When you enter your DEFRA credentials in Administration → Settings → Digital Waste Tracking and click Update, the Secret field will appear blank the next time you open that screen. This is expected behaviour — it is not an error and does not mean the Secret has been lost.
Why the field appears blank
The Secret is treated like a password and is masked after saving for security reasons. The value is stored securely in the system — it simply does not display back in the field once saved. This is the same behaviour you would see with a password field on most websites.
How to confirm your credentials are saved correctly
Hover over Administration and click Settings
Click Digital Waste Tracking in the General Section.
Confirm the Organisation ID field is populated with your DEFRA API code.
Leave the Secret field blank — do not re-enter it. The saved value is still active.
To test that credentials are working, go to Administration and click Transactions
Select a transaction then click Functions followed by Resend to Digital Waste Tracking
Hover over Administration and click Digital Waste Tracking to confirm transmission after next sync to confirm.
If submissions are still failing after saving credentials
If you are still seeing a 'missing access token' error after entering credentials, check the following before re-entering the Secret:
API URL: must be exactly https://waste-tracking.api.defra.gov.uk (no trailing slash). A trailing slash prevents the access token from being generated.
Multi-company setup: if you use multi-company, credentials must also be entered in the Digital Waste Tracking tab against the company (located in the Companies lookup). Settings entered only in Settings will not be used.
Weighsoft version: DWT requires version 5.543 or higher. Check your version by hovering over Administration and clicking About.
Organisation ID: must be the API code issued by DEFRA when you registered. This is unique to your organisation.