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'Chaos' surrounding school payment systems
01 July 2016
There’s been a good deal of negative comment and press in recent weeks concerning the performance of some payment service providers who offer online services for schools to enable parents to pay for school meals and other activities. Poor service levels have resulted in money not being available for children at school, and additional administration by schools in managing the return of funds.
At sQuid, we operate differently. Firstly, we take great care in handling our customers’ money, and we ensure that parents and schools know exactly where that money is. The funds that a parent puts into their sQuid account remain with the account holder until that money is actually spent. This means that there is no administration burden on the school, since we take care of the payment activity and refunds to parents if they are due.
Secondly, at sQuid we recognise the importance of satisfied customers. We are proud of our outstanding customer service reputation for both schools and parents. We engage with school administrators and with parent users, listening to their needs and responding accordingly. Our recently released Mobile App, enhanced Customer Portal and sQuid SchoolPay system are a few examples.
Unlike other payment service providers, sQuid is engaged in the wider challenges of education, and we go beyond online school payments. We work with governments in the UK and in Africa, helping to deliver digital services in education. In Kenya, we run our own programme to improve learning outcomes for 150,000 primary school children marginalised through poverty, delivering an award winning digital learning platform and attendance monitoring system in rural schools. We also aim to connect UK and Kenyan schools through our partnering initiative to encourage cultural awareness in the classroom.
At sQuid, we go the extra mile to make school payments simple and painless. You can contact us below if your needs are urgent, and we will be in touch with you in due course.
Adam Smith, Chief Executive, sQuid
