Getting started

How sector buckets work

Each sector you operate in lives as a self-contained bucket with its own shifts, roles, on-costs and Terms of Business.

A "sector bucket" is a self-contained set of settings for one sector you operate in. Open Settings -> Sectors to see every bucket you have configured, side by side.

Settings page showing two sectors as cards side by side (Driving & Logistics and Healthcare), each with shift / role / cost item counts and an Open settings link
Each card is one bucket. Add as many as you operate in.

What each bucket carries

Open a bucket and you'll see eight sub-tabs, each scoped to that one sector:

Sector detail view showing the eight sub-tabs across the top: Shifts, Roles, Cost items, Quote defaults, Framework caps, Rate add-ons, ToB clauses, Content boilerplate
Eight independent slots per sector. Editing healthcare's cost items can never affect a driving quote.
  • Shift types — e.g. driving has Saturday Day and Saturday Night, hospitality has Lunch Service and Dinner Service
  • Roles and pay rates
  • Cost items (drivers negligence, DBS, PPE etc)
  • Quote defaults (holiday %, NI %, pension %, levy %, payment terms, margin)
  • Framework rate caps (NHSP, Crown Commercial, regional buying groups)
  • Built-in rate add-ons (DNI, public liability, indemnity)
  • Terms of Business clauses
  • Content boilerplate (intro paragraph, "what's included", "why this rate" defaults)

Why buckets, and not one shared set?

In the old model, healthcare shift edits could drift into a driving quote because everything sat in one shared catalog. Buckets stop that. If you operate driving and healthcare, you get two separate buckets, each with their own defaults, and a builder dropdown to pick which bucket a new quote pulls from.

Adding a new bucket

Settings -> Sectors -> "Add sector". Pick one of the built-in packs (one-click setup) or create a custom blank bucket and configure it yourself.

Add sector modal showing the five built-in starter packs as radio options plus a custom-blank option
Five built-in packs cover the main UK recruitment sectors. Custom starts blank — pick this when you operate in a niche the packs don't fit.

Topping up an existing bucket from a pack

If you started a bucket blank and later want to merge in a pack's roles, or we update a pack with new content you want to pull in, open the bucket and click "Top up from pack". You'll see a diff of what would be added vs what's already present, then a one-click apply. Existing items are never overwritten — dedup is by trimmed lowercase label.

Top up from pack modal showing the diff preview: a list of pack options on the left and a Preview section showing shifts / roles / cost items / rate add-ons with +N added vs M already present
The diff preview shows exactly what will land before you commit. Click "Add N items" to apply, or Cancel to walk away.

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Last updated: 2026-06-29. Did this not answer your question? Click the chat bubble bottom-right or email hello@ratecalc.io.

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