Written once, in the moment.
Never rebuilt at the end of a shift.
Every one of these is a way the record fills itself as staff do their jobs. The daily journal and the handover are compiled from logs that already exist, rather than written again from memory once the young people are settled.
Daily logs
Staff log a moment in seconds: education, health, behaviour, activities, photos. Structured, quick, and linkable to a plan goal so the log visibly evidences the plan.
Daily journal
The day's record, compiled from the logs staff already wrote. Draft, submitted, manager sign-off, fully versioned.
Shift handovers
Key information flows to the next shift automatically, structured and with manager review — rather than reconstructed from scattered notes.
Keywork sessions
Structured one-to-ones: theme, the young person's own words, agreed actions. Viewable per young person or across the home, so nobody's sessions quietly lapse.
Wishes & feelings
What the young person wants and how they feel, in their words. Participation evidence that accumulates rather than being produced for a review.
Contact logs
Family visits, professional meetings, calls. Planned versus actual, supervised or not, outcome, and any concerns.
Activities, rewards & sanctions
Outings and clubs, positive recognition, proportionate consequences, and a points ledger with a running balance.
Finances
Pocket money, savings and allowances with a running balance and manager reconciliation.
Appointments
Medical, CAMHS, dental and education appointments, with attendees and outcomes.
Tasks
Assigned and recurring work. A repeating task appears on schedule whether or not the last one was ticked, so a missed daily check still shows up tomorrow.
Voice notes
Speak it on your phone; it's transcribed into the record. UK-only.
Mobile & tablet
A phone surface for logging on shift, and a tablet for clock in and out.
The handover is where continuity is won or lost.
There is no such thing as a harmless handover mistake in residential care. Every gap about a recent incident, an emerging risk or an agreed action raises the chance that something is missed on the next shift.
The usual failure is not carelessness. It is a system that makes staff reconstruct context — reading back through a day's separate entries to work out what the next shift needs to know. Arc carries the events, risks and open actions forward on its own, and a manager reviews what goes across.
Structure that prevents gaps
- Structured prompts reduce incomplete entries
- Mandatory fields prevent missing information
- Incidents stay open until formally resolved
- Manager sign-off ensures accountability
- Handovers and daily journals populate automatically
Logs that evidence the plan
A daily log can be linked to a goal in a care, education or behaviour plan. Progress then comes from real recorded activity rather than being asserted at review time.
It also means that when a plan is reviewed, the evidence for it is already attached — which is the same evidence a Regulation 45 review draws on.
Give the evening back to the young people.
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