Why can't a late shift be followed by an early shift?

Because of the 11-hour daily rest rule. A late finishing at 22:00 followed by an early starting at 07:00 leaves only 9 hours, which breaches the Working Time Regulations even if the worker agrees to it.

How many people do you need for a 4-week rolling rota?

Any number - the cycle length is independent of headcount. With eight staff on a four-week cycle, two people sit on each week of the pattern.

Should the whole rolling cycle be published in advance?

Yes. The main advantage of a rolling rota is predictability, so publish the full cycle rather than releasing it a week at a time.

4-week rolling rota template

Q: How does a 4-week rolling rota work?

You design four weeks of shifts and each person starts at a different point in the cycle, rotating down one week each week. Over the full cycle everyone works the same pattern, so earlies, lates and weekends are shared evenly.

One repeating pattern, everyone offset by a week - fair by construction, and built so a late shift never runs into an early one.

By Abi Thomas · Template · Rotas & working time · Updated 8 August 2026

In short

A 4-week rolling rota is one repeating pattern that every person moves through, starting on a different week. Set it up once and the rota writes itself - everyone gets the same mix of earlies, lates and weekends over the cycle, which is what makes it feel fair. Download the pattern below and drop your names in.

Download the 4-week rolling rota CSV · pattern, shift times and the fairness check

How does a 4-week rolling rota work?

You design four weeks of shifts, then each person starts at a different point in the cycle and rotates down one week at the end of each week. Over four weeks, everyone works the same pattern - just offset. With eight staff on a four-week cycle, two people sit on each week.

An example 4-week pattern (Early 07:00-15:00, Late 14:00-22:00).
Week	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
1	Early	Early	Late	Late	OFF	OFF	Early
2	Late	Late	OFF	OFF	Early	Early	Late
3	OFF	Early	Early	Late	Late	OFF	OFF
4	Early	OFF	OFF	Early	Late	Late	OFF

The mistake this pattern is designed to avoid

Never put an Early straight after a Late

Late finishes 22:00; Early starts 07:00 = a 9-hour gap.
The law requires 11 consecutive hours between shifts.
In the pattern above, every Late is followed by another Late or a day off - by design.
When you edit it, check the joins between weeks too: week 2's Sunday Late runs into week 3's Monday, which is why that Monday is OFF.

Full rules in rest between shifts.

How do you build your own pattern?

Start from coverage, not people. Write what each day actually needs - two earlies, two lates, one weekend cover - before naming anyone.
Spread the unpopular shifts evenly across the four weeks. That's the entire point of rolling: nobody owns every Saturday.
Check the joins. Week 4 rolls into week 1 - the rest gap between them is the one people forget.
Leave slack for holiday. A pattern with zero float means every leave request becomes a crisis; see refusing holiday requests for why that gets expensive.
Publish the whole cycle. The advantage of a rolling rota is that people can see months ahead - don't waste it by publishing a week at a time.

Does a rolling rota lock you in?

Not entirely - swaps and one-off changes still happen, and the same contract questions apply as with any rota (can my employer change my shifts?). But because the underlying pattern is published and predictable, changes become the exception people can plan around rather than the norm they resent. For teams that don't repeat a cycle, use the weekly rota template instead, and track the extra hours it generates with the TOIL tracker.

More to download: All 30 templates · 66 guides explaining the rules · 24 calculators

Patterns that repeat themselves

CoDash stores each person's working pattern and prefills shifts from it - so a rolling rota stays rolling without anyone rebuilding the grid.

See rotas and hours in the demo See the product