That’s what my squadron would do, no external events until paid up to date.
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It depends on the situation. We would send out letters requesting payment. If it’s a brief lapse (<3 months) we would probably not look to recover missed payments and just start from now. If it’s longer we may request a contribution to cover the gap.
However, in any such letter we would make clear that finance should not be a barrier to participation, and mention that the Civ Com looks to support those unable to pay, including the relevant contact details to discuss that.
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Use Square here - generates a payment link that can be sent via email / text / other for parents to setup monthly payments for subs.
We also use a POS device for canteen payments (all cashless now).
TX funds to the Sqn account monthly from the online portal to avoid statement clutter for the treasurer.
If the records of subs payments are poor, then (with CWC agreement) tend to zero the state and advise parents of the issue and that going forward subs of “X” required monthly (insert payment link) with usual “any difficulty, please get in touch” caveat for any financial hardship.
If the sqn fund is in a poor state, then a greater degree of recovery may be engaged.
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What electronic payment system do you use for the canteen?
Sorry, just realised it’s one and the same.
I use an Excel sheet for canteen. The price I pay for the canteen, the expected money back, and how much I take each night which I will email to the OC and Adj…I don’t like handling money but doing it this way I feel a little less stressed. It’s always been cash for canteen as getting a card reader isn’t something worth looking into as many of our cadets don’t have cash cards yet.
Also the fees on small card transactions add up. I’ve been thinking of some sort of credit system - buy £5 of tokens they can then spend - removes the need for cash at least at point of sale.
I’m not sure a tab, mess bar style, would work.
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Get a sumup account and machine. So much easier.
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Tokens are a great idea
If we had a card machine, we don’t yet, then that could be used to take the money for the tokens.
It would work best for simple pricing, say all soft drinks cost the same. Otherwise someone still has to count tokens and give change.
Your trustees are absolutely right to not get involved in doing anything except giving you access to the bank paperwork. They should have nothing to do with cadets on an individual basis - this relationship is between the squadron and the staff. Their “Trustee” status requires them to be isolated from as much personal circumstance relating to both staff and cadets and this is why they are able to perform their role without prejudice.
Regarding your later comment about herding cats 
No, they don’t - Squadrons I coach have a standing order form which works well and has replaced useless forms that had no thought put into them. A standing order instruction should:
- Include a guideline reference (ie not “Subs”, but instead ). Even if it can’t be achieved in 18 characters, it will at least be better than “Cadets”. The account owners name is automatically included in a bank reference so un-matched surnames are easier to deal with this way.
- Include a recommended payment date (and don’t have it on the 1st/last of the month otherwise you’ll repeatedly hit the first day of the month being on Weekends and issues with cleared funds appearing the next working day, possibly past the end of the FY). The 10th works well. This also groups most of the subs together on the statement and makes it easier to deal with. If people need a different date, you can still ask them to avoid 1st/2nd/30th/31st etc.
- Include a start date
- tell them to sort it with THEIR bank and not send it back to you! That’s a common one!
This will be more productive than the classic ones with just the bank details and the amount on. You can even add a note about setting up payments through online banking rather than taking the form to branch.
@Letsthink430 Please see above. The Trustees are not staff and should not be involved at that level. Their role is to make sure that the staff members are checking subscriptions and if subscriptions are not being paid, make sure that staff have something in place to deal with this. However, it also sounds like you had some ineffective Trustees which doesn’t help. You can get more information on this separation from the Charity Commission website. The staff are the ones with the de facto cadet list from SMS and therefore the point of reference.
I’d also wholeheartedly avoid getting people to pay up front. For two reasons:
- There is no good process for refunds in the organisation, only for taking money. (Check CCP 10! No mention of it!)
- Multiple systems just confuse people - just charge monthly! I have seen squadrons that have had changes of OC and this information isn’t transferred, the treasurer/Trustees are too far away from the information to be useful when this happens and it creates a mess that takes ages to sort out (I’ve been there more than once - don’t tell me it doesn’t happen!). After all, is it a Jan-December 12 month payment, 12 months from the date the cadet starts? I’m not even doing it here and I’m already asking questions! Fewer people would bat an eyelid if they lost a months subs, less so than 9 months because the cadet got bored three months in. I have a lot of experience around this and staff can be just as bad at checking subs as Trustees are at providing the information to help staff check them. It’s a KISS situation. Everyone understands monthly payments and there’s no need to invent a new and unique process.
Also, that money goes to Wing, Region and The Air Cadet Charity rather than HQ Air Cadets; they get your tax money instead!
I’m yet to work out why the Corps doesn’t just provide a standard letter. They have a document for everything else!
Turns out you can also use an NFC enabled phone to take cashless payments via their app - saves the POS unit cost (but does look somewhat suspect)!