April 2010 Update

The 2010/11 tax year passed without incident. It would appear that our Uniwage payroll customers successfully ran their year ends and electronically filed in the region of 100,000 P14s with ease.

Although the last major release was v4.13, the next one will be v4.15. There was an interim v4.14 but this was not distributed to many customers as it really just contained some elements for a few customers.

One of the main enhancements in v4.15 will be the introduction of support for the new MED3 form, "Statement of Fitness for Work", or "Fit Notes" as they have been dubbed. These can be be linked to an absence if appropriate.

Also, starting from July this year is a new Vetting and Barring scheme for all employees that require a CRB check. To start, new employees will have to register with the Independent Safeguarding Authority and provide their new employer with a ‘ISA Number’. Employers will the use this number to make checks on the suitability of the employee. This scheme will be mandatory for all employees as of November 2010. Existing employees will go through a phased process of joining the new scheme throughout 2011.

From Unistaff v4.15, you will be able to store the employee's ISA number, and also the ISA number for applicants in the Recruitment module.

Another feature we're introducing (asked for by many customers) is the facility to retain the filter used when searching for employees. For example, you search for employees and filter on the "Sales" department. Then you select an employee from the search, which displays in the current screen. Now, moving backwards and forwards through the employees on the screens will only browse through those employees who were included in your search. This is an optional feature per user for those who do not want to use it.

More details of v4.15 will follow soon.

You may have seen on our website, Facebook page or Twitter feed that we recently regained our Investors in People award with some very positive comments about the calibre of the staff at Carval. There is a good team behind the software and support you receive and we are very proud of that.

Finally, we'd be interested to hear from anyone using our Unitend Time and Attendance software who uses the Archive and Restore Clockings facility. We do not think anyone is using this any more and are looking to remove it in the next release, but obviously we will think again if people are using it. This question will also be asked in the next edition of the email newsletter.