Access Education Product Roadmaps

Increase Attachment Size Limits (User experience)

• Upload multiple files against a transaction up to limit of 10MB (previously 3MB)

Released: March 2026

Edit 'Central Transaction' on Purchase Invoices and Credit Notes (User experience)

• Users can edit the 'Central Transaction' checkbox on purchase invoices and credit notes up until the point they reach 'Paid' status.
• Greater flexibility

Released: March 2026

CFR Return 2025/26 Updates (Compliance)

• Ensures CFR codes and validation rules are fully aligned with the latest DfE technical specification, reducing compliance risk
• Minimises errors in CFR submissions by applying up-to-date validation logic and code structures
• Supports a smoother and faster CFR return workflow, helping finance teams meet deadlines with confidence

Released: March 2026

Credit Card Expense Import (Automation)

• Import expenses from credit card statement
• Eliminate line-by-line manual entry

Released: February 2026

Run Consolidated Transaction List Across Multiple Periods (Reporting)

• Central finance administrators have the ability to run consolidated transaction list across multiple periods, enabling easier period-to-period comparisons and more efficient financial reporting workflows

Released: January 2026

Approval Notifications in Access Evo Feed (User Experience)

• Actionable Evo Feed notifications
• Approval status updates
• Outstanding approval reminders

Released: December 2025

Fix Search on Reversals (User Experience)

• Quickly find specific transactions that need to be reversed
• Consistent search functionality across Finance

Released: November 2025

Supplier Bank Details on Create Invoice (User Experience)

• Eliminates the need to navigate to another screen to confirm bank details
• Minimises the risk of sending funds to the wrong account due to outdated or incorrect details
• Users can quickly verify payment information before finalising the invoice

Released: November 2025

Report Builder Enhancements (Reporting)

• Transaction data source added making it possible to report on a wider data set
• Drill-down capability makes it possible to see additional information in one place

Released: November 2025

Unified Access Evo Experience (User Experience)

• Education Finance opens within Access Evo tab
• Consistent UI across products
• Streamlined workflow management

Released: October 2025

Management Report Enhancements (Reporting)

• Remaining Profiled Budget column
• Percentage Variance column

Released: October 2025

Save Journals as Draft (User Experience)

• Additional journal types now support drafts: Payroll Payment, Bank Transfer, SBS Advance journal, Accrual Journal, VAT Payment Journal, VAT Journal, VAT Reimbursement, Prepayment Journal
• Return to complete journals without losing work
• Gather approvals before finalising transactions

Released: September 2025

Statement of Financial Activities Updates (Compliance)

• Updated the SoFA Assistant in line with the Academies Accounts Direction 2024/25
• Supports academies with the preparation of the SoFA

Released: September 2025

Chart of Accounts Code Updates (Compliance)

• Updated the CoA codes in line with the DfE 2024/25 specification
• Supports Better Financial Reporting program

Released: September 2025

Budget Holder Report Enhancement (Reporting)

• Ledger codes added to Transaction Details
• Improved visibility for budget holders

Released: August 2025

Purchase Requisition & Purchase Order Performance (Performance)

• Major performance upgrade to how purchase requisitions and purchase orders load in Education Finance
• Faster loading times

Released: June 2025

Report Performance (Performance)

• Major performance upgrade to how reports load in Education Finance
• Up to 90% faster loading times

Released: May 2025

Access Education Purchasing (Powered by Lightyear) (Integration/Automation)

• Multi-stage approval workflows
• Automated invoice data extraction
• Automated Supplier Statement Reconciliation
• Expense Management

Consolidated Report Enhancements (Reporting)

• Aged Debtor
• Aged Creditor
• Supplier List
• Customer List

Invoice Management Enhancements (User Experience)

• Draft purchase invoices
• Put invoices on hold
• Evo Feed notifications when supplier bank details are changed

Consistent Excel Export Functionality Across All Transaction Types (User Experience)

• Provide consistent Excel export functionality across all transaction types allowing finance teams to easily extract and analyse all transaction types in a standard format, saving time and reducing frustration caused by inconsistent features. Add support for:
  • Purchase Credit Notes
  • Sales Credit Notes
  • Sales Invoices

Open Banking Integration (Integration/Automation)

• Transactions are pulled directly from bank accounts in real time
• Eliminate manual upload of bank statements

Integration with NEW 'Access Assets' Management Tool (Integration/Reporting/User experience)

• Brand new fixed asset lifecycle management system.
• Integration between Access Assets and Education Finance will ensure a smooth user experience that saves time entering data into different systems.

Central Reporting Tool (Reporting)

• Brand new reporting tool that provides a MAT wide overview including:
  • Key insights
  • Up to date financial position
  • Benchmarking data
  • Personnel
  • Financial forecasting data
• Connects data from Access Education Finance, Budgets and People in one place

Improved Central Management across MAT (User Experience)

• Central purchase orders
• Multiple central bank accounts
• Manage budget check settings at school level

Amend Transactions (User Experience)

• Edit transactions prior to approval
• Maintain full audit trail
• Save time reinputting transactions

Reporting Enhancements (Reporting)

• Targeted improvements to Management report, Cashflow report (inc. rolling 12 month view) and Balance Sheet
• Drill-down capability

Comprehensive Audit Trail (Reporting/Compliance)

• Tracks every financial transaction, including who made changes, when, and what was changed
• Reduces the risk of fraud or misuse of funds by creating a clear record of activity
• Reduces the time and effort needed to prepare for audits or respond to queries

Apprenticeship Levy Enhancements (User experience)

• Apprenticeship Levy is now split across Teaching and Educational Support Staff and other Support Staff, these changes are in line with 2025/2026 DfE CoA updates.

Released: April 2026

Maternity Pay Adjustment Enhancements (Reporting)

• Budget for the cost of Maternity Pay in terms of salary, pension and NI
• Improved budget accuracy

Released: April 2026

ICFP Enhancements (ICFP)

• Timetable period field supports up to 2 decimal places
• View current staff allocations & subject requirements when deploying a staff member to the subject
• Resource plan view includes a link to the budget scenario

Released: March/April 2026

Staff Deployment Report (ICFP/Reporting)

• Provides an overview of the Contact and Non-Contact codes assigned to each staff member, along with Total, Resource Required, and Balance figures to present a comprehensive view of staff deployment across the Resource Plan.

Released: February 2026

2026/27 Budget Year Preparation (Compliance)

• Preparation of the budget year (inc. national insurance rates, statutory maternity pay)

Released: January 2026

Update CFR codes in line with DfE (Compliance)

• Ensures CFR codes are fully aligned with the latest DfE technical specification

Released: January 2026

Budget Monitoring Snapshot Enhancements (Reporting)

• Re-import scenario values
• Balance summaries included
• Enhanced variance displays
• Save custom layouts

Released: January 2026

Pay Scale Updates 2025 (Compliance)

• Up to date pay scales applied for Teachers, TLR, SEND and NJC 2019
• Improved budget accuracy

Released: December 2025

Published Scenario Notifications in Access Evo Feed (User Experience)

• Better understanding of which data is being included reports
• Reduced risk of running reports with incomplete data

Released: December 2025

Unified Access Evo Experience (User Experience)

• Education Budgets opens within Access Evo tab
• Consistent UI across products
• Streamlined workflow management

Released: October 2025

Central Profile Reports (Reporting)

• Monthly and yearly data breakdowns
• Consolidated income and expenditure profiles
• Consolidated Staff profile details

Released: October 2025

Central Grouped Budget Report (Reporting)

• View multiple school budgets together
• Key information in single report
• Eliminate multiple report runs

Released: September 2025

Mandatory Account Coding (User Experience)

• Enforce complete account coding
• Improve reporting accuracy

Released: August 2025

Display Pupil Numbers (User Experience/ICFP)

• Pupil Numbers visible on resource requirements
• Saves time looking up this information elsewhere

Released: August 2025

Staff Deployment View (User Experience/ICFP)

• Contact/Non-Contact split visibility
• Clear staff time allocation
• Better resource planning

Released: August 2025

Multi-Year Resource Planning (User Experience/ICFP)

• Update current + 4 future years
• Adjust subject and resource requirements across years
• Adjust staffing across years
• Long-term resource planning

Released: July 2025

Benchmarking Thresholds (User Experience/ICFP)

• Custom benchmarking RAG ratings
• Easily highlight metrics in summary views

Released: July 2025

Budget Forecast Return 2025 (Compliance)

• Updated BFR template for 2025
• Automatically import Finance actuals
• Automatically populate the actuals for the prior and current years

Released: June 2025

Budget Forecast Return Enhancements (Reporting/User experience/Integration)

• Automatically import actuals from Finance
• Improved accuracy
• Time savings

Integration with SIMS FMS Finance Next Generation (Integration)

• Add support for SIMS new cloud based FMS 'Finance Next Generation' ahead of customer migrations.

ICFP Enhancements (ICFP/Reporting)

• Update calculations for Available Teacher Periods and Deployed Teacher Periods so that they only include teaching staff
• Staff Costs By Subject Report- report that shows costs per subject per staff member to supplement the existing 'Total Cost per Subject' view

Central Reporting Tool (Reporting)

• Brand new reporting tool that provides a MAT wide overview including:
  • Key insights
  • Up to date financial position
  • Benchmarking data
  • Personnel
  • Financial forecasting data
• Connects data from Access Education Finance, Budgets and People in one place

Central Budget Management (Reporting)

• Centralized budget control across all academies
• Improved financial oversight for Multi-Academy Trusts

Central Forecasting Snapshots (Reporting)

• Real-time forecast visibility across all schools
• Comparative analysis and trend identification

Consolidated Reports (Reporting)

• Unified reporting across multiple academies
• Streamlined trust-level financial analysis

Comprehensive Audit Trail (Reporting/Compliance)

• Tracks every change made to budgets—who made it, when, and why
• Allows schools to review past budget decisions and outcomes to inform future planning
• Reduces the time and effort needed to prepare for audits or respond to queries

Allow two types of leave on the same day (User experience)

• More flexible leave management capabilities; reducing the need to use workarounds

Released: April 2026

Custom reporting data set for Grievances (Reporting)

• Create custom reports using Grievances data
• Monitor grievance process performance
• Track outstanding administrative tasks

Released: March 2026

Custom reporting data set for Training, Education & Qualifications (Reporting)

• Create custom reports using Training, Education & Qualifications data
• Analyse qualifications across teaching staff
• Report on the overall skillset of the workforce

Released: February 2026

Edu People Mail Merge via integrated Copilot (Integration)

• One-click drafting of templates
• Generate quality content quickly
• Save time on document creation

Released: January 2026

Phased Return Enhancement (User experience)

• Phased Return settings are retained when amending duration or start date
• Removes the need for re-keying data

Released: January 2026

Attachments indicator on Sickness records (User experience)

• Quick reference to see which records include attachments
• No need to open individual records to find attachments
• Time saved when browsing employee absence records

Released: November 2025

Sync data with Arbor & Bromcom MIS (Integration)

• Sync HR data with Arbor & Bromcom MIS
• Avoid duplicating effort
• Reduce risk of data entry errors

Released: November 2025

Improve error messages returned by ATS API (Integration)

• Quicker diagnosis of any issues that may arise with the ATS (Applicant Tracking System) API
• Greater clarity of remedial steps, leading to quicker and smoother resolution

Released: October 2025

School Workforce Census 2025 (Compliance)

• Maintaining ongoing compliance with the latest School Workforce Census guidelines
• Enabling quicker collection of School Workforce Census data

Released: September 2025

Custom reporting data set for Additions & Deductions (Reporting)

• Expanding the range of data available for creating custom reports
• Improving visibility of Additions & Deductions data
• Quicker monitoring, and more confident decision-making

Released: August 2025

Single Central Record (SCR) (Compliance)

• Improved visibility of background checks status and expiry dates
• Maintain compliance with KCSIE guidance
• Quick export options for Ofsted inspections
• Reduce workarounds and manual processes

Integration with Access Screening (Integration)

• Quicker access to background and screening checks
• Remove the need to re-key check information
• Easy reference of pending and in-progress checks

Employee self-service via Evo Navigator (User experience)

• Enhanced mobile self-service experience
• Greater reliability, speed, and improved look & feel
• Time saved for HR teams, greater employee autonomy

Central Reporting Insights for Edu People (Reporting)

• Advanced views of People data
• All-new user interface
• Visibility of Gender Pay Gap and Absences metrics
• Insights into overall workforce health

Vacancy Submissions to Eteach (Integration)

• Smoother vacancy submission process
• Less time spent on data entry

Case Management (User experience)

• Tracking and management of formal cases
• Grievances, disciplinary, whistleblowing, low-level concerns
• Timeline of meetings, actions, and key events
• Reporting & analytics of case performance
• Automated case progression and task assignments

Agentic AI for Background Checks (User experience)

• Autonomous orchestration of the background check lifecycle
• HR admins kept in the loop with overall control
• Intelligent monitoring and identification of SCR gaps
• Automated requests for updates to missing or incomplete checks
• Reducing risk, improve accuracy, and saving time for HR teams

Additional custom reporting data sets (Reporting)

• Create custom reports using a wide range of HR data
• Including: Maternity, Paternity & Adoption, Disciplinary, and Audits
• Save and share custom data views

Scheduled custom reporting & folder-based navigation (Reporting)

• Schedule generation and delivery of custom reports
• Organise custom reports into folders for ease of navigation
• Consistent experience across reporting areas

Edu People Integration to SIMS (Integration)

• Sync HR data with your MIS
• Avoid duplicating effort
• Reduce risk of data entry errors

GCSEPod Evo (New Feature)

• AI Marking Assistant
• AI Lesson Planning
• AI Assignment Creator

Markbook UX Overhaul (New Feature)

• Enhanced user experience for markbook functionality
• Improved interface and usability

GCSE WJEC Maths: Updates (Content/KS4)

• Updated to the new specification (content now matches updated way of teaching and new videos added). This marks the start of our updates to support schools in Wales, who are teaching new GCSEs across multiple subjects to Year 10 this year.

Released: September 2025

GCSE Eduqas English Literature: New Poetry Anthology Content Added (Content/KS4)

• New videos added for the Eduqas poetry anthology to support teachers and students working with those poems. More content to be added during the autumn term.

Released: September 2025

GCSE French and Spanish: Higher Tier Courses Added (Content/KS4)

• Higher tier courses for the new French and Spanish GCSEs were published, including additional higher tier assessment, to ensure all students are supported with material at the right level for them (AQA, Eduqas, and Edexcel exam boards).

Released: August 2025

GCSE Religious Studies: Assessment (Content/KS4/Religious Studies)

• To accompany the recently published podcasts in Q4, on the topic of Catholic Christianity, we published accompanying assessment content to test student knowledge.

Released: August 2025

GCSE English Literature: An Inspector Calls Refresh (Content/KS4)

• One of the most used texts for GCSE English Literature, this is studied across multiple exam boards

Released: August 2025

Homepage Overhaul (New Feature)

• Redesign the homepage to enable teachers to dive right into what matters

Assignment Builder UX Overhaul (New Feature)

• New way to create assignments with improved user experience

Mobile App Development (Mobile App)

• The development of the mobile app for students is coming
• Built from the ground-up with students in mind

GCSEPod Integration with Evo Analytics (New Feature)

• Enhanced analytics integration with Evo platform

GCSE Eduqas English Literature: More New Poetry (Content/KS4/English)

• Adding more video and assessment content to increase coverage of the Eduqas Poetry Anthology

Parent Engagement & Communications (New Feature)

• Notify Parents of Assignments Set
• Notify Parents of child's invitation to GCSEPod

Adaptive Learning Paths (Mobile App)

• Recommendation Algorithm based on students progress and usage
• Tailored learning experience

Student App Dashboard (Mobile App)

• A landing page for students within the mobile app to get a more holistic view of their revision strategy

Mobile App Testing & Pilot (Testing)

• Once development of the mobile app has been completed, it will undergo a period of testing and piloting

GCSE History: Empire and Migration Unit (Content/KS4/History)

• This highly requested new content will cover the topic of migration for several units across multiple exam boards, and will include video and assessment content.

WJEC English Updates (Content/KS4/English)

• To support our schools in Wales, who are teaching new specifications for GCSEs this year, we will continue updating our content, this time focusing on videos and assessment for WJEC GCSE english.