An alternative to Defra's receipt of waste spreadsheet
If you are keying every load you take in into Defra's receipt of waste spreadsheet, this is the page you wanted: Skiplog is built to produce those rows for you, in the column order the template expects. You write the note once at the weighbridge, then pick a date range and export the receipts for upload.
The second pass nobody costed for
Your day is already written down. The weighbridge ticket, the job sheet on the clipboard, the carrier's registration number copied off his card, a binder of transfer notes in date order. None of that went away on 1 October. What was added is a second pass: the loads your site takes in have to be reported to Defra's receipt of waste service, on their spreadsheet template and nobody else's, inside two working days of the waste arriving.
So a yard that already records each load once now records it twice. Once in the hut when the lorry is on the plate, and once again in the evening, in the office, into a template whose columns sit in somebody else's order. The typing is the easy part to describe and the hard part to live with: it happens after the gates shut, on the day you are most likely to get a digit wrong, and a wrong row comes back as a bounced upload with the two-day clock still running.
Skiplog is built for that second pass. The note is written once on the tablet in the hut, and the receipts screen gives back the rows for the Defra template, in the template's column order, for your yard to upload.
What you are actually choosing between
There are three honest routes out of the evening typing, and they are not priced or shaped the same.
- Keep typing into the template. The upload route itself costs you nothing in software. It costs you the second keying of every load, and it puts the whole record in a file that lives on one laptop.
- Buy a provider that reports through the service's interface. Defra publishes a list of providers whose software works with the service. Being on a list is a statement of compatibility, not an endorsement, and that route usually means handing over the submitting as well as the typing.
- Keep the spreadsheet route and stop typing twice. Write the note once in the yard, let the software assemble the rows, and stay the person who presses upload.
Skiplog takes the third route, on purpose. You keep the upload, which means you keep seeing exactly what went into Defra's service and when. In exchange, Skiplog does the part that is mechanical: carrying the receiver's details onto every row, putting the columns in the order the template asks for, and checking a row against the upload rules before it leaves the building.
Whether your site has to report at all is set by what the site does, not by how many lorries you run. Defra publishes a checker for that, and it is worth five minutes before you buy anything.
The same job, done two ways
| Part of the job | Defra's template by hand | With Skiplog |
|---|---|---|
| A load lands on the weighbridge | Write the ticket now, key the same load into the sheet later | Write the note once on a phone or tablet, built to take under two minutes |
| Receiver details on every row | Repeated down the sheet, load after load | Held once on the site screen and put on every row |
| Column order | Line your own columns up with the template by hand | Exported in the template's column order |
| A row Defra will not accept | Found when the upload bounces, with the clock running | Checked against the upload rules before the export, with the failing row linked to its fix |
| Knowing what is still unreported | A separate list, or memory | A dashboard card for overdue, due today and due tomorrow |
| Proof a load is in Defra's system | Wherever you filed the confirmation | Defra's waste tracking reference stored against the note |
| Pressing upload | You do it | You still do it. Skiplog makes the file |
From the weighbridge to Defra, typed once
- Fill in the receiver once
The site screen holds the receiver site name, the environmental permit or authorisation number and the contact details Defra wants against every load, so they are never typed per row again.
- Write the note in the hut
A digital waste transfer note with the EA-mandated fields: waste type, EWC code, quantity, carrier details and destination site, built to be completable in under two minutes on a phone or tablet.
- Capture the receipt fields on the same note
Date and time received and the rest of what the receipt of waste service asks for sit on the note form itself, so the record you keep and the row you report come from one piece of typing.
- Save it with no bars
Notes save to the device first and carry a visible queued, syncing or synced status, then sync on their own when the signal comes back. The hut at the back of the yard is not a reason to go back to paper.
- Have the rows checked before you export
Receipt rows are run against Defra's upload rules on the receipts screen, and the same check runs on the note form when you save, so a field that would fail is caught while the lorry is still in front of you.
- Export the date range
On the receipts screen, pick the dates and export. Only rows that pass go in the file, the screen says how many were held back, and each failing row links to the place it is fixed.
- Upload, then mark them reported
After the download Skiplog asks whether the batch went into Defra. Confirm, and every note in it is stamped as reported, with room to record the waste tracking reference it was accepted under.
- Watch the clock, and the rejections
A dashboard card lists the loads not yet reported as overdue, due today and due tomorrow against the two working day deadline. If Defra rejects one, mark it rejected with the date on the notice and work to the fresh deadline that sets.
Why a small yard would bother
One keying per load
The ticket is typed in the hut, by the person who weighed it, while the detail is in front of them. Nothing is retyped in the office at seven in the evening.
The columns are the template's problem, not yours
The export is written in the receipt of waste template's column order, so nothing has to be cut, pasted or shuffled before it goes up.
A bad row found before the bounce
Rows are checked against the upload rules first. The yard learns which load is wrong while there is still time inside the two days, instead of after a rejection.
No separate list of what you still owe
Unreported loads are grouped overdue, due today and due tomorrow on the dashboard, so the deadline is tracked by the same system that holds the notes.
Built for the hut, not the office
Capture is offline first, with the sync status printed on the note, so a black spot delays the sending and not the recording.
The quarterly return lives in the same place
One record feeds both jobs: the receipts export for Defra, and the quarterly EA return as a one click CSV in a configurable EA column layout, ready to submit without reformatting.
What it costs a one site yard
Annual, £1,188 a year
The same product for £99 a month, billed once a year, with a 60 day free trial. One site, unlimited transfer notes, unlimited registrations tracked. Includes receipt of waste rows ready for Defra's spreadsheet, for your yard to upload.
Monthly, £129 a month
The same product paid month by month, cancel whenever you like, with a 60 day free trial. Same limits, same features, including the receipts export and the quarterly EA return CSV.
Questions
Does Skiplog replace Defra's spreadsheet or feed it?
It feeds it. Skiplog is built to export your receipt rows in the column order Defra's template uses, and your yard uploads that file to the receipt of waste service. You keep the upload, so you can see exactly what went in and when.
Is Skiplog approved by Defra?
No. Defra publishes a list of software providers whose products work with the service, and appearing on a list is a statement of compatibility rather than an endorsement of any product. Skiplog is written to help you meet the reporting requirements through the spreadsheet route, and makes no claim to guarantee a compliance outcome.
How long do I have to report a load I have taken in?
Defra's guidance for reporting receipt of waste sets a deadline of two working days from receiving the waste. Skiplog's dashboard card groups the loads not yet reported as overdue, due today and due tomorrow against that deadline.
We have been doing it on paper since October. Can we catch up?
Notes you record in Skiplog can be exported for any date range you pick, and the dashboard will show the ones not yet marked as reported. Anything already uploaded by hand you mark as reported so it stops appearing. Skiplog cannot report past loads for you, because the upload stays with your yard.
What happens if Defra rejects a row?
Mark the receipt as rejected with the date on the rejection notice, and Skiplog sets the fresh deadline that date carries so the corrected load does not quietly slip past it. The Defra reference a load was accepted under is stored against the note, so a later correction can be shown with the reference it went in on.
Does it work at the weighbridge with no signal?
Capture is offline first. A note saves to the device before any network call and carries a visible queued, syncing or synced status, then syncs automatically when connectivity returns.
Do I still get the quarterly EA return?
Yes. The same notes produce the quarterly return as a one click CSV in a configurable EA specified column layout, ready to submit without manual reformatting, and the dashboard shows notes logged, tonnage by waste type and a compliance status overview.
Can I start today?
Not yet. Skiplog is pre launch and the waitlist is open. Both plans, Annual at £1,188 a year and Monthly at £129 a month, begin with a 60 day free trial, and sign in is by email and password.