: swaps, cover, days off, annual leave and sick leave in one place
• UK statutory holiday: allowance, carry-over and live balances as leave is booked
• Working-time warnings: double-booking, rest between shifts, weekly hours, days in a row
• Clock in and out with a location check, so paid hours match hours actually worked
• Payroll CSV with column mapping you control
• Works in the phone browser with nothing to install
• Your data exportable at any time, with no lock-in

Holiday and working time in the UK

This is where imported US tools fall down. UK staff accrue statutory holiday, may carry days over, and the Working Time Regulations set expectations on rest between shifts, weekly hours and consecutive days worked. A rota app that understands that will warn you before you publish rather than after a complaint. WorkPilotAi shows each person's remaining balance as they request leave, caps how many people can be off at once and how long one request can be, and flags double-bookings, insufficient rest, excessive weekly hours and too many days in a row — with an override and an audit trail when you genuinely need it.

Live in about ten minutes

1. Step 1 · 2 minutes

   Create the workplace

   Sign up, name the workplace and pick your operating days. That is the whole setup — no implementation call, no sales demo.

2. Step 2 · 5 minutes

   Add the team

   Invite staff by email or paste your list in one go, and share a join link by text or WhatsApp for anyone who does not check email. Set job titles so the rota groups people in the order you actually read it.

3. Step 3 · 3 minutes

   Build week one and publish

   Drag shifts onto the week, or let the AI builder draft it around availability and rest rules, then publish. Save it as a template and next week is a copy-and-tweak job.

Care homes, hospitality, retail and warehouses

The same rota tool has to cope with 12-hour care shifts and overnight cover, split shifts in a kitchen, and weekend peaks in a shop or warehouse. WorkPilotAi supports split and overnight shifts, lets you order staff by job title so the rota reads the way your team thinks about it, and lets you rename the wording — shifts, staff, locations — to whatever your industry calls them.

Common questions

Is there a genuinely free rota app for UK teams?

Yes. WorkPilotAi is free while in open beta: unlimited staff, unlimited rotas, every feature, no card required. It is not per-seat, so adding people to the team does not add to a bill. When paid plans arrive you will get notice in advance and can export all your data to CSV.

Can I make a staff rota online without Excel?

You can. A rota app replaces the spreadsheet with a drag-and-drop week, a draft state so nothing is visible until you publish, and automatic delivery to staff by email and in-app notification. Staff see only their own shifts on their phone, so there is no messy spreadsheet in a group chat.

Does a free rota app handle UK holiday entitlement?

Most do not — they model US-style PTO. WorkPilotAi tracks statutory allowance, days carried over and days already booked, shows the live balance when someone requests leave, and lets you cap how many staff can be off at once and how long a single request can be.

Do staff need to install an app?

No. It runs in the phone browser and can be added to the home screen in one tap, so there is nothing to download, no app store account and no storage taken up on older phones — usually the reason rota apps fail to get adopted.

Can I export hours to payroll for free?

Yes. Approved hours from shifts and clock-ins become a CSV export whose column names you map yourself, so it fits Xero, Sage, QuickBooks, BrightPay or any payroll system that accepts a CSV. A signed webhook is available if you would rather push pay periods automatically.

Start with one real week

The only honest test is next week's rota. Create a free account, add your team and publish. You can also compare WorkPilotAi with Deputy, Planday and When I Work, read the When I Work comparison or follow the getting-started guide.