Release Notes: The Beta Version (December 2025)

Beta Version

Buddy is getting a new look and significant improvements throughout the product.

As this update brings substantial changes, we have rolled-out a Beta Version throughout December for some clients. 

This update will take effect on all accounts between the 9th and 11th of January 2026. Here are the actions we recommend before this update:

• Review the release notes 
• Plan any configurations that would need to be updated when switching to the new verision
• Recommended: Download a Leave Situation Report.
  As Leave entitlements/balances may change, you might want to compare current vs new balances.
  If you would like to retain the previous entitlements, we recommend Importing Leave Adjustments in Bulk from .xlsx Spreadsheets of Manual type for any changes you want to revise.
  
  This is especially important for those who will process 2025 leave after this update.
   
• Update the Tax Rates for married and parent employees before the first payroll.

Summary of Changes

Here is a brief idea of what to expect in this update:

• An updated interface, including new Quality of Life features, such as a Search functionality within the employee profiles
  
• New leave entitlement system that supports custom and intricate leave entitlement rules
• An upgraded notification system for notices and key communication
• An update to the employee portal, with support for employee input to correct personal details

Read through the detailed release notes below:

Release Notes

General User Experience and User Interface

• Update: Notification Module
  
  The notification module has gotten a significant update. Now it becomes clearer when new notifications are posted, such as when an update has been released.
  
  
• Update: User Interface
  
  Buddy has received a new look, maintaining a similar layout with improved functionality. An example of this would be the Date Calendars. 
  
   
• Update: Table Views
  
  Table views have been updated with the following changes:
  • New Aesthetic cohesive with the rest of the interface
  • Custom Layout: Toggle which columns to show, and sort the columns using drag and drop
    (e.g.: The Payslips Table)
    
  • Sortable Data: Sort data by any column
    Example: Payslips table sorted by SSC high-to-low
    

Leave Management

The leave management has gotten a complete rehaul. Here are some of the key changes:

• New Setting: Skip Public Holidays when applying for leave
  We have removed any default behaviour and are now relying on this setting to give flexibility to all companies.
• New: Balance Breakdown
  When adding or editing a leave application, you can now review the Balance tab and hover over the amount to understand how this is calculated.
• Option to Override the Average Weekly Pay and Occupational Average Weekly Pay at the application level

Custom Leave Rules

You can now create custom entitlements, which can be subset by specific conditions (e.g. service length, departments, or tags).

These entitlements can be expressed in terms of hours, days, or weeks.

People Page

• New: Custom Fields
  
  In the Settings page, you can now create Custom Fields. These can be placed in different Sections (like the general Agreement, tax details, etc.)
  
  Users can mark these fields as required and select various Field Types, such as Dates and drop-downs.
  
  
   
• New: Search Employee and Arrow Navigation
  
  When viewing an employee profile, you can quickly navigate or search to other employee profiles, without returning to the People page:
  
   
• New: Salary Pay Items now have optional fields for Start and End dates.
  
  When required to pay an item for a few months (e.g. the next 6 months), using Start and End dates is useful to avoid notes and manual interventions.
  

Payroll

•  New: Dynamic Payslip Notes
  
  You can set up Payslip Notes to show when there is a specific pay element within the payslip. These can be set up either at the Payroll level or within the Company Settings for multiple payrolls. 
  
  
• New: Custom Leave Names
  Within the Company Settings, you can configure the display name of each leave type, allowing you to customise what employees see in their payslip.
• Update: The payslip Preview button will now open a .pdf preview within Buddy, without requiring a download (which is now optional). 
• New: Payroll Actions
  • Multiple items have been grouped into the Actions drop-down, including new options:
    • Reset Ready Payslips
      Un-saves all payslips, allowing you to make changes (e.g. to pay dates) or re-import pay items without opening payslips one by one.
    • Clear Pay Elements
      Clears all inputs of allowances and pay items from all payslips.
    • Fetch Coding Notices from HMRC
      This has been moved from the Notifications page

Payroll History

• Update: Payroll History View
  The payroll history views are now converted into a single view that can be customised per user. Users can customise which element to view:

Reports

• New: Report Preview
  
  Within the Reports page, you will now see an eye icon which will allow you to view reports within Buddy. 
  
  The preview includes a search to filter data, sort, and scroll bars to view all data without requiring the download and opening of the reports in a spreadsheet software. 
  
  

Settings

• New: Holiday Pay History upload

  Within the settings page, you can upload the Holiday Pay History for previous pay periods. This will be used for calculations of the Average Weekly Pay.

• New: Holiday Pay item type

  Custom pay items can now be created of type Holiday Pay, which will use average weekly pay as a basis of calculation.

Employee Portal

The changes to the employee portal come with a set of new Employee Portal Settings for companies to manage different levels of access for their employees.

• New: Leave applications include transparency of the leave balance calculation and the breakdown of pay, similar to what payroll admins see.
• New: App Clock-in
  Mobile Clock-In can now be enabled, which provides Punch-in and Punch-out functionality within the Buddy Employee app
• New: Employee Portal submissions
  Employees can update some personal details within their portal. These will require review from payroll/HR admins before taking effect.
  
• New: The employee portal now also supports the new notification module.
• Update: User Interface
  Similar to the main app, the tables have been adjusted to allow for custom selection and sorting.

Bureau (Advisor)

• New: Copy Configuration to a New Company

  Instead of creating new companies from scratch, you can now copy existing company configuration to create another client with similar configuration.

• New: Client Notes

  Bureau users now have access to a note editor. These notes are created at a client level.
  These notes can also be pinned for visibility when working on these client accounts.