Retail Rota Example for a Small UK Shop (6 Staff, 7 Days)
30 October 2026 · The Rosterly team · 4 min read
This retail rota example covers a small UK shop open 9am to 5:30pm Monday to Saturday and 10am to 4pm on Sunday, with six staff: a manager, an assistant manager, two part-timers and two students. It uses four shift types, totals 136 paid hours a week, gives everyone at least one day off and keeps at least 15 hours between a close and the next open.
Use it as a starting point: change the times to your trading hours and the names to your team. The UK rules it follows are summarised at the end.
The shop
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Trading hours: Monday to Saturday 9:00am to 5:30pm; Sunday 10:00am to 4:00pm.
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Busy periods: lunchtime on weekdays, all day Saturday.
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Keyholders: Priya (manager), Tom (assistant manager) and Lucy (part-time).
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Breaks: this example gives a 30-minute unpaid break on shifts over six hours. UK law requires at least 20 minutes for adults working more than six hours; whether it's paid depends on the contract.
Sunday trading: GOV.UK says shops over 280 square metres in England and Wales can open on Sundays for only six consecutive hours between 10am and 6pm. This shop's 10 to 4 fits either way.
Shift types
Shift
Time
Unpaid break
Paid hours
Open
Time: 8:45am–5:15pm
Unpaid break: 30 min
Paid hours: 8.0
Close
Time: 9:30am–5:45pm
Unpaid break: 30 min
Paid hours: 7.75
Midday
Time: 11:00am–3:00pm
Unpaid break: none
Paid hours: 4.0
Saturday student
Time: 10:00am–4:00pm
Unpaid break: 30 min
Paid hours: 5.5
Sunday open
Time: 9:45am–4:15pm
Unpaid break: 30 min
Paid hours: 6.0
Sunday second
Time: 10:00am–4:00pm
Unpaid break: none
Paid hours: 6.0
The staff
Person
Role
Type
Keyholder
Priya
Role: Manager
Type: Full-time
Keyholder: Yes
Tom
Role: Assistant manager
Type: Full-time
Keyholder: Yes
Lucy
Role: Sales assistant
Type: Part-time
Keyholder: Yes
Sam
Role: Sales assistant
Type: Part-time
Keyholder: No
Mia
Role: Sales assistant
Type: Student, 19
Keyholder: No
Jay
Role: Saturday assistant
Type: Student, 17
Keyholder: No
The rota
Shift
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
Sun
Open
Mon: Priya
Tue: Priya
Wed: Tom
Thu: Lucy
Fri: Priya
Sat: Tom
Sun: Priya
Close or Sunday second
Mon: Tom
Tue: Tom
Wed: Priya
Thu: Tom
Fri: Lucy
Sat: Sam
Sun: Lucy
Midday
Mon: Sam
Tue: Lucy
Wed: Sam
Thu: Sam
Fri: Mia
Sat: Mia
Sun: –
Saturday student
Mon: –
Tue: –
Wed: –
Thu: –
Fri: –
Sat: Jay
Sun: –
Hours per person
Person
Days
Paid hours
Tom
Days: 5
Paid hours: 39.25
Priya
Days: 5
Paid hours: 37.75
Lucy
Days: 4
Paid hours: 25.75
Sam
Days: 4
Paid hours: 19.75
Mia
Days: 2
Paid hours: 8.0
Jay
Days: 1
Paid hours: 5.5
Total
Days:
Paid hours: 136.0
The rules it follows
1.
A keyholder opens and closes every day. Priya, Tom or Lucy is always on the open and the close.
2.
Rest between shifts. UK adult workers are entitled to 11 hours' rest between working days. The closest gap here is Tom closing Tuesday at 5:45pm and opening Wednesday at 8:45am: 15 hours.
3.
A day off each week. Everyone has at least one full day off, meeting the weekly rest entitlement of 24 hours each week.
4.
Under the 48-hour average. Nobody works more than 39.25 hours, well under the 48-hour average limit.
5.
Young worker limits. Jay is 17, so he gets a 30-minute break on his 6-hour shift (required after 4.5 hours for under-18s) and stays within 8 hours a day and 40 a week.
6.
Lunch cover. The midday shift covers breaks and the lunchtime rush Monday to Saturday.
At an illustrative average of £12.50 an hour, 136 hours is £1,700 a week in wages. Add employer National Insurance and pension contributions for those above the thresholds, and use your actual rates and contracts. Comparing that total with weekly sales gives your labour cost percentage.
Build this rota in Rosterly
Add keyholder as a skill, set up the shift types and copy the week forward. 14-day free trial, no card needed.
Before publishing, check the rota against a few bad days:
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If Priya is off sick on Monday, Tom closes and Lucy, who isn't rostered, is the only other keyholder. Ask Lucy to open, or ask Tom to do a long day within his limits.
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If Saturday is busier than expected, Mia and Jay are already in, so the next option is extending Sam's close earlier.
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If Lucy is on holiday in the same week Priya is, Sunday has no keyholder at all and Thursday loses its opener. Avoid approving those two holidays together.
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In December, most small shops trade longer hours. Add a late shift and recheck the 11-hour gap for anyone opening the next morning.
Testing two or three of these before you publish finds the gaps while there's still time to fix them.
Adapting it to your shop
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Longer hours? Add a late shift and move the close later; keep the 11-hour gap before any open.
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Busier Saturdays? Add a second midday or student shift.
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One keyholder away? Train a third person so open and close are always covered.
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School holidays? Offer students extra weekday shifts, within any limits for under-18s.
Keyholder skill: "keyholder" is a skill on people and shifts, checked before anyone is assigned.
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Next week: copy this week forward, and the copies arrive unassigned for you to fill.
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Swaps: a request to swap the Saturday close is checked for a keyholder before it's even sent, and a manager approves it.
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Clocking in: staff clock in on their phones, and unpaid breaks come off paid time automatically.
Rosterly doesn't check rest between shifts, the 48-hour average or young worker limits for you, so keep those rules in mind when building. See staff rota software for retail stores.