Newsletter

Spring 2010

First school signs up for new cash collection service
St Mary’s Catholic College in Blackpool is the first school to benefit from being able to collect cash donations from parents using a payment card; providing a convenient and secure method of collecting cash. The service uses the PayPoint network that many families may already use to pay their utility and phone bills.

“The Cash Collection Service will ease the burden on school administration and enable families to budget better,” explained Marie Goldie, bursar at the school. “Due to the various implications - children bringing cash to school for donations to the e-learning scheme was never an option for us”.

“We have rolled out the Cash Collection Service in response to feedback from schools,” commented Kevin Pay, Operations Director for the e-Learning Foundation. “As well as obvious safety issues surrounding children carrying money to school for donations, handling cash also generates an extra burden of administration and accounting work in already stretched school offices.”

When a school signs up to the Cash Collection Service, the e-Learning Foundation issues an individually barcoded card to parents and carers who have chosen to donate by cash. The cards are accepted at any of 22,000 PayPoints across the UK, including newsagents, local convenience stores, supermarkets and garages.  Most open long hours and many are open seven days a week.

The money is paid into the school bank account along with funds gathered using other donation methods. Schools receive regular report up-dates on the number and value of donations made via the e-Learning Foundation’s web portal.

As with all other forms of donations made through the e-Learning Foundation’s DMS system, PayPoint donations attract Gift Aid wherever a donor has completed a Gift Aid declaration.