With school budgets increasingly stretched, more and more primary schools are looking to inhouse their own wraparound childcare to raise additional funds. As well as the extra revenue, the benefits of providing care that is more closely aligned to the school’s ethos, values and approach are persuasive factors for schools considering taking on the challenge of running care inhouse.
However, schools rightly feel apprehensive about the volume of associated administration and operational demands that come with adding a vibrant breakfast and afterschool club to an already busy school day. There are a range of more obvious aspects of running a club, such as staffing, purchasing & activity provision, that schools are used to from their day-to-day operations. But it is often the less explicit parts of providing care that can leave schools starting out on the back foot, and then struggling to catch up.
One such factor is the sheer volume of work required to set up and maintain the club’s payment and reconciliation systems. Many schools start out using their existing parent payment provider, but quickly find this lacks the nuance to bill parents accurately, leading to ever-increasing administration trying to reconcile parent payments to bookings. In addition to reconciling BACS payments, administrators must register with, and reconcile payments from, both Tax-Free Childcare and the 20+ childcare voucher providers that parents use. With an average sized club accepting anywhere between 200-300 payments a month, the volume of work can rapidly increase.
Childcare Bookings for Schools has solved this problem by providing a fully outsourced booking, payment and administration service, to free schools from the associated workload and concentrate on the day job. By providing both a bespoke online booking system (giving parents 24/7 access to book and make payments), and a dedicated administrator, parents have a single point of contact for everything they need. All payments are processed and reconciled by our team, with fully transparent processes ensuring schools have total oversight of their income.
In addition to alleviating the payment and administrative pressure, CBfS also provide fully editable template operations manuals, policies, relevant forms and planning to further free schools from the associated operational set up and ongoing processes. Schools are left to provide a caring and enriching club for their community, and receive their revenue in a single monthly payment.
If you are considering:
- In-housing an existing club
- Reviewing your club’s administration and payment processes
- Setting up a new club
Childcare Bookings for Schools can help.
Free resources
- See how much revenue a club could generate with our school budget calculator
- Thinking of starting your club? Download our template parental demand survey
Contact us today on:
e: enquiries@childcarebookingsforschools.co.uk
t: 01444 523335
w: www.childcarebookingsforschools.co.uk
Published on 17 May 2022