October 2025 to July 2026: Product updates
We are pleased to share the latest updates to IRIS Recruitment.
These release notes provide a summary of new features, enhancements, and important improvements released during October 2025 to July 2026. Our development teams release to production every two weeks, so this summary consolidates multiple releases and a wide range of updates.
Bugs or enhancements may have been reported via the Support Desk, discovered internally, or found during our routine testing. Due to the bespoke nature of our software, you may not have encountered all issues referenced.
New features and enhancements
Right to Work and background checks
Documents Verification Method (DBS regulation update)
To support updated Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS (England & Wales)) regulations, for non-Digital ID packages (for example, Upload to ATS) system users are now prompted to confirm the Documents Verification Method when preparing a background check. Where required, one or more exception reasons can be captured, and the method used is validated, sent to Experian, and available for reporting and audit — supporting compliance with the digital-first guidance.
Manual refresh of Experian check status
To keep candidate records up to date, system users can now manually refresh the status of open Experian background checks within a vacancy, ensuring statuses remain current even if an automated update is missed.
Right to Work offer task completion
To improve workflow reliability, the Experian Right to Work (RTW) offer task can now be configured to complete correctly within a workflow — notifying the right people and sending the correct communications as the task progresses.
Contact permission default
To reduce the risk of submission errors, the applicant contact-permission setting now defaults in line with Experian's expected configuration when a background check application is created.
Compliance and data protection
Minimum employment history requirement
To help prioritise compliance and safeguarding checks, a new capability lets administrators set a required minimum employment-history period and a warning message shown to candidates. Candidates are warned during application if their history does not cover the minimum required period and can choose whether to add more detail. Recruiters, and panel members reviewing applications in the Applicant Scoring module, can identify which candidates did not meet the requirement. The candidate view displays total history coverage against the configured minimum, and manual applications created on a candidate's behalf are validated in the same way. The feature can be enabled per client, giving administrators control over where it is switched on.
Automatic anonymisation of expired candidate data
To support data-protection compliance, once the configured data-purge retention period has elapsed, candidate personal data — including Curriculum Vitae (CVs) and address information — is now automatically anonymised, and CVs are hidden in anonymised vacancies.
Cookies and privacy updates
To maintain full compliance with data-protection regulations, cookie functionality and policy on the recruitment site have been updated, and the Privacy Policy link on job pages now points to the current IRIS privacy notice.
Notifications and communications
Interview cancellation notifications
Cancellation notification settings can now be configured within the interview stage of the workflow, alongside other interview-related settings.
Advertised salary in interview emails
Advertised salary merge fields can now be added to Interview Type emails, so salary details can be shared directly when a candidate is invited to interview.
Authorisation notification update
To improve the approval workflow experience, Authorisation notifications now include the name of the current authoriser.
Default address field lines
To improve how candidate details are captured, individual address field lines (for example, Address Line 1 and Address Line 2) can now be defaulted, so address details flow into separate form fields as needed.
Onboarding and task management
Automated reminders for supplemental information tasks (ATRs)
To remove the need for manual chasing, offered candidates can now be reminded automatically to complete outstanding supplemental information tasks.
Line Manager Endorsement forms
Completed Line Manager Endorsement (LME) forms can now be downloaded and transferred when needed.
Cleaner task actions
To prevent accidental actions, action buttons are now hidden when a task is marked Not Required, so users cannot act on tasks that do not need completing.
Consistent date formatting on the onboarding site
To ensure dates appear exactly as intended, date merge fields from the Offer Form now display in the onboarding portal using the same format configured in the Applicant Tracking System (ATS).
Vacancies and reporting
Advanced Vacancies Report — additional criteria
To give users more flexibility when filtering, exporting, and analysing vacancy data, Post Code and Expiry Date have been added as selectable fields in the Advanced Vacancies Report.
Alphabetical disciplines in Vacancy Match
Disciplines in the Vacancy Match step now display in alphabetical order.
Clearer dashboard counts
To avoid confusion, the overall vacancies total on the My Vacancies page has been refined so the counts within each status tab display separately.
Reliable Multiposter postings
To help postings map correctly and avoid failures when using the multiposter, vacancy location handling has been improved so that a postcode (or an explicit No Code) and a preset location are captured.
Integrations and API
IRIS Recruitment API enhancements
To maintain system consistency and support flexible, future-proof configurations, the mapping interface now allows several form fields to be mapped to a single Application Programming Interface (API) field, with control over their order. Updates from any mapped field are correctly sent to the Open API, providing more robust data handling.
Indeed Apply — hierarchical lookups
To give a more accurate response, where a question uses a hierarchical lookup (for example, ethnicity) responses are now sent to Indeed with both parent and child categories — for example, Other ethnic group — prefer not to say.
CV-Library naming
For accuracy, references to the jobsite and its products have been updated to the correct CV-Library branding.
Accessibility improvements (WCAG)
As part of our ongoing commitment to accessibility, a range of improvements have been made across the candidate-facing site and application forms, including:
- accessible alternatives and labels for icons on vacancy search, and for social icons in the footer
- corrected heading levels on vacancy search results and across the candidate hub
- more visible focus states on form inputs, and accessible required states on inputs and labels
- a skip to content bypass block, and an aria-live region announcing how many search results were returned
- grouped controls (radio buttons and checkboxes) wrapped in fieldsets, and autocomplete added to application form inputs
- reduced motion on search page animations and header videos, honouring the prefers-reduced-motion setting
- a ReciteMe language toggle, allowing candidates to switch page content between languages on careers pages and vacancy adverts
Branding and interface refresh
As part of the move from the Networx brand to IRIS Recruitment, references and visuals have been updated across the product — including hiring-manager interview options, the Agency Portal colour scheme (aligned to the IRIS palette), and client branding management. Notification snackbars have also been modernised for a more consistent, professional experience.
Administration and configuration
Data export service configuration
To give administrators more control, a secure front-end interface now allows customer data exports to be configured and enabled, including the ability to test a Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) connection to validate credentials and connectivity before saving.
Mandatory authorisation notes
To improve the audit trail, authorisation configuration can now require a note, so authorisers must provide a comment when responding to an authorisation request.
Ideas Portal link in Help & Support
For users to share feedback and suggestions, a link to the Ideas Portal has been added under the Help & Support tab on the User Dashboard, controlled by a configurable security permission.
Security and platform
Pen test fixes
Following our annual independent penetration test, high, medium, and low findings were resolved in line with our vulnerability-management processes. This period also included extensive access-control hardening and data-isolation improvements across the platform.
Ongoing quality and performance
Alongside the features above, this period included a large programme of stability and usability fixes — with a particular focus on the refreshed (New Design) interface across interviews, references, offers, publishing, onboarding, and reporting — plus performance improvements in high-traffic areas.