Primary school emails - getting a touch annoyed

[MrsHouseMouse]

Oldest DS enjoys school dinners.
I pay for his weekly lunches every Monday evening so there's a few hours from lunch to the evening when the account is minus.
I recieve 2 emails in that time stating I need to top up his account...

... in red font.

It's only been this school year. Previous years have been perfectly fine.

I'm getting a little annoyed with this!

OP is getting the emails because she isn't paying beforehand. 🫣

No, she's getting the emails because they operate a credit system which allows users to go into debit. If you have to pay in advance that would mean that's impossible. It's clearly fine to go into debit - it doesn't mean she thinks she's special.

It's perfectly possible to look reasonably well-off on paper, but be really struggling owing to unavoidable financial commitments.

Sometimes, you can be a tiny bit above the threshold for assistance and somebody a tiny bit below that threshold gets the help and ends up better off than you, in real terms.

If the emails are irritating you then they’re doing their job. If you want them to stop, top up the money before it goes into the red. Simple.

Unless it's such a major concern for you and you investigate and then discover that the parent pays every single Monday evening.

This is one of the issues with automation, hugely time-saving though it is: you either send out multiple reminders for an account that is always settled/brought up to date on the same day; or otherwise no human is involved to notice if there is an actual problem with the parent's finances, or safeguarding that needs to be addressed - especially as it's all about ensuring that kids are fed.

Also, why send TWO emails in one day? That does seem particularly overbearing.

Same with poor people, really: it's their own fault as, if they want to stop being poor, they just need to get themselves a lot of money from somewhere...

OP is supposed to pay in advance.
She does pay in advance.
She is making the payment on the Monday evening of each week, so is effectively too late for the payment to cover Monday's lunch.
This is why the account is going into debt.

Exactly because of people like OP who think they are entitled to food on credit

Then you go without lunch so your kid can have lunch

So do the schools have to pay their suppliers in full for all the meals for the week upfront, then? They don't get given even a few hours to pay their invoices?

TBH, you could have fixed this problem by paying at literally any time over the weekend, in the time it took you to type this out.

I don't know if it's OP's situation, but a number of people on here seem to be either woefully ignorant or otherwise uncaring about the lives of poor people - some of which do find that they don't qualify for FSM or benefits for whatever reasons.

Maybe we could eliminate the need for the NHS completely by extending the same principle to people who are ill: 'enlighten' them about the 'simple solution' that they need to just not get ill.

Once they hit secondary you will probably find if they don't have credit they don't get food so it's not a good habit to be in.

OP only needs to pay for one extra meal on one week, then she can continue paying on Monday evening. Surely that might be an easier fix than trying to shift to paying a whole week on an earlier day?

I'm confused as to why you're set yourself up with a routine that puts you in arrears every single week. Depending on the system the school uses, it may be automated, or it may also mean that your child has to have payment declined every single Monday and be embarrassed in front of a line of other children when the card doesn't work. Either put enough extra in one week to cover the next Monday as well so that you are then in credit for a week and then can continue normal routine, or change your payment timing to the weekend.

Don't start me on those Sparx emails 🤣🤣🤣

You’re doing this to yourself OP.

If money is so tight that paying for one extra meal to stop this happening every week is too much, perhaps you should do packed lunches. It is definitely possible to feed children more cheaply that way.

As for "allowing debt" meaning that it's OK...

A few years ago I worked at a primary school that was owed over £7k in dinner money debt. The head decided that we would no longer feed children unless they had money in their account to pay for it. As a concession, understanding that sometimes people might accidentally forget to top it up, she allowed them to get into debt by the price of one meal. The expectation being it would be repaid ASAP. After that if the child's meal had not been paid for people would have to phone the parents and ask them to pay and if they didn't pay, the child would not be given a school dinner (they'd get bread and fruit*).

You wouldn't believe the amount of people who were outraged that they were expected to provide for their own children and thought the school should just feed them regardless.

I imagine it is a similar setup at OP's school and that's why they get a reminder after going into debt for one meal. Nobody likes telling a child that they can't have lunch so they want to ensure there are funds for the child to be able to eat the next day.

I've never been to, sent children to, or worked in a school that allows you to settle up at the end of the month.

• the "bread and fruit" often bore a remarkable resemblance to a school dinner in reality.

Wait until high school.
No money, no dinner!

At my sons UK school parents who hadn’t paid for a meal were called and their child was given bread and butter and a piece of fruit, if it was a second time or more it was also popped on my concern as parents were knowingly denying their child adequate food. Suddenly dinners were paid for!

Would you expect a cafe to be happy if you dined, dashed and then paid a few hours later?

It will be autogenerated by the system. If it’s that annoying just top up enough that you’re never going to be in debt, for example I used to just pay £50 at a time and topped up when it ran out. Or just always keep enough for one extra meal in credit, eg say meals are £2 each, this week pay £12 to cover an extra day then every following week top up with £10.

Just pay on the Sunday! Christ sake, it is not that friggin difficult to work out!

For God sake. Another non issue to be annoyed at schools over. Would you send him to Asda with £10 and expect him to buy £10.50 worth of shopping?! Just top it up earlier.

Just pay on the Sunday! It may not be an automatic response, but someone who has to take the time to send emails/ texts to parents who don’t pay their lunch bill.