Our HWRC Permit System hugely benefits yet another authority

Here at Pentagull towers, we’ve been just as active lately and have yet another go-live to shout about!

ESB 23.10 roll-out completed

Last month we wrote about the exciting visual changes coming in v23.10 of the ESB platform. We have now completed the roll-out of this latest release to all our cloud customers.

Our HWRC Booking System provides excellent value to yet another local authority

The integration of the system will provide effective traffic management and queue reductions at their existing 9 Recycling Centres.

ESB 23.10 Visual Changes

The 23.10 ESB update will be impactful in terms of visual changes as both the back office and customer-facing sides of the product are changing.

ESB 23.07 Released

Pentagull is pleased to announce the release of version 23.07 of the ESB platform. This release builds on recent work to prepare the product for migration to .NET core by removing a number of legacy API methods. There are also a number of new features in the areas of document management, self-service and system configuration, as well as some enhancements for developers.

A warm welcome to our new customers

A warm welcome to some new customers!

G-Cloud 14 Update

We have news on G-Cloud 14 and some welcome improvements around pricing documentation.

ESB 23.04 Released

Pentagull is pleased to announce the release of version 23.04 of the ESB platform. This release includes several major feature enhancements which continue the recent trend of incremental improvements to both reliability and usability.

Pentagull office revamp!

Here at Pentagull towers, in line with our commitment to sustain carbon net-zero we recently decided to replace our old fluorescent lights in the office to LED lights.

ESB 23.01 released!

Pentagull is pleased to announce the release of version 23.01 of the ESB platform. This release continues the recent trend of incremental improvements to reliability and usability in addition to providing some feature enhancements.

Pentagull are now officially carbon negative!

Here at Pentagull we had a board-level strategy and commitment to achieve Net Zero by 2023, which we have accomplished!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from Pentagull!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all our customers from everyone here at Pentagull!

Helping to spread a little Christmas cheer

This year we have chosen to take part in Dunelm Mills Delivering Joy Campain, find out more including how to join in.

G-Cloud 13 is live and we are on it!

We are pleased to announce that we have been named as a supplier for the Crown Commercial Service’s (CCS) G-Cloud 13 for Lot 2 Cloud Software (SaaS), saving local authority buyers both time and money.

OUR NEW ESB RESIDENTIAL WASTE SYSTEM!

Our ESB residential waste product is a fully (UK) hosted SaaS software solution to manage the end-to-end delivery of both residential and domestic waste services. It's designed in conjunction with local authorities to ensure it’s fit for purpose.

OUR NEW ESB HOUSING MANAGEMENT SYSTEM!

Our ESB housing management product is a comprehensive cloud based application which provides authorities with the capability of recording complaints, managing inspections and HHSRS scoring.

Its recycling week and the theme for this year is 'Let’s Get Real'!

We provide several products that help manage waste and recycling services which drives up recycling rates and also drives down costs for our customers. This allows the remainder of the budget to be spent where it matters most, on services.

ESB 22.10 RELEASED

Pentagull is pleased to announce the release of version 22.10 of the ESB platform. This release continues the recent trend of incremental improvements to reliability and usability as well as providing some feature enhancements.

Our new ESB housing licensing management system!

Our ESB housing licensing management system is a bundled offering of our ESB licensing and ESB housing management products. It provides an authority with an efficient and cost-effective way of managing licensing applications.

Our new commercial waste system!

Our commercial waste system is a service for the management of trade/commercial waste customers and collections. The system manages the complete customer lifecycle from initial business enquiries through to crew collections.

Launch Day!

Our Short Term Lets system is an offshoot from our existing Housing Licensing product, incorporating a similar process and flow. It provides authorities with an efficient and cost-effective way to manage applications online from start to finish, all in one system.

A garden waste subscription system that's a cut above the rest

SWISCo on behalf of Torbay Council contacted us to deliver a garden waste subscription service. We implemented a system to manage the complete customer journey from signup/online payment through to bin delivery and crew collections.

Our G-Cloud 13 application has been successful!

Here at Pentagull we are pleased to announce that we have been successful in our G-Cloud 13 application. This year we have 28 listed cloud software services, including 5 new products.

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

It is with great sorrow that we hear of the death of Her Majesty The Queen and offer immense gratitude. Our thoughts and sympathy are with the Royal Family at this time. We’d like to update you on changes to our services at this time.

Is your authority looking for a better way to build and deliver services?

Is your authority looking for a better way to build and deliver services? Pentagull’s ESB delivery platform is designed uniquely for automating services in local government. It reduces costs, facilitates better service delivery and much, much more.

ESB 22.07 Released

Pentagull is pleased to announce the release of version 22.07 of the ESB platform. This release continues the recent trend of incremental improvements to reliability and usability as well as a fundamental design change.

Defra consultation

Defra have released a consultation regarding booking systems for HWRC’s and preventing LA’s from charging for DIY waste. We are pleased to see that concerns regarding fly tipping have been investigated with the result being that no direct links were found.

Yet another local authority benefitting from our HWRC booking system

Bristol City Council are our latest customer to go live with our HWRC booking system. The integration of the system will provide effective traffic management/queue reductions at their Waste Reuse Recycling Centres Avonmouth and Days Road.

ESB 22.04 Released

Pentagull is pleased to announce the release of version 22.04 of the ESB platform. This release continues the recent trend of incremental improvements to reliability and usability as well as providing some feature enhancements.

Pentagull welcomes another two customers!

Pentagull are thrilled to announce that South London Waste Partnership’s (SLWP) HWRC booking system and Hertfordshire County council’s commercial waste booking system have both gone live and are already receiving a high volume of bookings.

Providing our support for Ukraine

We are horrified by what’s going on in Ukraine, as I'm sure you are. Particularly cutting are the scenes showing young children and families fleeing a war zone or worse. At least 3 million people have fled their homes to escape conflict in Ukraine. Leaving behind jobs, belongings and loved ones, they now face an uncertain future. This morning we made a donation to the Disasters Emergency Committee.

Things are all go at Pentagull at the moment!

Here at Pentagull we are finishing the financial year off with a flurry of activity. South Lanarkshire Council are our latest customer to go live with our HWRC Booking System, meaning they are now seamlessly taking bookings for Carluke Recycling Centre.

Password Advice

We suggest to both our employees and customers that employing a strong password, with a mix of capitalised letters, numbers and special characters is the most effective way of reducing the chance of being compromised by unauthorised access. However, we don’t force regular password changes for several reasons.

ESB 22.01 Released

Pentagull is pleased to announce the release of version 22.01 of the ESB platform. This release continues the recent trend of incremental improvements to reliability and usability as well as providing some feature enhancements.

Can you help to bring some extra joy to children this Christmas?

Could you help spread a little extra festive cheer to care leavers in Blackpool?

Apache Log4j Vulnerability all clear for ESB

A quick update for our customers regarding the recently discovered Apache Log4j vulnerability.

Merry christmas from everyone at Pentagull!

Merry Christmas to all our customers from everyone here at Pentagull!

ESB 21.10 Released

Pentagull is pleased to announce the release of version 21.10 of the ESB platform. This release includes a mix of new features as well as refinements to usability and reliability.

ESB 21.07 Released

Pentagull is pleased to announce the release of version 21.07 of the ESB platform. This release includes some great new features in addition to the usual incremental improvements.

We're going to the next LARAC event, are you?

We are excited to announce that we will be sponsoring the Local Authority Recycling Advisory Committee (LARAC), event in Glasgow on 24th August 2021. The event will look in depth at the key issues around running an efficient recycling service.

Two booking systems live in one day!

We are extremely happy to announce that West London Waste Authority’s HWRC booking system and Findhorn Village Conservation Company’s motorhome booking system have both gone live and are now seamlessly taking bookings.

First Edinburgh libraries reopen with the help of Pentagull’s booking system

The City of Edinburgh Council opens the doors of its libraries today for the first time since the December 2020 lock down. The first 4 libraries will open today with the help of Pentagull's booking system and the remainder opening later this month.

ESB 21.04 Released

Pentagull is delighted to announce the release of version 21.04 of the ESB platform. This release includes a range of incremental improvements in the areas of system configuration, as well as a number of technology improvements.

Pentagull becomes an accredited Real Living Wage employer

We are pleased to announce that Pentagull has become a real living wage employer, accredited by the Living Wage Foundation. Our Living Wage commitment will see everyone working at Pentagull receive a minimum hourly wage of £9.50.

Pentagull's migration to Redis for high availability session state

Session state is an integral part of the ESB platform - we use it to keep track of logged in users, transactions that are in progress and a whole host of other bits and pieces that don't make sense to send to the client or store in the database.

A nice and exciting start to February!

Today has marked the day that our HWRC booking system took another step on the way to becoming sentient after our ANPR barrier integration went live at one of Moray Councils HWRC sites.

ESB 21.01 Released

Pentagull is pleased to start the year with the release of version 21.01 of the ESB platform. There are performance improvements, continued technology updates and new enhancements.

Pentagull’s Tip Booking System passes 1 million bookings

As the year draws to a close our Tip Booking System has now passed the 1 million booking milestone and continues to handle thousands of bookings every day.

ESB 20.10 Released

Pentagull is pleased to announce the immediate availability of version 20.10 of the ESB platform. The focus of the 20.10 release is on stability and fixes, however we’ve still found time to add some great new features.

G-Cloud 12 has officially launched!

It’s that time of year again (later this year due to covid) where the digital marketplace throws open its virtual doors, sets out its virtual market stalls and welcomes eager shoppers in to look at the software available (all social distanced of course).

Half a million!!

Half a million is the number of tip bookings we have processed since June this year!

Since January 1st we have processed 588 change requests… for free.

2 such change requests came from the registrars service at Blackpool Council. Covid 19 has brought with it an incredible need to be flexible in the face of something so inflexible.

How Far?

874 miles is the figure you will most likely get when you ask the question, how far is it from the top of the UK to the bottom of the UK?

Looking for a good cause?

When Covid-19 hit we were, as a world at best unprepared for what was to come. But people stood up all around us to make a difference.

G-Cloud 12 Is on its way at last!

So this Monday saw the submission of our latest G-Cloud offering, this year we have expanded the number of products available through the digital market place to 24!

ESB 20.07 Released

Pentagull is pleased to announce the immediate availability of version 20.07 of the ESB platform.

Last week was a pretty hectic week for Pentagull.

It was when four new systems went live for four new customers all on our cloud hosted ESB platform. To go from initial contact with a Council through to going live with a customised system in less than a month is a rarity in local government. But to do it for something that would be under serious scrutiny from the public and press all without any major issues was testament to the hard work put in by all the authorities and Pentagull!

ESB 20.04 Released

Pentagull is pleased to announce the immediate availability of version 20.04 of the ESB platform. The main focus of this release is stability and performance, though we’ve still managed to include a few new features.

How ESB is helping customers during COVID-19

All over the country people are having to adapt their ways of working in order to comply with the government’s social distancing guidelines and keep themselves safe.

Pentagull Achieves ISO9001 & ISO27001 Accreditations

After many months of hard work by the team here at Pentagull we are pleased to advise all our customers that we have received certification to ISO 9001 Quality Management and ISO 27001 Information Security Management.

COVID-19 readiness - March 17th

We’re all worried about the impact of COVID-19 on our lives and on society. At Pentagull we’re also concerned about the potential impact the spread of the virus could have on our team, their families and our client base. So we’ve been planning extensively for the likely scenarios and we wanted to share those plans with you so you can have confidence that we’ve really got your back in all eventualities.

Digitalisation of the Public Sector

Make sure to tune into Sky channel 191 - My TV, tomorrow at 10am

ESB 20.01 Released

Pentagull is pleased to announce the immediate availability of version 20.01 of the ESB platform.

Neat and Quote

Another one picked up because of rust

2019 ESB Product Round-up

As 2019 draws to a close we thought we’d have our annual look back at some of the highlights of this year’s ESB Agile product releases.

We like being a Little bit Different

Last week we attended a 2 day Local Government Partnership Network event. It was an extremely interesting and useful 2 days. The people we spoke to were passionate about their authorities and were all very focused on improving their services which is always good to hear.

Local Government Partnership Event

Pentagull are excited to be part of the local government partnership event taking place over the next 2 days in Milton Keynes.

Great news for Blackpool’s beaches

Some great news for Blackpool’s beaches today after being classified as good or excellent by DEFRA!

Bringing Joy to Children in Blackpool this Christmas

Blackpool Council has launched an appeal to help create hampers for children this Christmas

Important Changes to the Cyber Essentials Scheme

Changes are coming in 2020 to prepare it for the future.

What a day!

We had the pleasure today of doing something a little bit different in filming a piece with Collaborative Media for the Executive Tv channel on Sky.

October 2019 Product News

Here's a round-up of all our latest product news - including the release of ESB 19.10, updates to our Android app and enhancements to some of our third party integrations.

Great British Beach Clean!

It's like the bake off but with no cake and lots more sand…

Combating Rogue Landlords: Ensuring Safer and Securer Homes

We sponsored a very engaging event recently on combating rogue landlords. Whilst we were there, we got to meet some interesting people and listen to some very passionate speakers and delegates regarding what can be done to really improve people’s lives.

Pentagull are excited to be supporting Rogue Landlords Event

The last few weeks have been an exciting time at Pentagull as we have been getting ready to attend an event in London.

ESB 19.07 Released

Pentagull is pleased to announce the immediate availability of version 19.07 of the ESB platform. This release primarily focuses on fixes and stability improvements.

Manchester to Blackpool charity bike ride 2019

In aid of a very good cause and a good day out some of the team yet again pulled on the spandex to cycle from Manchester to Sunny Blackpool to raise money for Trinity Palliative Care Services and Brian House Children's Hospice.

G-Cloud 11 is Here

G-Cloud 11 is officially live, and we are very excited to say that we have expanded our offering on the digital market place to 16 products!

We Want the Best for the North West

Corporate responsibility can be fun and engaging, as Business Development Manager Stuart Gilbert tells us in this article about a recent piece of volunteering Pentagull did at Blackpool beach.

Anti-social behaviour 'nightmare' ignored, says report

A recent news article on the BBC about Anti-Social Behaviour caught our eye

ESB 19.04 Released

Pentagull is pleased to announce the immediate availability of version 19.04 of the ESB platform.

Birmingham Bin Strike: How ESB could help

As the dispute between refuse collectors and Birmingham City Council continues, we look at how ESB can help you communicate effectively with residents and businesses during times of crisis.

Do you need a Blue Badge Case Management System?

Today marks the official go live for our new Blue Badge Case Management System.

GDPR Flexes its Muscles

On the back of Google receiving a hefty £44m fine over breeching GDPR regulations there has never been a bigger example as to why you should be doing more about the data you collect and hold.

Blue Badge Fraud - are you doing all you can?

According to a recent article by BBC News, the majority of councils in England did not pursue anybody for abusing the Blue Badges scheme in 2017-2018.

ESB 19.01 Released

With the new year comes a new release of ESB, and Pentagull is pleased to announce that version 19.01 is now available to our customers.

Christmas Opening Times

Find out about our opening times over the upcoming Christmas and new year period.

2018 ESB Product Round-up

As 2018 draws to a close we thought we’d look back at some of the highlights of this year’s ESB Agile product releases.

Accessibility of Public Sector Websites: Are you ready?

The government is implementing new regulations to make public sector websites and apps accessible to everyone.

Building a Resilient ESB Cloud using Availability Zones

When Pentagull began evaluating cloud-computing providers towards the end of 2016 in readiness for launching our ESB cloud, one of our key design objectives was resilience.

Cost-effective GDPR Compliance

In this article we examine some of the features of the ESB platform designed specifically to address the requirements of data management and GDPR.

Increasing the Security of ESB User Accounts using the PIN

Both back-office and self-service user accounts in ESB have the facility to assign a 4-digit PIN in addition to the standard username/password.

ESB v18.10 Released

Pentagull is pleased to announce that the latest version of the ESB platform, v18.10 is now available to our customers.

Manchester to Blackpool charity bike ride completed!

The Pentagull team have completed the Manchester to Blackpool bike ride in aid of Trinity Palliative Care Services and Brian House Children's Hospice.

G-Cloud Listed!

Pentagull are pleased to announce that we are now listed on G-Cloud! Pentagull’s first offering to G-Cloud includes our Anti-Social Behaviour, Fleet Management and CRM modules to name a few.

Pentagull Achieves Cyber Essentials Certification

Pentagull is pleased to announce that we have been awarded Cyber Essentials certification for our internal and cloud-hosted infrastructure.

Are your cloud partners IPv6 ready?

As we finally run out of IPv4 addresses, is your infrastructure ready for IPv6?

Protect your data against DDoS Attacks

Following the recent high profile attack on GitHub, learn how Pentagull can protect your data against similar threats.

ESB 17.12 Released

Final release of 2017 brings collection of minor enhancements.

ESB v17.10 Released

Multi-factor authentication using one-time passcodes comes to the ESB platform.

ESB 17.09 Released

The latest release of ESB introduces the first steps towards conversion to MVC, as well as a host of other enhancements.