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Assign a worker
Open a shift, manage assignments, pick a worker and support code, choose Automatic or Required acceptance, then publish.
Last updated · 10 November 2026
A shift created with Add shift starts without a worker. A shift started from a worker row on the Planner can already have that worker selected. To roster one, open the shift and work through its assignments. You need Scheduling edit access. Where billing is enabled for the assignment, choose the NDIS support here, per worker. Scheduling can still operate without billing. Check the assignment’s saved requirements rather than assuming today’s workspace switch applies to work that has already started.
Before you choose a worker
The worker needs approved availability covering the whole shift. A blank calendar does not mean they are free, and a pending submission is not approval. This check applies when saving an assignment, even if you are not publishing it yet, and when changing a shift’s time.
Open Workforce > Availability to check their hours. For permanent workers, set regular hours or a one-day change. For casual workers, request their availability and review the submission. Leave and hours the worker has withdrawn can block new assignments while a change is still being reviewed.
For a first booking, start with one future Direct Support shift, one participant and one worker whose approved hours cover the visit. For example, assign Jordan to Mavis’s 9:00 AM to 11:00 AM visit, choose the agreed support and publish it. Group and Intensive changes are explained below.
For a multi-worker booking, use the Group Support allocation or Intensive Support worker selection examples after the common steps.
Availability and shift acceptance are separate: approved hours make someone eligible to be rostered; Acceptance controls whether they must answer that particular shift.
Open the shift and manage assignments
Select the shift on the Planner or Table to open the Edit Shift drawer. Its Status and assignments section shows the shift’s current status pill on the left and a Manage assignments button on the right.
Decide whether the worker has to accept
Acceptance is the third field on the Shift details row, after Reference and Type. Two pills:
| Setting | What happens when you publish |
|---|---|
| Automatic (default) | The worker is booked as soon as you publish. Nothing is asked of them. |
| Required | The worker must accept the shift in their app before they can clock in or start travel, and you are told straight away if anyone declines. |
It stays editable after you publish, and only locks when work actually starts (a worker clocks in, or provider travel begins) or the shift is cancelled. Select Save changes on Edit Shift to save a changed Acceptance setting before opening Manage assignments. Saving Required on an already-published shift sends the request; saving Automatic clears the outstanding request but keeps an answer the worker already gave. Copying a shift carries the setting across.
Note
Worker acceptance is chosen per shift. New shifts start on Automatic, so nothing changes for your existing roster until you choose otherwise on a shift.
Add a worker
The Worker assignments drawer opens, with an Assignments summary (“N assignments / N published / N completed”) at the top. On a shift that asked for acceptance, the summary also carries “/ N confirmed”, and each assignment tab shows its own Awaiting worker, Accepted or Declined badge.
How you add workers depends on the shift’s type:
- Direct Support has a single assignment. Pick the worker under Assigned worker.
- Group Support starts with one assignment. Select Add assignment to add another (only enabled while participants remain unallocated), then use Participants for this assignment on each tab to attach the people that worker looks after and pick its Assigned worker. The participant checklist groups names by pickup address; Add all selects everyone in that pickup group. Check individual names before using it. Each assignment shows its attached and remaining participants and group-pricing information. After adding an assignment or changing tabs, wait until that tab’s worker and participant fields have loaded before making the next choice. Every assignment lands on its own tab, labelled Assignment 1, Assignment 2 and so on, showing the worker’s name and a status badge; a tab can be removed with its × unless it is the first assignment, published, or already started.
- Intensive Support has no per-assignment worker picker. Use the Assigned workers multi-select at the top instead: adding a worker there creates an assignment for them, and removing one deletes it (unpublish first if it is published). Every worker serves the shift’s one participant.
Note
A worker who is not available for the shift’s time still appears in the picker, but greyed out with an Unavailable badge, and cannot be selected. This applies to both the single Assigned worker picker and the Intensive Assigned workers multi-select. A worker with a conflicting booking cannot be selected. A previously declined assignment no longer reserves that worker for overlap checks.
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Wait for the eligibility check. Jordan can be selected for this date and time; the other shown workers cannot.
Set the support code timing and codes
Support code timing sets when you choose the delivered support.
| Choice | Use it when | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Before shift | You already know the agreed support. | Choose the support now. Required support selections must be complete before publication. |
| After shift | The office must confirm the delivered support after reading the worker’s notes. | The picker opens after the worker submits progress notes. Add the required codes before approval. |
This choice locks when the assignment is published or work starts. For Jordan’s ordinary two-hour visit, use Before shift and select the support agreed for that visit.
When billing is required for this assignment, open Support code name, use Search support items, select the matching result, then select + (Add support row). Selecting a search result alone does not add the row. Check the Support code and Support item name in the table below.
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Search by name or code and read the full result. This example already has that support row, so it is not added again.
- Billable time, marked MIN, is for time-based supports. Before delivery it can show Pending. It is not an instruction to enter
2for a two-hour visit. After delivery, a single time-based support takes the applicable billable time; when several time-based codes are used, allocate whole minutes between them during review. - Quantity is for non-time supports and defaults to one where applicable. Check the item’s unit before changing it. A time-based row shows Not required in this column.
- Add another row only if a different support was genuinely delivered. Use the row’s remove control to correct an unwanted selection while editing is allowed.
If the intended code is missing, first check the participant’s plan, agreement, delivery date and pricing region. Can’t find a code? Show all codes broadens the list beyond the recommended set; it does not establish that an item is appropriate or claimable. In Intensive Support the participant’s support selection is shared across worker assignments, so check every assignment after changing it.
Note
Publishing checks that every assignment has a worker and, when coding is set to Before shift, the required support selections (for group support, that every participant is allocated to an assignment), and that the worker is available for the shift’s time. A toast tells you exactly what is missing.
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Separate unpublished example: Jordan has Before shift coding and the agreed support selected. Billable time is Pending because the visit has not been worked; $60 is this fictional agreement’s rate.
Check travel, vehicle and breaks
The controls shown depend on workspace features, the worker, participant agreements and whether billing or payroll applies. A missing choice is not a reason to pick an unrelated one.
| Field | What to choose and check |
|---|---|
| Vehicle km | Shown for Intensive Support. Choose Yes for the worker driving and recording kilometres; No for a passenger. Only the driver records the vehicle kilometres, so the same car is not counted twice. A passenger’s eligible travel time is separate. |
| Vehicle ownership | When payroll applies and the worker is the driver, check Personal or Company against the vehicle being used. It defaults from the worker profile. Personal can include approved driver kilometres in payroll; Company excludes kilometre pay. Participant charging follows the same applicable rules for either ownership. |
| Vehicle class | When billing applies, choose Standard for a standard car or Modified/bus for the relevant accessible or specialised vehicle. This affects participant transport pricing, not ownership. |
| Break provided | Appears when breaks are enabled. Choose Yes if the worker can take and record a break on this assignment, or No where no break applies. It does not create a break record or deduct an assumed break. |
| Travel settings | T2P permits travel to the participant; P2B permits return travel to the place of business. Available choices depend on the worker’s travel eligibility and, where billed, agreement terms. ABT shows whether the driver can record activity-based transport while clocked in; it is a read-only result of the driver choice. |
For a visit without planned travel, do not enable travel legs merely to complete the form. For a two-worker outing in one vehicle, identify the driver and passenger before publishing. Travel settings, vehicle class and break permission lock at publication or start; correct them before that point. See Travel on a shift and Manual breaks.
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These saved choices use a personal standard vehicle with no provided break. ABT is a read-only recording capability; this does not create or approve a trip.
Publish the assignment
Select Publish to send the assignment to the worker. The shift appears in their mobile app, and the status moves to Published.
Publishing is not always the end of it:
- On an Automatic shift it is. The worker is booked and can clock in when the time comes.
- On a Required shift the status moves to Awaiting worker instead, and the worker is asked to accept or decline in their app. Until they accept, they cannot clock in, start travel, log a break or report an incident on that shift. When they accept, the status reads Accepted. If they decline, the assignment unpublishes itself, the shift reads Declined, and you are notified.
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This separate Required example is genuinely published, with one assignment and no confirmed response. Jordan still needs to answer in the app.
Before work or provider travel starts, take an assignment back by selecting Unpublish and confirm Unpublish assignment?, which removes it from the worker’s mobile schedule until it is published again.
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Opening this confirmation has not withdrawn the assignment. Cancel keeps it published; Unpublish confirms the withdrawal.
Tip
After a decline, adjust the shift or pick another worker and publish again. The question is asked afresh each time you publish, and the worker’s earlier answer is kept for the record. See Shift statuses.
Tip
After the worker has clocked in and out, come back to approve their times: Review and approve assignments.
Check loading, save and confirm the result
When the worker list first checks this shift’s hours, names remain searchable but show a spinner and cannot yet be chosen. Wait for the result. A loading error is not a finding that the worker is unavailable; close and reopen the picker or retry after resolving the connection.
Worker assignments does not have a Save changes button. Choosing a worker, adding a support row and changing a quantity save through the assignment action. Configuration choices such as support timing, travel settings and vehicle choices are included with the next assignment action or saved when you close the drawer. Close it normally, wait for saving to finish, then reopen it to verify the worker and choices. If saving fails, the drawer stays open so you can correct the error. The Save changes button belongs to the outer Edit Shift form.
The Cancel button at the bottom of Worker assignments closes that drawer. It does not cancel the shift or undo assignment choices already saved, and pending configuration is saved through the normal close process. To cancel the booking, use the separate Cancel shift action on Edit Shift.
An assignment saved with a worker remains an office draft until Publish succeeds. Check the resulting status and worker name, not just the selected pill. Publishing and unpublishing show a pending state while the action completes; wait for confirmation before taking another action.
If publishing is blocked, check the message for missing worker screening, an ineligible nursing registration for a nursing support, incomplete participant allocations, required supports, travel eligibility, availability or a booking overlap. Correct the relevant record and reopen the picker or assignment. Other review warnings can be advisory; read their detail rather than assuming every warning blocks publication.
Each date in a repeat series needs its own publication and, when Required, its own worker response. Use View series to publish selected dates.
Correct a worker selection
For an unpublished assignment, open the worker picker and replace the selected worker, then wait for the save. For a published assignment, Unpublish first, make the correction and publish again. The new worker needs approved availability for the whole interval and, on Required shifts, must answer the new request.
Group Support: allocate participants
For Group Support, put each participant on the assignment of the worker providing their support. A pickup address groups people for transport; it does not assign a worker. If Mavis and Elliot share Jordan’s support, attach both to Jordan’s assignment. If a different worker supports Elliot separately, move Elliot to that worker’s assignment and recheck the attached/remaining count and support pricing. You cannot finish publishing the last assignment while participants remain unallocated.
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Saved Group Support setup: the selected assignment has Jordan and Mavis. Every participant has an allocation, so remaining is zero; inspect the other tab before publishing it.
Intensive Support: select workers
For Intensive Support, select every worker serving the one participant under Assigned workers. Check the active assignment tab before setting its vehicle and travel choices or publishing. Publishing one assignment does not publish all other tabs. A started assignment cannot be treated as an unused draft; use the delivered-work correction and review process instead.
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Saved Intensive setup for Mavis: Jordan is the driver with Vehicle km Yes, Personal ownership and Standard class. These settings permit recording; no journey has been recorded on this future visit.
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Priya’s separate assignment is the passenger: Vehicle km No and ABT unavailable. Each worker’s publication remains separate.