Defra rejected a load: what to do, and the new clock
If Defra's waste tracking service has rejected a load you reported, the work is to find the right note, fix what the service objected to, and get the load back in before the correction window closes. Skiplog is built so that a rejection is marked on the load itself, with the date off the notice, the reason beside it, and a fresh deadline counted from that date.
The rejection never arrives at the weighbridge
A rejection turns up after the fact. The skip has gone back out, the lorry is on another job, and someone in the office is looking at a notice that says one of the loads you reported was not accepted.
That is where the time goes. The load is one line among many in a batch, so first somebody works out which ticket it was. Then they work out what the service objected to, which usually means reading the reason off the notice and holding it in their head while they open the register. Then they work out when the corrected row is due back, counted from the date on the notice rather than the day it was noticed, because those are rarely the same day.
Done on paper, that is a highlighter, a printout and a note on the back of a diary. Done in a spreadsheet, it is a second list that only one person understands and that nobody updates when the correction finally goes in. Either way the yard is tracking the regulator's answer somewhere other than where the load is recorded, and the clock is running while it does.
Skiplog is built to keep the answer and the load in the same place.
What happens when you mark a load rejected
- Open the receipt Defra sent back
Find the load on the register, the one already marked as reported under the reference it went in with. A reported receipt carries a 'Defra rejected this' action.
- Type the date on the notice and the reason given
Both are kept with that load, not in a side list. The date is the one printed on the rejection notice, because that is the date the correction window is counted from, not the day the notice was opened.
- A new deadline is set from that date
Skiplog counts two working days from the rejection notice and puts that deadline on the load, so the yard is working to the regulator's clock rather than its own memory of when the email came in.
- The load returns to the list still to report
A rejected receipt stops counting as reported. It goes back among the loads waiting to go into Defra's service, and stays there until someone confirms it has gone in again.
- Correct the note, and the correction is flagged too
If the note already carries a Defra reference, correcting or removing it marks the note Correction to report to Defra, so the change is not quietly made in Skiplog and left out of Defra's service.
Corrections to a load Defra has already accepted
A rejection is the loud case. The quiet one is worse: a load that went in fine, was accepted, and then turns out to be wrong. A weight read off the wrong ticket, a carrier typed from the load before it, a waste description that the office changes a week later.
In a paper register that correction is simply made. The register is now right and Defra's copy is now wrong, and nothing on the yard's side says so.
Skiplog is built to make that impossible to miss. When a note that already has a Defra reference is corrected or removed, it is marked Correction to report to Defra. Skiplog keeps the reference the load went in under, together with the old value and the new value of whatever changed, so the person who makes the change in Defra's service knows exactly which record to open and exactly what to change on it, and can show later what was altered and when.
The reference itself is covered on its own page, and the two-working-day clock on loads you have not reported yet is covered on another. This page is about what happens after the service has answered.
What that changes for a small yard
Something to show afterwards
The date and reason off the notice, the reference the load was accepted under, and the old and new value of whatever changed are all held on that record, so a question months later has an answer that does not depend on anyone's recollection.
No second list to keep
The regulator's answer sits on the register beside the waste, the weight, the carrier and the destination. Nothing is tracked in a spreadsheet that only one person opens, so there is no reconciling two accounts of the same load.
The deadline appears where the work already is
A rejected load rejoins the loads still to report, under the deadline counted from its notice, so it shows up in the same place as everything else waiting to go into Defra's service rather than in a separate reminder.
Written down while it is fresh
The reason is typed once, the day the notice is read, by whoever read it. The person who fixes the row a day later does not have to go back to an inbox to find out what the service objected to.
Having this in place before the next notice lands
Skiplog is not open yet. It is being built for UK skip yards and transfer stations with a handful of staff and no compliance clerk, and the waitlist is how you get told when it opens and get first use of the trial.
When it does open, both plans carry the same product and a 60-day free trial: Annual at £1,188 a year, which works out at £99 a month billed once, and Monthly at £129 a month. One site, unlimited transfer notes, unlimited registrations tracked. Card payments run through Stripe, and the application and its database are hosted on Amazon Web Services. You sign in with an email address and a password.
If you want to see the rest of the reporting path first, the sibling pages cover exporting receipt rows in Defra's column order, catching the rows that would bounce before you upload them, keeping the reference against every accepted load, and knowing which loads are still inside their two working days.
Questions
How long do I have to put a rejected load right?
Skiplog counts two working days from the date you enter off the rejection notice and shows that deadline on the load, so the yard is working to the date the regulator printed rather than the day the notice was opened. Defra's receipt of waste guidance sets the reporting window for receiving sites in working days; check the current GOV.UK guidance for your own circumstances.
Does Skiplog resubmit the corrected load to Defra for me?
No. Skiplog records the rejection, the reason and the deadline, and prepares the row. Someone at the yard makes the change in Defra's waste tracking service. Skiplog helps you meet the requirement rather than guaranteeing the outcome.
What if the load was accepted and we only find the mistake later?
Correct or remove the note as normal. Because the note already carries a Defra reference, Skiplog marks it Correction to report to Defra and keeps the reference it went in under along with the old and new value of what changed, so the correction can be made in Defra's service and shown later.
Where is the rejection reason kept?
On the receipt record itself. Skiplog stores the date and the reason from the rejection notice against that note, alongside the batch it was reported in, its reported mark and its Defra reference.
What can we show later about a correction?
The record holds the Defra reference the load was accepted under, the date and reason from the rejection notice where there was one, and the old and new value of whatever changed, so the change can be explained afterwards against the reference it went in with.
Is this on both plans?
Both plans are the same product. Annual is £1,188 a year, which is £99 a month billed once, and Monthly is £129 a month. Both start with a 60-day free trial, and both include one site with unlimited transfer notes and registrations.
What happens to the record of a rejection if we leave Skiplog?
Records stay readable and exportable while the account is open, including after a trial lapses, because waste records have to span quarters and inspections. Deleting the account in Billing removes the account, the site and every record on it at once, so download anything the regulator still needs from you first.