CaliDiary lets councils and local services offer appointments on their own WordPress website. Residents book a free appointment or a place at an information session, answer the questions your team needs, and are reminded before they come. Appointments that need an eligibility check can be held until staff confirm them, and residents' details stay on your own website.
Westbrook Council Customer CentreBook an appointment
Live demoCheck and confirm
Demo only: a made-up business. Nothing is sent or stored.
Made-up businesses, real CaliDiary features. Each example names the features that do the work.
Westbrook Council (a made-up council) moves its housing advice from a walk-in queue to booked appointments. Residents pick a time online, answer a few questions about their situation, and get a reminder the day before, with a link to cancel if they can no longer come, which frees the time for someone else.
Some services are only for residents who meet certain conditions. For those, the team chooses I'll confirm each booking myself: the time is held while staff check the answers, then they accept or decline, and the resident is told either way.
A free information evening about a local scheme is set up as a group session with 40 places and up to 2 places per booking. It stops taking bookings when it is full, and the attendee list downloads as a spreadsheet.
On Pro, each customer centre is a location with its own staff and services. Residents choose the centre nearest to them first, then see only the times someone is working there.
One person, one customer, a set length.
AvailableAppointments several people can book at the same time.
AvailableThe time is held until you accept or decline.
AvailableNo price, no payment step.
AvailableAn example to adapt: change the names, lengths and prices to your own.
| Service | Length | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Housing advice appointment | 30 min | Free |
| General enquiry | 15 min | Free |
| Eligibility-checked appointmentRequests you approve | 30 min | Free |
| Information session40 places | 90 min | Free |
| Community room hire | 2 h | $30 |
Not every booking needs a price: free, pay later, bank transfer or card, chosen per service.
Hold the time and decide yourself whether to accept or decline each booking.
Every customer can book, by keyboard, screen reader or touch. Tested to WCAG 2.2 AA.
Bookings and customer details stay in your own website. We never see them, so never sell them.
Customers choose where to come first; each place has its own people and services.
A hidden spam trap and booking limits, and Google reCAPTCHA with your own keys.
One adviser at one office can run free appointments on the free plan. Most council services have several staff and often more than one site, which needs Pro: unlimited people and locations, with each person's own hours and services. Pro covers 3 websites, if services keep separate sites.
A council's booking page has to work for every resident: people using screen readers, people on old phones, people who are anxious about the visit. CaliDiary's booking form is built and tested to WCAG 2.2 AA. It works by keyboard alone, announces changes to screen readers, keeps readable contrast in light and dark mode, and reflows on small screens without sideways scrolling. Details on accessible booking.
Most council appointments cost the resident nothing. In CaliDiary a service with no price simply books straight through. Where a service does charge, such as hiring a community room, you choose when it is paid and show your payment instructions with the resident's booking reference. More in free and paid bookings.
Appointments, answers and notes are stored in your own WordPress database and never reach CaliDiary's servers. Uploaded files (Solo and Pro) sit in a private folder that blocks web access. When a resident asks for a copy of their data, or for it to be erased, WordPress's own tools include CaliDiary. Your own information governance team decides how long data is kept and how your privacy notice describes it.
Every booking confirmation and reminder email has a link to view or cancel, so residents who can't come free their time for someone else. Staff see upcoming, past and cancelled appointments on the Overview screen, and the lists download as spreadsheets for reporting.
Public booking pages attract spam. Every form has a hidden spam trap and a limit on how many bookings one visitor can make in a short time; Google reCAPTCHA can be added with your own keys. Approving bookings yourself adds a human check for services where a fake booking would cost a real resident a slot.
On Pro, staff sign in on your own website without WordPress dashboard access and see their own diary, and team leaders can be given access to everything at their location. Video appointments get their own meeting link, and two-way calendar sync keeps staff calendars in step (Solo and Pro). Text reminders are on the roadmap. See every feature and its plan on the features page.
Office hours, careers and advice appointments, and workshops with a set number of places.
Free advice appointments and call-backs, with sensitive details kept on your own site.
Parents' evenings, school tours and admissions meetings, booked free online.
Visa, passport and document appointments, with uploads and checks before confirming.
Start on the free plan, with no booking limit. Upgrade only when you need to.
