Quarterly EA return generation
This article shows how to generate a quarterly EA return in Skiplog, from the notes you logged in the yard to the CSV file you send off. The export is one action: Skiplog writes the quarter's transfer notes into an EA-specified column layout, so you do not reformat anything by hand.
Skiplog is not open yet, so anything on this page about what it does is what it is being built to do.
What this article covers
You need this at the end of a quarter, when the yard's loads have to go to the Environment Agency as one return rather than a drawer of tickets.
Skiplog generates the quarterly EA return as a one-click CSV export in an EA-specified column layout, ready to submit without manual reformatting. The work is not in the export itself, it is in making sure the quarter's transfer notes are all in Skiplog before you press it. On the Team plan the return columns can be configured for your area office, so the file comes out in the order that office asks for.
Skiplog helps you meet the reporting requirement. The figures in the file are the figures you recorded, so the check before the export is the part that matters.
Generating the return
- Log the quarter's loads as they happen
Every digital waste transfer note you complete during the quarter, with waste type, EWC code, quantity, carrier details and destination site, is what the return is built from. A load that was never written down cannot appear in the file.
- Clear anything still sitting on a tablet
Notes written in a black spot save on the device first and carry a queued, syncing or synced status. Open Skiplog on that tablet with signal so the queue goes through before you export, otherwise those loads are not yet part of the quarter's records.
- Check your site details are right
Skiplog holds your site's name, address and postcode, permit or exemption number and region. The return is headed with those details, so a typo in the permit number travels into the file.
- On the Team plan, set the column layout you submit in
Return columns configured for your area office are part of the Team plan. Arrange them once to match the return that office expects, and the export keeps using that layout quarter after quarter. On the Yard plan the return comes out as a ready-to-submit CSV in the EA-specified layout.
- Export the quarter as a CSV
Pick the quarter and export. Skiplog writes the quarter's notes into the CSV in the EA-specified column layout, ready to submit as it comes out, with no retyping and no reshuffling of columns in a spreadsheet.
- Submit the file, then keep it
You send the file to the Environment Agency yourself. On the Team plan, every return you have generated is saved with its totals, so a return you have already sent can be re-downloaded unchanged if anyone asks for it later.
If the export is not what you expected
Work through it in this order.
- A load is missing. Find the note in your records. If it is not there, it was never written, or it is still queued on a device. Sync that device and export again.
- The tonnage looks wrong. Check the quantity on the notes for that quarter against your weighbridge tickets. The return reports what the notes say.
- The columns are not in your area office's order. Configuring the return columns for your area office is part of the Team plan. On that plan, change the layout and export the quarter again.
- The site details on the file are wrong. Correct them on your site's details, then take a fresh export.
Still stuck, or the file will not come out at all, email support@getskiplog.com with the quarter you were exporting and we will look at it with you.
Questions
Does Skiplog submit the return to the Environment Agency for me?
No. Skiplog generates the CSV in an EA-specified column layout, ready to submit without reformatting. Sending it to the EA is still your step.
Do I have to reformat the CSV before I send it?
No. That is the point of the export: the columns come out in the EA-specified layout, so the file goes as it is rather than through a spreadsheet tidy-up.
Can I change the column order?
On the Team plan, yes. Return columns configured for your area office are listed as part of that plan, so the layout can be arranged to match what the office asks for and the export then uses it.
What happens to notes that were written with no signal?
They save on the device first and show a queued, syncing or synced status, then sync automatically when connectivity returns. Once they have synced they are part of the quarter's records and appear in the export.
Can I download a return I have already sent?
On the Team plan, yes. Saved returns you can re-download unchanged are listed as part of that plan, so a return already sent to the EA can be pulled again exactly as it went.
Is the quarterly return included on the cheaper plan?
Yes. The Yard plan at £39 a month includes the quarterly EA return as a ready-to-submit CSV. Configured return columns and saved returns you can re-download sit on the Team plan at £69 a month. Each plan carries a 30-day free trial, and starting it needs no card.