Payment Methods

World Pay (Payment Gateway) – This inbuilt integration can be added to your account as an alternative to Sage Pay so that you can receive secure credit and debit card payments. We have found that obtaining a WorldPay account is generally easier than OPayo, especially if you do not have an Internet Merchant Account.

Stripe (Payment Gateway) – This inbuilt integration can be added to your account as an alternative to the aforementioned so that you can receive secure credit and debit card payments. Stripe is easy to set-up, but requires you to validate your accoubnt via a company house registration number or charity number, so Local Education Authourity (LEA) schools are unable to use this gateway, although academies and free schools are, as they general have a companies house registration number.

Paypal (Payment Gateway) – This inbuilt integration can be added to your account as an alternative to the aforementioned so that you can receive secure credit and debit card payments. Whilst Paypal is generally more expensive than all of the above gateways, it can be used by Local Education Authourity (LEA) schools, which is why we support it.

Childcare Vouchers – The system can record payment via childcare vouchers. At the time of booking the parent specifies the Voucher Provider and the Reference to the voucher being used. This is then shown in various reports to allow you ensure you have received the vouchers and mark the booking as paid. The system features various reminders to the parent about outstanding vouchers, as well as automated e-mails when the voucher is marked as received.

We also support Tax Free Childcare and Pupil Premium, as payment methods, as well as other funded payment methods.

Credit System – Parents can maintain a credit on their account. Credits are assigned by administrators or by purchasing credit directly. Credits can be used to fully or partially pay for a session.

Custom Payment Types

As the administrator of the Childcare on-line Booking system you have the ability to not only control the standard types and their rules but also create an unlimited amount of custom payment methods. Let’s run through an example:

For one of your clubs you would like to be able to take payment on the day in cash. In the Payment Methods screen you can create a new entry and fill out the following options:

Description: What text should appear for this option Active: (Yes) Whether this should be live on the system – Easy way to temporarily halt taking a certain payment method Admin Only: Should this payment method be shown to parents (No) or only to administrative users when they are masquerading and placing orders on the parents behalf (Yes) Automatically reconcile (Paid): When paying by this method do you want the booking to be marked as fully paid (Yes), or do you want to reconcile the payment when it has physically been received (No) Surcharge Percent (%): Do you want to charge a fee for using this method – percentage of full booking cost (Best used for Credit cards where you pay a percentage of the transaction amount as a fee) Surcharge Amount: Do you want to charge a fee for using this method – standard flat amount per booking (I.e. 30p per booking as an administrative charge)

Using these options you can setup a cash payment type as you like. However what happens if you only want one type of club to take this method? What happens if one parent is abusing the payment method? This can be handled easily as you can mark both sessions and parents with what payment methods you are happy to accept. By default all payment types will appear (subject to above rules) but you exclude certain types and the changes impact the system immediately. This applies to both standard and custom payment methods.