end of year debt advice and guidance - parentpay · catering services invoices / transfers (2016/17...

©ParentPay Ltd PPTA 06/06/2017 14:32 Version 1.1

End of Year Debt Advice and

Guidance

Barking and Dagenham Catering Services

Academic Year 2016-2017


Message to Head Teachers and Business Managers

CATERING SERVICES ADVICE AND SUPPORT FOR END OF SCHOOL YEAR

ACTIVITY (2016/17) AND NEW INTAKE (SEPTEMBER 2017)

As the end of term is fast approaching, now is the time where it may be useful to remind

you of the process for managing the end of term procedures and preparing your MIS data

for September 2017. For the new intake, the procedures are as last year.

Advice included covers:

• ParentPay Debt

• Catering Services Invoices / Transfers for 2016/17 Debt

• Bank Account Details and Advice

• School Accounts

• New Intake September 2017 – Pre Admissions

• MIS Year Changes

• Infant to Junior School – MIS / Year Changes

• PayPoint Cards

We would also advise you to check your year 6 debts, to ensure you try to get these

settled before the pupils leave. You should also be running down balances from the end

of June to reduce the amount of refunds.

ParentPay Debt 2016/17

ParentPay will be arranging the clearance of debts from pupil accounts and will transfer

the debt to the school account; scheduled date for this is 22nd August 2017. We

recommend that between now and the end of term all schools actively encourage parents

to pay their debts to reduce the debt you will need to manage at the end of year.

Schools can see their pupil’s debt on their ParentPay site (attached are ParentPay

guidelines). Schools should have nominated their preferred bank account for the debt

payments. This allows parents to pay off their 2016/17 debt online and direct into the

school bank account. (A bank account needs to be linked, otherwise parent’s payments

of debts will not reach schools and links from previous years can’t be used for 2016/17)

Older Debts Pre September 2016

If any debts remain for previous years, schools will need to manage these old debts and

decide whether to try to recover (from the pupils) / or write them off. If historic debts

have been cleared or written off the school can archive pre 2016 Debt payment items to

avoid any parents making payments in error. Contact [email protected] if

schools require assistance.

mailto:[email protected]


Catering Services Invoices / Transfers (2016/17 Debt)

Please do not confuse pupil debt with the invoice/transfers from Catering Services.

Settlement of the invoice raised by Catering Services is not settlement of pupil’s debt.

Likewise, a pupil paying their debt to the school is not a settlement of the invoice

Catering Service raised. How you manage the parents’ payments against the debt

transferred to the school is not relevant to your settlement of the invoice raised. (If your

school has brought into the LA finance SLA the LA journal transfer will be replacing the

invoice so when we refer to invoice this would mean journal transfer in such cases. If

this applies to you, please let us have your budget code for the transfer, email details to

Rachel before the end of term.)

Just to clarify the purpose of these invoices/transfers; when schools “lend” this results in

a debt on the pupil account. The debt is not a Catering Services responsibility, it is a

school responsibility and schools have the option of either covering the debt with school

funds or recovering from the pupils. When Catering Services invoice your school we

invoice against the debts to replace funds in the holding account. A “lend” to a pupil is

effectively schools borrowing from the holding account to pay Catering Services.

Catering Services receive payment for the “lend” meals at the point of sale.

Bank Account Details and Advice

ParentPay asked schools to enter their preferred bank account for collecting debt

repayments. Entering bank details in ParentPay is simple if you have not already done

so log in to your ParentPay School site, go to Finance > Manage Bank Accounts and

register the details directly into the system. Contact [email protected] if schools

require assistance. If you do not add the school’s bank account, you will not receive debt

income from parents which belongs to the school.

School Accounts (pupil, visitor, staff, governor’s cards etc)

Schools are asked to ensure all the cards/accounts are paid off by the end of the school

year. These can be paid off by your school debit/credit card or by printing a PayPoint

barcode letter and taking payment to the nearest PayPoint retailer. Contact

[email protected] if schools require assistance.

New intake September 2017 – Pre-Admissions Lists

The pre-admission template will be on the Data Uploads area of the ParentPay Support

Site. Please download the template and complete. Schools MUST use PERMANENT

UPNS. Do not use any other codes otherwise accounts will not match when the

students are fully enrolled into school. The Pre-admission file can be uploaded into

ParentPay just once, please make sure the file contains all pre-admission students.

We do acknowledge you may have to do a few adjustments on the first day due to

appeals, and actual attendance but these few will be simpler to manage than a complete

new intake. Once the file is complete go to COMMUNICATION > FILES and upload the

complete file there, then email [email protected] to request it to be uploaded. For

Data Protection, DO NOT EMAIL THE FILE, upload it through the ParentPay site.



https://www.parentpay.com/DOCH/school-support/index.html@page_id=1272.html



Doing this means that you can get the ParentPay activation letters sent out and the

parents can top up the new pupil account before the pupils start. Good news for schools,

as you should not have to lend because the pupils will be paying immediately, and will

have funds on their accounts. Pre-admission lists for primary schools can be sent at any

time for processing, but should be with ParentPay by 30th July at the latest. ParentPay

have confirmed schools must make sure the list is complete as they will only process the

list once for each school. Secondary Schools lists would be appreciated by the last week

of August to allow time for processing.

All Schools may wish to review their ‘lend’ policy for the first few days of the new school

year, to ensure both new pupils and returning pupils have time to top up their ParentPay

accounts.

MIS – Year changes

Schools will also need to update their MIS for the year change as pupils are moving

through the school. This will affect the information on the till (pupils class/forms setup).

Please note that until the updated MIS is uploaded the till will stay in the 2016/17

academic year classes rather than the 2017/18 classes.

Infant to Junior Schools – MIS / Year Changes

Primary schools should not need to make pre-admission changes where pupils move from

their infant to junior class, providing the infant and junior sites have a universal MIS

system and ParentPay site. However, for a small number of schools if pupils move from

infants to juniors which have separate MIS systems and ParentPay sites, then they are

considered leavers at infants and new starters on the Juniors.

PayPoint Cards

Schools are reminded that with the changes to DSG funding, full delegation and the

ParentPay SLA, the cost of PayPoint cards is a school responsibility.

Change of Internet Provider

If any schools intend to change their internet provider over the summer break, the

Catering Service need to be advised before the start of term. Change of provider may

lose the link between tills, NRS servers and ParentPay, and it will not be possible for the

tills to be used until the new IP address has been installed.

Upgrading, New Menus: Tills

Schools are reminded that in order to apply system changes, upgrades and menu

changes the tills need to be left on (tills in Primary schools/PC and tills in Secondary

schools). This will avoid confusion at the start of term.

If you have any questions in connection with this communication, please speak to Rachel

Gurney (3889) or ParentPay Support [email protected] (02476 994 820).



PARENTPAY GENERAL SCHOOL ADVICE

Balance letters for parents

Payers should be informed of current meal balances for any associated child accounts

during the summer term to encourage them to manage those balances before the end of

the term. Communication should focus on reducing any outstanding debt and where

appropriate, reducing balances for school leavers to minimise end of term refunds.

The ParentPay communication facility can be used to send emails and letters to payers

reminding them of their balance. Templates exist in Communications to assist. Or

contact [email protected] for further advice.

Account balance report

In the run up to the end of the academic year it is important to get regular full balance

reports. This will clearly show you which parents are in credit or debt. This report can

be used by the school office to focus efforts on those parents that are still showing as

having a debt.



Refunds from School Bank Accounts

Schools can action a refund back to the parent’s My Account, the parent can then reuse

the funds towards other payments, or the parent can withdraw the balance via

ParentPay. LBBD Catering Refunds. Where catering income is banked with

LBBD Catering Services schools must NOT process refunds.

Refunding school payments (paid through ParentPay online)


Refund advice for parents

How does a parent withdraw funds? 1. Log into your ParentPay account

2. Select My Account from your homepage 3. At the bottom of your statement summary, select Withdraw

Activation Letters

Once the new pupil/staff data is loaded into ParentPay, account activation letters can be produced and issued.

NOTE: Activation letters should include simple instructions on how to use

activation codes.

To set up your account, you will need to provide a current email address. This will be your username and will also be used for verification purposes.

1. Navigate to www.parentpay.com

2. Select Login at the top right corner of the screen 3. Enter the username and password provided in your account activation letter and

select Activate 4. Complete the activation as detailed on the screen.

You can now log in to your account.

You are able to add up to six active children to a single ParentPay account, even if the children attend different schools (schools must use the ParentPay service).

1. Log in to the account you want to use as your main account (this will become the only account you use in future).

2. Select the Add a child tab on the home page.

http://www.parentpay.com/


3. Enter the username and password (activation codes) provided in your activation letter.

4. Select Search. Your child’s name will be listed on screen.

5. Select Add to my account.

On your homepage you should now see an additional tab for the child you have added to the account. Repeat this process for any other children you wish to add to your account.

Please note: It is not currently possible to combine accounts that have already been

activated. You will need to manage two separate accounts. Please ensure that when adding a new child using an activation letter you have received, that you add them to

your existing account where one exists.

PayPoint Cards and PayPoint Letters

PayPoint barcodes are uniquely assigned to individual school payment items for the specific child for whom it is issued. It is not possible for barcoded cards or letters to be

transferred between students or schools. Schools should remind leavers to destroy old barcodes to ensure payments are not made to the wrong account or school.

School Bank Accounts

How to add a new bank account


New Year key tasks that most schools will need to carry out

Refreshing pupil and staff data

Checking term dates are correct

Adding any known School Closure Dates

Setting up Meal Patterns for new pupils (if relevant)

Checking school meal price and periods (if relevant)

Checking FSM Allowances are set correctly

Ordering PayPoint Cards for new starters

Archive any manager accounts for staff leavers

School Data Uploads (RM Integris)

Often the upload failed because of text entered into phone number box – only numbers should be added here. Use the contact type dropdown to identify type of contact.

If you are not yet using the RM Integris integrated upload, please contact ParentPay Support for more information.

Changes to the school’s servers or MIS system

Any changes to the school MIS system (SIMs, Integris etc) will require a managed upload of data by ParentPay to ensure the old and new accounts are accurately matched.

Please advise ParentPay in advance of any change, giving a minimum four weeks’ notice and our Technical Team can set aside time to manage the new upload and check

the data. Do not upload from a new MIS system until the first upload has been processed by ParentPay.

Any changes in school to servers or office computers may mean the user loses access rights to ParentPay, and MIS:Sync Software. Please make sure that these are re-

instated.


ParentPay’s End of Year Assistant

This feature will be release towards the end of May to guide schools through the essential tasks they need to complete to prepare the school’s ParentPay site for the start of the

new academic year. Tasks include:

• Confirming FSM allowance • Non-cashless schools/non-lunchtime meal types: Confirming meal/session prices

• Adding term dates and closing days

• Confirming school administrator contact details

The End of Year Assistant will be mandatory to complete 21 days before your last day of the summer term.

Meal Prices in ParentPay

Cashless tills manage the meal costs directly and do not need to be changed in

ParentPay. In the meal value is set to £0.00 on your setup, it should not be changed. If your meal price is increasing however, you will need to ensure the new FSM allowance

is reflected in ParentPay.

New School Administrator ParentPay accounts Quite often new members of staff join the school at the start of the new academic year.

Schools are able to manage their Manager Account logins from SETTINGS > MANAGE USERS tab.

Homepage notifications

As part of the End of Year and New Academic Year processes, ParentPay will activate additional notifications with the MY NOTIFICATIONS area on your homepage. These

notifications will provide you with important information relating to required or advised actions. For Example, if a pupil upload needs to be processed or if you have a meal type period about to expire.


Other ParentPay features

• collect consent for trips as well as collecting money online • manage before/after school clubs and show balances online

• parents can order and pay for uniform online • full communication package, email, texting, mail merge • collect money for third party providers; money goes to their bank account

• you can collect other income, like lettings payments online or via the telephone

• you can become a cashless school

Further Assistance

If you require further assistance with any aspects of ParentPay, please do not hesitate to contact the ParentPay Service Desk Team either by calling 02476 994 820 or by email

[email protected] Alternatively, you can find useful guidance via the ParentPay online Support Site, which

you can access from the HELP Link on your ParentPay home page.


end of year debt advice and guidance - parentpay · catering services invoices / transfers (2016/17...

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