Key takeaway
Guard overtime breaches the Working Time Regulations 1998 when the average over the reference period exceeds 48 hours a week, even if single weeks look fine. Track the rolling average before each assignment, record actual book-on and book-off times, and reconcile hours against client charges monthly. Take legal advice on your contracts.
Overtime on UK guarding contracts is common, and it becomes a problem when nobody records it against the shift and the client. The legal anchor is the Working Time Regulations 1998, which say a worker's working time, including overtime, must not exceed an average of 48 hours a week over a reference period. An officer can stay within the rules in most weeks and still breach the average, so weekly totals alone are not enough. This guide sets out a practical process: record actual book-on and book-off times, watch the rolling average before you assign a shift, decide an internal ceiling, reconcile hours against charges each month and keep a record of any opt-out and any manual correction. We do not publish overtime benchmarks, because ShiftTracker has no measured dataset that would support them. Nothing here is legal advice, so take advice on your contracts before you change a rota.
What is the legal limit on overtime for guards?
The Working Time Regulations 1998 limit a worker's average working time, including overtime, to 48 hours for each seven days over a reference period. Regulation 4(1) sets the limit, and a worker can agree in writing to work beyond it. Under regulation 4(2), the employer must take reasonable steps to keep each worker within the limit.
The average is what the rule tests. Hours are averaged across the reference period, so a long week can sit inside the limit if the surrounding weeks are lighter. A run of heavy weeks can still push the average over 48. The regulation text on legislation.gov.uk is the place to start. ShiftTracker's overtime and Working Time documentation uses a 17-week reference period by default.
Why does guard overtime go unrecorded?
Overtime tends to go unrecorded when hours are logged outside the system, when a supervisor records time on an officer's behalf, or when a shift runs past its booked end with no charge record. Each gap means the firm may pay for hours it cannot invoice, or invoice hours it cannot prove.
Supervisors often log hours from memory or from paper sheets. Those figures may not match the actual book-on and book-off times, and they may not be approved. A clear rule that officers record their own times in the app removes that step and makes the actual times the default.
Worked but uncharged overtime is a margin problem as well as a pay problem. The client is billed for scheduled hours while the firm pays for actual ones. Compare the two before invoices go out, not after.
How do you check the 48-hour average before assigning a shift?
Look at the rolling average on the roster before you confirm an assignment. In ShiftTracker, the roster shows each person's average over the reference period and their hours for the current week. An assignment that breaks the rule raises a warning, and the override needs a reason that is kept as a record.
ColourWhat it meansGreyAverage 40 hours or less, and this week 48 or lessAmberAverage over 40, or this week over 48: lawful, but heading that wayRedAverage over 48, with no opt-out: a breachBlueAverage over 48, with an opt-out on file
Source: the colour key in ShiftTracker's overtime and Working Time documentation. The average is only as complete as the hours recorded. If officers do not book on and off, the figure understates their time, so the booking habit matters as much as the rule.
What internal ceiling should a firm set?
This guide does not recommend a number. Many firms set an internal ceiling below the legal average so that a warning arrives before a breach does. The level is a business decision that should reflect your contracts, your officers and your legal advice.
A ceiling only works if someone acts on it. Decide who sees a warning, what they do next and who can approve an override, then write that down in your site operating manual so it can be tested in an audit. Review the ceiling each quarter, because a ceiling that never triggers is either well set or not being watched, and the roster will show which.
An opt-out does not switch the check off. ShiftTracker's documentation says it "changes the colour, the wording and your paperwork. It does not skip the check: a breach is still a warning to override, with a reason."
How do you reconcile overtime against client charges?
Reconcile each shift's actual hours against the scheduled times and the charge rate before any invoice is issued. In ShiftTracker, Payroll Arbitration accepts shifts that ran to time and flags any shift booked on or off more than 15 minutes out, so a person can decide what to pay and charge.
Run arbitration for each period, review the flags, correct times or rates where needed, then mark records paid and invoiced. Marked records lock, so do the review first. The reporting dashboard shows one row per shift or one row per employee for payroll, and only Admin and Manager roles can use it.
Record every manual correction to a book-on or book-off time, with the reason and the person who made it. A corrected time that cannot be explained later is hard to defend in a dispute with a client or an officer, and the record protects the officer as well as the firm.
The Employee Pay Summary: pay grouped by employee from arbitrated shift data.
What does a monthly overtime review look like?
A monthly review should answer three questions: which officers are nearest the ceiling, which shifts ran past their booked end, and which hours were worked but not charged. Write the answers in a short note that the contracts manager signs. Keep the note with the period's records, so the decisions can be shown later.
Pull the reporting dashboard for the month, one row per employee, and sort by hours.
Check the roster's Employees view for anyone amber or red at month end.
Review every arbitration flag and record the decision and the reason.
Compare worked hours with charged hours for each site.
Note any opt-out changes and any Working Time overrides, with their reasons.
Agree actions for officers nearest the ceiling, including placement changes.
The Timesheet Overview report, which can be exported for the review.
What does ShiftTracker not do for overtime?
ShiftTracker does not calculate overtime as pay, and it does not check night-work limits. Its Working Time checks cover the 48-hour average, 11 hours' rest, overlapping shifts and approved leave. Overtime pay and charge figures come from your own settings and arbitration records, so check them against your contracts before each period closes.
How we checked this and what to do next
We read ShiftTracker's overtime, reporting and payroll arbitration documentation, and the text of regulation 4 on legislation.gov.uk. ShiftTracker has published no overtime benchmark, so this guide contains none. Treat any overtime figure for the sector that has no named source as unverified.
Next step: pick one site, run the monthly review for one period and compare worked hours with charged hours. If the numbers do not reconcile, fix the booking habit before you change the rota.
