Unpaid Shifts? How to Track What You're Owed
A practical UK guide to recording hours and proving outstanding pay.
If you've worked a shift and still haven't been paid for it, you're not alone. Unpaid and late wages are one of the most common disputes UK security guards raise — and employment tribunal records show it regularly ends up in formal claims for unlawful deduction of wages, sometimes worth thousands of pounds in unpaid hours.
The problem is usually the same: no clear record of what was worked, for who, and when.
Why security guards are especially at risk
Most guards don't work for one company. You might do days for one firm, nights for another, and cover the odd event shift for a third. Each company has its own rate, its own pay cycle, and its own way of confirming hours. When you're relying on memory, a Notes app, or a stack of shift confirmation texts, it's easy to lose track — and easy for a company to “lose” a shift too.
What to do if you haven't been paid
- Check your written agreement or shift confirmation for the agreed rate and hours.
- Log the shift yourself — start time, end time, breaks, site, and company — the moment it happens, not days later from memory.
- Follow up in writing (email or text, not just a phone call) so there's a timestamped record of you raising it.
- Escalate if unresolved — most pay disputes start with a formal payroll query before going any further.
Why your own records matter more than you think
In disputed pay cases, the guard's own shift log is often the deciding piece of evidence. If a company says the hours “don't match,” a dated, detailed log — not a guess — is what settles it.
A simple way to keep that record
This is exactly why we built Shiftaan — a personal shift and pay tracker for guards working across multiple companies. Log a shift in under 30 seconds, and Shiftaan tracks what you've worked, what you're owed, and what's overdue — so if a company disputes a shift, your evidence is already there.
