Five reasons to go cashless

If your school is seeking a faster, more reliable method of collecting payments, a commitment to cashless is the solution for you. Still unsure? Here are the top five reasons why thousands of UK schools are choosing online platforms for efficient, parent-friendly school payments.

1. School budget

With dinner money debt and parent arrears raising concerns in schools across the country, a cashless catering and payment system is increasingly becoming a ‘need to have’ rather than a ‘nice to have’ to protect school budgets.

Whether it’s dinner money top ups, payments for school trips, uniform, after-school clubs or more, online payments keep things super convenient for parents – and when payments are simple for parents, schools feel the benefit! +Pay provides automatic low-balance and payment-due reminders, helping to keep parent arrears in check. The platform also offers multiple registers for after-school and breakfast clubs, and weekly settlement reports make managing budgets and reconciliation easy.

With some of the lowest transaction and subscription costs on the market, +Pay helps schools of all sizes achieve substantial savings.

2. Supporting the millennial parent

From managing finances with personal banking to ordering the weekly shop from the comfort of home, the modern-day parent is making the most of modern technology to save time on daily admin tasks and chores - and who can blame them? Between balancing childcare, work and errands, parents are eager to take advantage of handy shortcuts to keep life simple. As a result of busy routines, relying on parents for cash payments is impractical. A recent survey by Merchant Machine evidences the dramatic rise of card payments over cash; to guarantee an improved response to payments, it’s up to your school to give parents the right tools for the job!

With +Pay, parents can manage payments with the free ParentMail App while out and about and on the go. For extra convenience, +Pay saves payment details, enabling easy payments in seconds. Again, push notifications serve as handy reminders to pay during their busy day.It’s clear why cashless payments are a favourite with parents; in fact, market research suggests that the vast majority of parents prefer to pay for school items via a secure online platform, with a huge 89% stating they prefer cashless systems!

3. Social inclusivity

Unfortunately, the stigma associated with free school meals and other costly school items can prove difficult for some students. However, taking the cash out of payments can support a reduction in bullying and extortion on school grounds.

+Pay provides parents with a variety of payment options, including credit and debit cards, Amex, cash via PayPoint and PayPal; in fact, +Pay are the only online payments provider to offer PayPal as an option – a proven favourite with parents! Advancements in technology mean that children can now pay for their school dinners with ID Cards, fobs and even their fingerprint, so the need to bring cash in to school is completely abolished, and parents can be confident money is being spent on the right items.

With +Pay, parents can manage payments for all their children, across different schools, through their ParentMail account.  Plus, the ability to access their account on the App, a tablet or web browser helps ParentMail fit into the lives of parents

4. Efficiency

With rising student populations and increasing pressure to evidence efficiency, administrative tasks can take up vital time for office teams. Collecting, managing and banking cash payments can take hours, not to mention the tricky and time-consuming tasks of tracking parent arrears and chasing overdue money.

Technology is supporting schools like never before, automating administrative tasks, improving security and reducing room for human error. +Pay was designed with the needs of schools in mind; the system syncs seamlessly with SIMS and other management information systems, allowing you the flexibility to manage registers with ease.

5. Secure and reliable

This last one is simple; reducing cash on school grounds is the safest way to operate and an online system stores student and parent data far more securely than paper records. It also cannot be denied that students often aren’t the most reliable carriers of cash!

2018 saw over 99% uptime for +Pay, providing parents with a reliable service, whenever they needed it. And, should you ever need us, our dedicated and friendly +Pay Support Team are on hand to provide any help you might need!

Hundreds of schools made the change to +Pay last year and haven’t looked back, with many switching from the market leader in search of reliable and professional service. It’s time to join the cashless revolution! Get in touch to find out more