ParentPay for parents: paying for trips, dinners and clubs without the faff

ParentPay is how most English state schools take money: dinners, trips, clubs, uniform from the school shop. It is not complicated, but it has a few habits that catch people out, and the school office answers the same three questions every September. Here they are, with the rest.

Setting up#

The school gives you an activation letter with a username and password. Go to parentpay.com, press Login, use them once, and it asks you to set your own email and password. From then on you sign in with the email.

A second child at the same school appears automatically. A child at another ParentPay school needs that school's activation letter: sign in, Add a child, enter the details, and both children sit under one login.

A second parent needs their own activation letter from the office. Both then see the same balances and items.

A second email address (for example your Bobbie address, so the payment requests and receipts are read for you): your name at the top right, Profile settings, Email addresses, add.

Dinner money#

Your child's balance is on the home page. Press Pay for meals (or the child's dinner money item), enter an amount, Add to basket, Checkout. Most schools warn when the balance drops below a set amount, by email; some stop serving when it goes negative, so top up on the warning. Set a reminder for the same day each fortnight if the emails do not arrive.

Children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 get free meals; from September 2026 so does every child in a household on Universal Credit. If that is you, apply through your council and the dinner line disappears.

Paying for a trip#

The trip appears as an item on the home page with the amount and the deadline. Press it. You will usually see:

• the letter or a summary of it,
• the consent box, a tick or a form,
• the payment.

Tick the consent, then add the payment to the basket, then checkout. Paying does not give consent and consent does not pay. This is the number one call to the office. Check the item shows both done before you close it.

For a curriculum trip in school time, the payment is a voluntary contribution in law, however firmly the letter is worded; see school money without the surprises. The trip may still not run without enough contributions.

Clubs#

Clubs run by the school are items like trips: pay for the term, usually in the first week. Places often go on a first-paid basis, so pay on the day the item appears. Clubs run by outside coaches are usually paid to the coach, not through ParentPay, whatever the school's newsletter implies; check the item is actually there before you assume.

Paying by cash#

At the checkout, choose PayPoint instead of card. ParentPay gives you a barcode; take it and the cash to any shop with a PayPoint sign. The payment shows in ParentPay in a day or two. Useful for dinner money if you would rather not use a card.

The three things that catch people out#

1. Consent and payment are separate. See above.
2. The email arrives before the app notification, sometimes by a day. If the item is not in the app yet, wait; if it is in the email, it will be.
3. Receipts go to the email on the account. If you cannot find one, it is in the email, not the app. Forward receipts to a place that keeps them (Bobbie marks the payment paid when the receipt arrives; a folder in your mail works too).

Further reading#

• Every UK school system explained for parents
• School money without the surprises

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Sources: ParentPay's own guidance for parents; UK Wide Hub, ParentPay guide 2026; Bowness Primary ParentPay guide. Screens as of September 2026; ParentPay changes its layout occasionally.