Why can't I edit my timesheet when it still says Awaiting approval?

Last updated: September 14, 2026

Applies to: workers whose hours are entered or confirmed by their staffing agency or by the client, rather than typed in by the worker. If you enter all your own time in the Ascen portal, you can normally edit it yourself and this usually won't apply to you.

Summary: Normally you can change a timesheet while it's still awaiting approval. But if your agency or the client already sent us those hours or confirmed the shift, the entry is locked even though the status still reads Awaiting approval. The correction has to come from whoever confirmed the shift.

Why the entry is locked

Awaiting approval describes where the timesheet is in the approval chain — it doesn't necessarily mean nobody has touched it. On many assignments the hours don't start with you:

  • Your agency emails us the week's hours and we enter them for you.

  • The client or on-site manager confirms the shift and that confirmation reaches us.

  • The shift comes from a gig or scheduling app after the business approves it there.

In all three cases the entry represents someone else's record of what you worked. Letting you overwrite it would quietly replace their confirmation, so the fields are locked and the change has to be agreed with them first.

What to do

  1. Work out who submitted the hours. If you didn't type them in, it was your staffing agency, the client, or your scheduling app.

  2. Raise the correction with them directly. Tell them the date, what the entry currently shows, and what it should say. This matters most when you're disputing a shift you didn't work — only the party that confirmed it can withdraw that confirmation.

  3. They confirm the correction with us, and we update the entry. You don't need to send it to us separately as well.

If you entered the hours yourself and still can't edit them

Then something else is going on — most often the timesheet has already been approved, or the assignment has been marked complete. See Unable to Submit Timesheet: Assignment Appears Closed or Ended and What to do if you can't enter or submit your timesheet.

Who to contact

  • Your staffing Partner, the client, or your scheduling app: disputing or correcting hours they submitted or confirmed, and shifts you did not work.

  • Ascen — support@ascen.com: once the correction has been agreed, or if you can't tell who submitted the entry.

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