Settings & Configuration 🛠️

The Settings page in OnCare is where you configure how your agency's account works. It controls everything from how visits are tracked to how payroll is calculated. You access it by clicking the Settings icon (gear/cog) in the top navigation bar of the OnCare web dashboard. Only administrators and office staff with the appropriate permissions can access Settings. Care workers do not see this section.

The Settings page is divided into several sections: Agency Settings (toggles and dropdowns that control system behaviour), Manage Agency (sub-pages for groups, rate sheets, agency details and documents, custom tasks, care plan custom fields, and invoice settings), Policies and Procedures, Training, Notifications, Account Settings, and Technical Support.

At the top of the Settings page, you will find a set of toggles and dropdown options that control key behaviours across the system.

Allow care workers to edit check-in time: When this is turned off (the default), care workers cannot change their clock-in or clock-out times after submitting a visit report. Turning it on gives care workers the ability to adjust their times, which can be useful if they forget to clock in on time but also reduces the integrity of your GPS verification data. Most agencies keep this off to maintain accurate, uneditable visit records. It is recommended to keep this setting off by default.

Allow friends and family reviews: When enabled, family members who have a Friends and Family portal account can leave reviews after visits are completed. Reviews use a rating scale of 1 to 10 and include a comment field. These reviews are visible to your office team in the dashboard. This is useful for getting direct feedback from families about the quality of care being delivered.

Enable week 1 and week 2 scheduling: This feature allows you to create alternating two-week rotas. Some agencies have clients whose care needs differ between odd and even weeks (for example, a bath visit every other week). When enabled, the scheduling system supports this alternating pattern. When disabled, the rota repeats identically every week.

Allow editing of submitted reports: When enabled, office staff can edit visit reports after they have been submitted by care workers. All edits are logged with an audit trail showing who made the change and when. This is important for correcting errors in visit reports, such as wrong task completion status or incorrect notes. When disabled, submitted reports are locked and cannot be changed by anyone.

Time limit for editing visit reports after clock-out: This setting controls how long after clocking out a care worker is allowed to edit their visit report before it is automatically locked. You can set this to a specific time window. Once the time limit passes, the report becomes read-only for the care worker and can only be edited by office staff (if the "Allow editing of submitted reports" toggle is enabled).

Late visit threshold: This dropdown sets how many minutes after the scheduled start time a visit is considered "late." You can choose from 15, 30, 45, or 60 minutes. Once a care worker has not clocked in within this threshold, the system flags the visit as late and triggers a late visit notification (if enabled in the Notifications section). Choosing a shorter threshold gives you tighter monitoring but may generate more alerts.

Geofencing distance: This dropdown sets the radius around a client's registered address within which a care worker must be located to clock in without triggering a distance alert. The available options are: Off (no geofencing), 10 metres, 20 metres, 30 metres, 50 metres, 100 metres, and 500 metres. Care workers can always clock in regardless of their location. The system does not prevent clock-in outside the geofence. Instead, if a care worker clocks in outside the set radius, the system flags the visit with a distance alert that office staff can review. The clock-in button on the mobile app is always green and always available. You can adjust the geofencing pin location from the client's profile page or directly from the visit report if the pin needs correcting.

The Manage Agency section contains sub-pages for configuring specific operational areas of your account.

Groups: You can create client groups and care worker groups. Client groups let you organise clients by category (for example, by area, service type, or funding source). Care worker groups let you organise staff by team or role. Groups are useful for filtering views in the schedule and reports. You can create, rename, and delete groups from this page.

Rate sheets: Rate sheets define the hourly rates used for payroll and invoicing. You set up rate sheets with hourly rates, and the system uses pro rata calculation for visits that are shorter or longer than one hour. Rate sheets are not automatically assigned to care workers. Instead, rates are set per visit on the visit plan, and the visit plan carries those rates forward into each scheduled visit. You can create multiple rate sheets for different pay structures (for example, weekday rates, weekend rates, or bank holiday rates).

Agency details and documents: This page lets you update your agency's core information such as the agency name, address, and contact details. You can also upload your own internal documents here, which then become accessible to care workers through the mobile app. This is useful for sharing company handbooks, policies, or any other reference materials with your team.

Custom tasks: OnCare allows you to create up to 5 custom tasks that appear in visit reports alongside the standard task list. Custom tasks let you track specific activities that are unique to your agency's workflow. Once created, custom tasks appear as options that care workers can mark as completed during visits.

Care plan custom fields: You can add up to 5 custom fields to client care plans. These fields allow you to capture additional information that is specific to your agency's needs and is not covered by the default care plan template. Custom fields appear on every client's care plan and can be filled in with relevant details.

Invoice settings: This page lets you configure your default invoicing preferences. You can set the payment method text that appears on invoices (for example, bank transfer details or payment instructions). You can also set the default tax rate for invoices, choosing from untaxed, 5%, or 20% VAT. These defaults apply to new invoices but can be overridden on individual invoices when needed.

If you have the Policies and Procedures add-on enabled, this section of Settings gives you access to manage your policy documents.

Policy documents: View, edit, and manage all policy documents in your chosen library. You can customise policies to suit your agency's specific practices while maintaining CQC compliance. Policies support version control, and you can track which staff members have acknowledged each policy.

Operational documents: Manage the operational document templates (forms) available to your office staff. These are downloadable Word documents that staff can fill in, save, and re-upload to OnCare.

Settings: Customise your policies and operational documents with your agency's specific details. The system includes approximately 50 settings variables (such as agency name, registered manager name, address, and other agency-specific information) that automatically populate throughout your policy documents, so you do not have to manually update each one. You can also update your agency's branding (logo and colours) for the documents from this section.

The Training section lets you manage staff training records and compliance.

Training accounts: Set up and manage training accounts for your staff members. This allows you to track which training courses each team member has completed or needs to complete.

Training matrix: The training matrix provides an overview of all staff training status in one place. You can see at a glance which staff members are up to date with their training and which ones have outstanding or expired training requirements. This is particularly useful for CQC inspections where you need to demonstrate that staff are appropriately trained.

The Notifications section lets you control which alerts and reminders the system sends to office staff. You can enable or disable each notification type independently.

Late visit alerts: Receive notifications when a care worker has not clocked in within the late visit threshold you set in Agency Settings. This helps you monitor visit compliance in real time and take action when visits are running late.

Client birthday reminders: Receive notifications when a client's birthday is approaching, so your team can send a card or acknowledge the occasion.

Care worker visit alerts: Receive notifications related to care worker visit activity, helping you stay informed about how visits are progressing throughout the day.

Missed medication alerts: Receive notifications when a medication task has been marked as missed or not completed during a visit. This is critical for medication compliance and CQC requirements around safe medication administration.

Client and care worker reminders: Receive reminder notifications for upcoming events or deadlines related to clients and care workers, helping you stay on top of important dates and tasks.

Distance alert review notifications: Receive notifications when a care worker clocks in outside the set geofencing radius. This allows you to review the distance alerts and determine whether the clock-in location was appropriate or needs investigation.

The Account Settings section allows you to manage your own user account.

Change password: Update your login password for the OnCare dashboard. It is recommended to use a strong, unique password and to change it regularly for security purposes.

The Technical Support section provides access to help and account management options.

Contact support: Reach out to the OnCare support team for assistance with any issues or questions about the platform.

Terms and conditions: View the current terms and conditions for your OnCare subscription.

Export profile data: Export your agency's data as CSV files. You can export client data and care worker data separately. This is useful for record-keeping, reporting, or if you need to transfer data to another system.