localzuk Posted September 30, 2015 Posted September 30, 2015 As the thread title asks - has your school gone entirely cashless? By entirely, I mean parents have to pay by card either in person, on the phone or online. There's no cash or cheque option. With the availability of "top up credit cards" from supermarkets (such as the Tuxedo card), have we reached a point where we can say "no" to cash and cheques?
Jawloms Posted September 30, 2015 Posted September 30, 2015 My previous school did. Everything was done on ParentPay, and the students all had an ID badge with RFID in it for buying school dinners etc.
elsiegee40 Posted September 30, 2015 Posted September 30, 2015 It won't happen at my governor school. There are too many low/no income families that only deal in cash. That said, parents are being encouraged to move to cashless where possible. You will never completely eliminate cash as long as schools do charity collections and the like though.
ataylor Posted September 30, 2015 Posted September 30, 2015 We are trying to go cashless, recently implemented parent pay but its seeming quite difficult to get some of the parents to take it up.
7UD9 Posted September 30, 2015 Posted September 30, 2015 Nope, we're mostly cashless; catering and school trips but things like revision guides, school ties, lockers etc are cash (although can be done on the cashless systems too).
SovietRussia Posted September 30, 2015 Posted September 30, 2015 We are going cashless due to an LA initiative.
RLR Posted September 30, 2015 Posted September 30, 2015 Nope, we're mostly cashless; catering and school trips but things like revision guides, school ties, lockers etc are cash (although can be done on the cashless systems too). Very similar to our school. Parents can pay for most things using Wisepay but some of the smaller things are still cash.
pcstru Posted September 30, 2015 Posted September 30, 2015 No and I don't really see it happening here, with 2000 pupils many from challenging backgrounds, we pretty much have to have some cash options available.
Gibbo Posted September 30, 2015 Posted September 30, 2015 We're seeing it steadily increase. We've gone from four "reval" machines to two
SteveM555 Posted September 30, 2015 Posted September 30, 2015 All of the dinner payments are done cashless (on ID cards) but they have the option of topping these up at pay points located around the School and through our Finance office if needed... so not entirely cashless no.
sonofsanta Posted September 30, 2015 Posted September 30, 2015 I wish. Last Head insisted on having a reval machine, and now we're stuck with it. About 2/3 of our payments were cashless when we launched two years ago. Just checked and we're about 85% now, which is pleasingly high.
truebluesteve Posted September 30, 2015 Posted September 30, 2015 Not quite. Most of the school are using online payments, but like others on here we have kids from a lot of different social and ethnic backgrounds so we offer a 'post box' that cheques and notes can be put in (with the student details on obviously!) The catering manager then adds the funds to the relevant accounts We also have the added issue where year 10s, 11s and 6th form can leave site at lunchtime and go the Tesco superstore that is adjacent to the school site. These kids tend to use cash so in order to try and get them to stay on site and eat a little more healthily one of our canteens now takes money.
FN-GM Posted September 30, 2015 Posted September 30, 2015 What if a parent only uses cash? Surely you couldn't refuse a student lunch because the school no longer accepts cash.
synaesthesia Posted September 30, 2015 Posted September 30, 2015 Exactly this - quite a few people do not or can not use card options. For instance, I was entirely cash only for the best part of 2 years during bankruptcy. It isn't difficult to use cashloaders for small payments like catering.
mthomas08 Posted September 30, 2015 Posted September 30, 2015 We are about 99% cashless, includes catering, uniform and trips. The School tends to tell Parents that cash is not accepted.
localzuk Posted September 30, 2015 Author Posted September 30, 2015 (edited) Exactly this - quite a few people do not or can not use card options. For instance, I was entirely cash only for the best part of 2 years during bankruptcy. It isn't difficult to use cashloaders for small payments like catering. I went through a time when I couldn't get a debit card from my bank due to bad credit, so I got a Tuxedo card. It's a top-up credit card. Surely everyone could get these if they can't get a bank card? Handling cash involves a fair amount of labour. It requires counting, checking, logging, & banking. All the banks then charge deposit fees to schools also. So we get charged to simply pay cash in! Edited September 30, 2015 by localzuk
FN-GM Posted September 30, 2015 Posted September 30, 2015 Surely everyone could get these if they can't get a bank card? From a parents point of view why should they go through all that labour to save the school time?
localzuk Posted September 30, 2015 Author Posted September 30, 2015 From a parents point of view why should they go through all that labour to save the school time? Why should the school have to pay out to make things more convenient for parents? Schools are there to educate, not faff around with cash for someone's lunch.
sparkeh Posted September 30, 2015 Posted September 30, 2015 We are 99% cashless. Out of 600 (primary) pupils only 1 or 2 pay cash due to their circumstances. We are in an area of high deprivation but the parents have really got on board with it.
FN-GM Posted September 30, 2015 Posted September 30, 2015 Why should the school have to pay out to make things more convenient for parents? Schools are there to educate, not faff around with cash for someone's lunch. To be fair schools are a service to the local community. There should be a degree flexibility.
localzuk Posted September 30, 2015 Author Posted September 30, 2015 To be fair schools are a service to the local community. There should be a degree flexibility. Not really sure of your point. The service schools provide is education. Anything else is an extra.
mikeprice Posted September 30, 2015 Posted September 30, 2015 Maybe I'm just awkward but if I owed the school a small(ish) amount of money and I gave them cash and they refused to accept it, I would keep the envelope safe and refuse to give them anything else - just keep offering the envelope when asked. I suppose they could take me to court - love to see that one played out More to the point - we are the opposite - I suggested looking at Parent Pay or something similar and it was rejected due the cash focused attitude of our parents.
FN-GM Posted September 30, 2015 Posted September 30, 2015 Not really sure of your point. The service schools provide is education. Anything else is an extra. So you are saying school shouldn't be feeding the children as its not apart of the education?
jmak Posted September 30, 2015 Posted September 30, 2015 We are about 99% cashless, includes catering, uniform and trips. The School tends to tell Parents that cash is not accepted. This is closest to our situation. We didn't get any push back from parents. We're infant so now there are very few lunches to pay for, but we made the change when lunches were still being paid for. Not an especially deprived area, but we're over 30% EAL now and don't have problems. When parents come to the office asking to pay, we show them how to log on and pay with their card. Haven't come across anyone without a card yet. All benefits are paid into a bank account now, so pretty much everyone has one.
Edu-IT Posted September 30, 2015 Posted September 30, 2015 We're a mix and I don't think that will ever change as there's no need for it to.
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