The cashless school revolution is here

There are clear issues around pupils bringing cash and cheques into school to pay for school meals, trips and clubs. Cheques are easily lost and cash can be spent in the corner shop on the way to school, or act as a trigger for bullying.

For a growing number of schools, online payments have become the preferred way of ensuring that parents’ money is received by school safely and in the case of dinner money, spent in the way it was intended – on a healthy school meal.

In return schools are realising significant time savings, benefitting from reduced administration, as well as direct cost savings.

The first wave - But was it cashless?
In the past, cashless catering systems haven’t exactly been cashless – they just moved the cash (and therefore the associated queue of pupils) from the serving hatch to the school office or the cash loader on the wall outside the dining hall. That’s great for serving meals faster, but not especially helpful for the pupils or school.

Despite the benefits to caterers, these solutions were not really cashless with pupils still carrying cash and cheques into school to top-up accounts.

Anne Bull, LACA national chair, explained: “However ground-breaking, the first wave of cashless systems did not offer the convenience of an online payment facility that parents were becoming accustomed to in their everyday lives. It was a part solution.

“In my role as head of catering and school facilities at Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council, I could see that local authorities and schools were looking to provide not only healthy school meals, but also a convenient and safe way for parents to pay.”

“What was needed was a solution which could dramatically reduce the administrative and cost burdens associated with the collection and management of all cash and cheques coming into school. Schools were losing hundreds of hours of administration every year.”

The revolution begins
The answer to these challenges emerged in 2003 with the launch of the school online payment system, ParentPay. It integrated with cashless catering systems in secondary schools, as well as acting as a stand-alone dinner money management system for smaller primary schools.

LACA partner ParentPay was originally the brainchild of a teacher and working mum, looking to save schools time and make life easier for parents. It became the catalyst for a second wave of cashless solutions.

Anne stated: “When ParentPay launched, some people needed a little convincing. However, a project in 2004 by ParentPay, commissioned by Croydon Council, changed all that and soon provided the evidence to dispel any concerns about online payments in schools.” ParentPay joined forces with cashless catering system provider Nationwide Retail Systems (NRS) and went on to win a contract in 2007 to provide a central cashless payments solution to LA controlled schools in Croydon. David Paylor, chief business development officer from Nationwide Retail Systems said: “Nobody expected to see such impressive results, but the Croydon solution went on to win awards for the time saved and increased uptake in schools.

“It soon became the model for many other councils and schools across the UK. The partnership has since gone on to achieve similar success in other LAs such as London Borough of Enfield, Barking & Dagenham, Northamptonshire, Staffordshire, Brighton & Hove and Solihull Council.”

Reducing the admin headache
Clint Wilson chief executive of ParentPay said: “Croydon local authority reported significant increases in meal uptake after going cashless. What’s more, the schools started using ParentPay to collect and manage all their parent income.

“Schools were reporting that administration time associated with parent income had reduced by up to 80 per cent in some cases – enabling schools to redeploy financial and administrative resource to more important tasks in their schools.”

“Of course schools have differing needs. In Gloucestershire, ParentPay is used as a stand-alone payment and meal management solution in 175 primary schools in the County meals contract, helping support a 26 per cent increase in meal uptake. It’s about joining up what parents, schools and caterers want.”

This ‘fully cashless’ revolution today now sees thousands of schools enabling millions of parents to book and pay online, for school meals, trips, music lessons and more.

Meeting parent expectations
LACA recently worked with two of their partners, ParentPay and food suppliers Birds Eye, to carry out research with parents and children into school meals. With over 12,000 responses the survey is the largest research exercise of its kind into school meals, children’s lifestyles and parents perceptions.

The research results were unveiled on BBC Breakfast television at the start of LACA’s National School Meals Week in November 2012. Anne talked about some of the key findings: “One of things that stood out was the number of parents wanting to pay and see meal information online. 90 per cent of parents stated their preference was to pay online via debit/credit card or in cash at PayPoint stores. Many stated the key reasons were convenience and safety.

“There are significant benefits for children. It reduces the chances of sweets and junk food being purchased on the way to and from school – something which parents also flagged as a concern in our research.”

Advice to schools
Anne Bull, was keen to pass on some advice to schools who are considering going cashless.

“Meeting parent expectations, as well as saving the school financial administration resources is important. For instance does your school want to let parents see what the meal choices are online?

“Schools need to be clear about their possible future needs to get the right solution at the outset. Collecting payments for a range of items, not just school meals, might not be on the agenda at day one, but implementing a solution that is good at both will be key to future success.

“Is the solution socially inclusive? Letting parents pay by cash, for instance at PayPoint stores, without sending money to school with the children, could be the key to moving the last of the cash and cheques out of the school office – thus creating a fully cashless school.

“School should consider all aspects of their processes. What sort of financial reporting is required and does this involve the caterer accessing the data as well? If income needs settling to different bank accounts some systems can help reduce costs by combining transactions and splitting the charges automatically.

LACA’s advice is to make sure schools consider all the processes and possible needs before making a decision. They should also take the time to talk to or visit other schools that are already using a cashless system.

To find out more about creating a fully cashless school or to download your copy of the LACA/ParentPay Research visit www.parentpay.com.

Further information
www.laca.co.uk