Solving income challenges and reducing debt with ParentPay

Overview 

Edinburgh Primary School in East London faced growing challenges around income collection, dinner money reconciliation and parent debt. The school adopted ParentPay to remove cash from school, improve efficiency and ensure a socially inclusive experience for families. 

We spoke with Annette House, School Business Manager, to understand how the solution supported their operational goals and helped drive measurable impact. 

Objectives 

• Make counting and reconciling dinner money more manageable 

• Reduce time spent chasing parent debt 

• Improve overall efficiency across finance and administration 

Solution 

• Deployed a socially inclusive online payment and debt management system 

• Enabled online payments, live balances, alerts and PayPoint cash options 

• Appointed a project manager to evaluate business case and lead implementation 

• Involved stakeholders from requirements gathering through to supplier presentations 

“It was important that a future cashless school did not disadvantage any child and should also add value to all stakeholders: whether they are staff or parents.”
— Annette House, School Business Manager 

“Offering parents the ability to pay online, see live balances, and obtain alerts—combined with offering cash payments via PayPoint—offered total peace of mind.”
— Annette House, School Business Manager 

Impact 

• Saved countless hours of finance and admin time 

• Significant reduction in school debt—from thousands to under £100 most weeks 

• Parents can access balances 24/7 and receive text/email alerts 

• No more manual cash handling or bank trips for staff 

“We have easily gained the benefits we thought we could at the outset. We have saved countless hours of time by no longer dealing with cash.”
— Annette House, School Business Manager 

Parent engagement 

• Ran parent presentations from April to September 

• Promoted ParentPay through school notices and branded staff T-shirts 

• Highlighted benefits of online and PayPoint payments 

• Ensured inclusive access for families without internet or bank accounts 

“We didn’t miss any opportunities to promote the use of ParentPay.”
— Annette House, School Business Manager 

Conclusion 

ParentPay has helped Edinburgh Primary School reduce administrative burden, improve income collection and dramatically lower school debt. The solution continues to support operational efficiency and inclusive access for families across East London.