As summer approaches your parent customers may ask how they can obtain a refund or transfer the money that is on one of their children's ParentPay account.
This article will teach you...
How to find leavers and process a refund or manage a transfer to another child.
- Go to People > Pupils and Staff, Select the relevant year group (or All) then tick to include leavers and Search.
- Locate the child in the list and select the Pupil Statement icon.
- Select the relevant payment item and click Search. Any remaining balance will be displayed
- In the Description column on the statement, you need to look for the last payment made (you may need to amend the start date and re-run the report to find this). You can then click on the blue wording “ParentPay” in the description column, which will take you to the receipt for the payment.
- At the bottom of the screen, you have a REFUND PAYMENT button. When you click on this it takes you to the refund screen where you can choose how much you want to refund to the payer's Parent Account balance (which will be the balance left on the account).
- The parent can now login to their Payer Account and choose to withdraw the funds back to their bank or payment card.
- It is not possible to refund these allowances.
- Childcare payments are restricted due to their tax benefit and are not possible to refund. Parents should consider this as they approach the end of their child's education period.
- Bursaries and allowances provided by the school can be given to parents using a manual (cash) process where appropriate. As no actual funds have been transferred through the ParentPay system it is impossible to 'refund' them.
Further advice
Communicate with parents
Timely updates will help minimise calls from parents and ensure they know what you are doing in relation to cancelled activities. If part of the payment is non-refundable, ensure parents know in advance and understand why.
Be clear on the timeline
Explain to parents what steps you need to take before refunding payments (e.g. liaising with the airlines or travel companies). Schools cannot refund to parents what they do not have. Please ensure your school has sufficient funds available before commencing the process.
Refund restrictions due to lack of credit
As a school, should you attempt to refund more money to pupils than you would receive during your next settlement, you will need to credit your account before it is reactivated for online refunds. During peak periods such as July and September, please allow up to 48 hours after we receive the funds before the online refund option is re-enabled.