Afterschool club

[Sarah2025]

My son started reception in September and afterschool club late November. Initially I put in £20 into the afterschool club account which was unallocated and then when I emailed them they allocated to my account and I was able to pay for 4 sessions. Its £5 per session. Since then I linked the afterschool club account with my tax free account and been paying that way. A few days ago I got a notification on the afterschool club account to say I couldn't book any future sessions as I owed £20. I don't understand this as I can't book any sessions without paying for the sessions at the time of booking.
The afterschool club sent me a list of debits a d credits to the afterschool club which is not clear what payments are for what sessions.
I don't know what happens if, for example, I booked a session and didn't have sufficient funds in my tax free account or there was a problem with the money going out would the booking still go through and my account go into debit without me knowing? If that is the case then when I go to make a future booking I could just be paying off the last booking where the money didn't go out? I have looked through my the payments in my tax free account and can't see that money was ever low and always check it before paying in the afterschool account. They are saying I owe £20 for 2 bookings on tues 16th and wed 17th December for the afterschool club but how could I book them without paying at the time as it won't let the booking go through unless I pay at the same time. The last payment that left my afterschool club account was £10 on 15th December which would cover Tuesday. They are saying he attended Wednesday as well but I honestly can't remember as my last day in work for Christmas was on tues 17th December so thought I had just booked him in for that session. Even if he did attend on the Wednesday it doesn't make sense that I owe them £20. Can anyone advise?

It sounds like there has been multiple occasions since September where you have booked him in but there wasn't enough money in the account.

Maybe just pay the £20 and keep a closer eye in future?

He wasnt attending afterschool club in September. He only started attending late November.

But I don't understand how their system works. If a payment doesn't go through why is a booking go through? They could start doing this all the time a d I don't like paying unless I understand exactly what it's for.

why can’t you just look through your accounts and see how much you’ve paid them?

Write down all the sessions you have booked.
Check to see if you have paid an amount (literally check that the money has gone out, not that you think it should have been used) that covers those sessions.

Check with the after school club that their number of sessions matches yours.

It sounds like the after school club system may not actually wait for payment to go through before allowing booking - it just looks for indicators that payment is likely before letting you make the booking.

In my experience, they let the account go into debit before they just leave your kid in the car park. So they do allow a little bit of leeway and a period to catch up. Maybe you were topping up and they were putting it against arrears from one bounced payment in the past and then allowing you leeway once more for the next sessions?

If you don’t understand how their system works you need to ask school not Mumsnet.

presumably you can book without paying because that’s how childcare vouchers work because there’s like 50 different providers and they’re not all linked. School have reconciled after that fact (my childcare vouchers take 5 days to get to school for example) and they’re don’t have all the payments. If you don’t trust their reconciliation then you need to manually do your own as you would any cheque or credit card payments for example.

If he started in late November then it’s only been like 8 weeks or something. So 2 sessions per week x 8 = 16 sessions x £5 = £80 so has more than this come out of your account to the school? Should be simple to work out that way

She isn’t talking about childcare vouchers

I didn't say he was attending in September, I said since September as in when he started at the school.

If he attends several times a week and has done in November and December then it's feasible they have accepted him in for wraparound when the account is in debit. Many providers allow the place to be booked even if there isn't enough to pay for it. Have you checked how much you've paid in Vs how many days he's attended?

The issue with me tracking the sessions he attended is that the afterschool account is only letting me see the last 3 bookings and I wasn't keep note of them myself as was booking on an adhoc basis each week.

Then ask them…

If you ask they will happily provide you with a list.

It's also sensible to keep your own record of when he has attended. You could easily have then checked it to see how much you'd paid Vs how many sessions he had done.

Surely it's better to have a system where if there is a problem with payment you are notified straight away at the time of booking rather than letting you think its all gone through and then using any future topups to pay for previous bookings that haven't gone through then cutting you off at £20 and saying you can't make any future bookings until the £20 is paid off and you are trying to figure out what the debt is for...

It also makes sense to track what money you pay and own and when you use childcare. It’s not their responsibility to organise everything for you. So just ask them for the dates and check if you owe the money. Seen as you actually have no clue it sounds like you probably do owe it.

It seems like you're arguing this is their fault rather than because you've not ensured the account had adequate funds in?

No system is perfect but this way they've allowed you to have 4 additional sessions rather than leave you fumbling for childcare to resolve the problem. Its a very common system especially in schools for wrap round, lunches and trips where it would be the child facing the consequences.

If you want your after school club to use a complicated fully integrated payment system, then you will also need to pay more than £5 a session.

Or you could have cheap childcare and accept that some of their systems and processes might be not entirely streamlined.

They are saying this is for sessions on the 16/17 December. Taking out the Christmas holiday, they are basically following up within a few days. Most people keep track of after school sessions and whether they have paid for them. Or would just pay the £20 so they can keep booking and then figure it out. It's not like they are saying you owe huge amounts.