ParentPay

[JohnDown]

Old and new threads about this but I have seen time and again forced exclusion from stationary - lunch - trips. For those that do not wish to sign up with ParentPay. My question is can schools really force parents to sign up for it?

Reasons against are many, but include Private information on child and parent stored outside of the UK, the difficulty of removing any stored money without closing your account which denys your child access to school meals even if they qualify for free school meals, in their agreement it is written that should the company be sold the strored private information will be part of the sale allowing the new owner the ability to do what they wish with it. The app works well for parents that never run into issues, but look at those that do for example on trustpilot where no custmore service is given and rate it at 1-2 stars. Would you use a company with a rating that low if you had a choice? I would not let someone install solar panels on my roof without a 4 star minimum. If you read the terms and conditions there are many red flags.

I used PP for a couple of schools and didn't have any major issues. Anything minor was dealt with by the school. I never really thought of it as a separate company to be honest and would never have thought to give it a rating on Trust Pilot. I suspect the low rating only arises because it is the people who have major issues and had to deal direct with PP that have given ratings. The vast majority of users haven't had a problem.

Tbh it's been so long that we've been using it that I can't remember any of the terms and conditions. Ds is in year 11 now so only a few months left. I top it up only when it's down to the last pound and even then only 10£ at a time so no issues so far.
I know at ds school there's no alternative so kids either bring a packed lunch or use parent pay to pay for lunch.

Being as the banks are closing all over the place, how would you expect schools to bank cash if you don't use Parentpay? Plus some schools need you to pre order meals and PP is the only qay you can.
Never thought about the GDPR side of it.

I had PP and didn’t have any issues with it. When my older kids left the school I got the remaining balance transferred to my younger child immediately. I thought that this might be done by the school rather than PP.

We got general school emails through PP eg school trips and I liked the convenience of paying online.

What challenges do you envisage with it? Have you ever used it?

Mine are both on it - they don't hold any info on my children other than their name and school name, which is harmless, unless you are suggesting they could even use that for anything?

When dc1 left Primary and went to secondary, the Primary school arranged for her account to be closed and, at my request, transferred the balance to her younger sibling. The alternative was they refund it to me - all done direct with school not PP.

I've never had an issue with it, my children get fsm but I top up £40 a month for trips, residentials, replacing lost ties and water bottles etc. The balance is split over both dc, I've never had an issue. What axe are you grinding?

It is easy enough to withdraw any money held - you just contact the school and ask for it to be refunded.

No idea what you mean about children being denied FSM. The school till system always takes a FSM allowance before drawing on funds from a child’s Parentpay account.

Not sure what solar panels has to do with anything.

but look at those that do for example on trustpilot where no custmore service is given and rate it at 1-2 stars

One of the first things people do when they have issues with something is find out where to leave a review.

How many times do you log into Trust Pilot to leave a 5 star review for the services and shops and apps you use and work well? These star ratings are always skewed.

Some of those reviews are laughable too "my child is going hungry because the app doesn't work" - no school in the UK would see the children go hungry because of an issue like this, and would supply even just basic meals to the child til it was sorted, and they have Business Managers and other admin staff who can support users to get their ParentPay accounts working again.

Welcome to Mumsnet, by the way OP. Tell me, when is your article on ParentPay needing to be submitted to your employer?