Key takeaway
A check-call is missed when its window closes with nothing logged. ShiftTracker marks it missed, does not call the officer or arrange cover, and notifies Admins after a 15-minute escalation delay by default. Admins can escalate sooner by hand. The Check Calls board shows open misses, and the check-call compliance report gives the record to show a client.
Missed check-calls in UK security: detection and escalation
A missed check-call is a welfare check that the officer did not log before its window closed. ShiftTracker marks it as missed, alerts Admins after a set escalation delay, and keeps the record on the Check Calls board and in a compliance report. It does not place a call to the officer, mark them absent or arrange cover. This guide covers how the platform detects a miss, how the alerts reach staff, why misses happen on UK security sites, how to set windows for difficult access and weak signal, and what to give a client as evidence. Every feature described here comes from ShiftTracker's published documentation. Where the documentation does not say how something works, we say so and list it for a demo, so you can test it before a contract depends on it. The steps follow a shift's order, from setting the window to giving the client record.
What counts as a missed check-call?
A check-call is missed when its window closes with nothing logged against it. The shift keeps its status, the officer is not marked absent, and no call is placed to them. The Check Calls board shows how many minutes overdue each missed call is. Logging the call, or an Admin or Manager logging it from the board, completes the event.
The organisation-wide default opens the window 15 minutes before a call is due and keeps it open for 30 minutes. Both figures can be changed for the organisation, a site or a shift pattern. A call confirmed after it was missed is counted as confirmed after in the compliance report, not as an on-time call.
How does ShiftTracker alert staff to a miss?
The officer receives a check-call due notification while the window is open. If the window closes unlogged, the event moves to the Unconfirmed tab. Auto-escalation is on by default with a 15-minute escalation delay, and after that delay your organisation's Admins are notified in the app and by push.
| Stage | Default | Who is told |
|---|---|---|
| Window opens | 15 minutes before the call is due | The officer, by a check-call due notification |
| Window closes unlogged | Marked missed | Board, Unconfirmed tab |
| Auto-escalation | Escalation delay of 15 minutes | Admins, in the app and by push |
| Manual escalation | Any time from the Unconfirmed tab | Admins, straight away |
The notifications page lists missed check-call alerts for Admin, Manager, Control and Employee roles. Confirm on your own account which people receive them, and test it, before you rely on the alert for an out-of-hours response.
Why do check-calls get missed on UK security sites?
ShiftTracker records whether a call was logged or missed, not why it was missed. The platform's documentation points to three areas where a miss starts: the officer, the site and supervision. The table turns each area into a question you can test on a live site.
| Area | Question to test | Setting that helps |
|---|---|---|
| Officer | Does the officer know the window, and log the call as soon as it is made? | Personal PIN and Site ID verification, both on by default |
| Site access | Can the officer reach the check-in point inside the window, through lockboxes, keypads or a long route? | A longer window on the site or its pattern |
| Signal | Do push notifications reach the officer at the post? | Log a phone call from the board so the record still exists |
| Supervision | Does the rota match the contracted cover, and does someone act on overdue alerts? | Recurring shift patterns; the Unscheduled tab lists shifts with no pattern |
Where the cause is the officer, the platform's job is to make the miss visible quickly. The Escalate button on the board lets an Admin or Manager raise a missed call before the automatic escalation runs. Where the cause is the site, a window too short for the access route is a configuration problem, and the fix belongs in the pattern settings.
How should you set check-call windows for hard-to-reach sites?
ShiftTracker decides check-call timing in four places, and the first one set wins: a pattern chosen for a service, then the site's pattern and adjustments, then the organisation's default pattern, then the organisation-wide settings. For sites with access problems, an Admin or Manager can lengthen the window on the site's pattern or on the site itself.
Set the window from the site's settings so the guards there see the timing they will actually get. The check-call section of a site states what its officers will see, in plain words, before anyone relies on it.
Test a longer window on a live shift before you rely on it. Check that the board shows the event opening and closing at the times you set.
What does the Check Calls board show?
The Check Calls board is the live view for the control room. It refreshes every 30 seconds and counts overdue, window open, upcoming, unscheduled and recent events. Admins and Managers can log a call or escalate a miss from it. Control users can watch the board but cannot act on it.
| Tab | What it holds |
|---|---|
| Unconfirmed | Missed events on shifts still running, the ones to act on. The board opens here whenever there are any. |
| Closed | Missed calls on shifts that have since booked off. A record, not an alarm. |
| Recent | Events completed in the last hour. |
| Unscheduled | Shifts with no check-call pattern. |
| Cancelled | Shifts cancelled or marked no-show today. |
Agency officers' missed check-calls appear in their own section, already marked as escalated to the agency and the site. A miss stays on Unconfirmed until someone logs it or the shift books off. Escalating a missed row notifies Admins straight away and records the time. Escalating twice does not send twice.
How do you log a call that was made by phone?
When an officer phones in instead of using the app, an Admin or Manager logs the call from the board. Find the event under Expected or Unconfirmed, press Log this event, check the time and save. The event moves to completed and is recorded as done by the person who logged it.
- Find the event under Expected or Unconfirmed and press Log this event.
- Check Actual time (24h). It defaults to now, so change it if you are logging late.
- Add a note, for example Phoned officer, all clear.
- Save. The event moves to completed.
Write the reason in the note, so the record explains the phone call on its own when someone reads it later.
What evidence does the compliance report give a client?
The check-call compliance report, under Reports and then Check Calls, is the record to give a client. It lists scheduled calls, on-time and late calls, calls confirmed after a miss, missed calls, escalations and early book-offs, and gives a compliance percentage. Admins, Managers and Control users can run it.
Compliance is the share of calls actually due that were answered on time. Calls voided by an early book-off are left out rather than counted as passes, so a shift does not score better because it ended early. Group the rows by employee or by site, and download the same figures as CSV.
Control users open the report from Check-call report in Quick Actions on their dashboard, because Control has no Reports menu.
How we checked this and what to test next
This guide uses ShiftTracker's public documentation only. We have not run the platform on a live site, so treat each setting here as a claim to verify. The documentation does not describe the platform placing a call to an officer or arranging cover after a miss.
To test before you rely on it, run these checks on a test site:
- Let one scheduled window close without a log, and time how long the miss takes to reach an Admin.
- Log a phone call with a note, then check the record in the compliance report.
- Ask ShiftTracker to confirm which roles receive the missed-call notification on your account.
