PayTo is the game-changer for childcare & education providers

While direct debit remains a popular payment option in the childcare and broader education industry, PayTo offers a more flexible option for centres and parents.

Think of the same set-and-forget benefits of direct debit—but with simpler payment processes, reduced administrative burden, and even better cash flow. It’s the direct debit glow-up you didn’t realise you needed.

PayTo is a cutting-edge technology developed by the New Payments Platform (NPP) that enables you to instantly collect payments from parents' bank accounts in real-time, 24/7.

Check out the video below to see how quickly a PayTo agreement can be created and authorised.

Here are the main benefits that PayTo can bring to your business, kicking off with a big one:

Your centre gets paid sooner

For childcare and education providers looking to improve their cash flow, PayTo's speed is a game-changer. 

While direct debit is the dominant payment method in the childcare industry, it can take up to two business days (T+2) for funds to clear. With PayTo, the settlement of transactions happens on the same day, ensuring centres receive their payments faster than ever before.

And if a parent overpays and requests a refund, you can use PayTo to issue a refund immediately (eliminating the need to wait multiple business days) and securely process the payment back to the parent's account. 

• Takeaway: This means more cash flowing into the business, allowing you to efficiently manage finances and focus on delivering high-quality care and education services.

Simple billing & improved payment communication

Managing your centre's finances can be time-consuming, but with PayTo, you can simplify the billing process. Payment agreements are created and authorised in just a few clicks, and centrally stored for peace of mind.

PayTo offers real-time verification of parents' bank account details, ensuring the correct account is set up from the outset. By setting up payments in advance, you can trigger payments on demand, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and amend them anytime before the due date. 

Leave the uncomfortable and reactive conversations about missed or failed payments behind. Instead, you can layer SMS via your childcare management software to proactively manage money conversations with the parents or carers. 

PayTo allows you to retry payments multiple times before fees are charged. So, between proactive communication and multiple payment attempts, this helps to ensure that you receive payments on time with less risk of missed or late payments—and a happier experience for all.

• Takeaway: This mitigates awkward money conversations, and reduces the need for chasing up payments, saving you time and administrative costs.

Flexibility & payment solutions for all parents

With PayTo, you can provide convenient and flexible payment options for parents, such as recurring payments and online payment history and receipts, as well as customisable payment plans that suit their individual needs and financial circumstances. 

Parents can make one-off payments for deposits or excursions and set up a PayTo agreement with your centre for ongoing childcare, without the need for a direct debit agreement. 

PayTo provides notifications to the centre when a PayTo agreement is changed or cancelled, giving you the opportunity to follow up with the parent and understand how their circumstances have changed. This enables you to proactively identify and address issues, rather than being reactive and dealing with problems after they arise.

• Takeaway: This flexibility means you can accommodate the needs of various family financial circumstances, and improve the efficiency and convenience of your payment processes at the same time.

Seamless integration with your existing software

With a state-of-the-art API, PayTo has been redesigned with best practice functionality and usability as top priorities.

This means PayTo can be seamlessly integrated into your existing centre management software to avoid disruption to business operations and make it easy for your staff to offer a new payment method with ease.

• Takeaway: This reduces the time and effort needed to learn new systems and processes, and ensures that PayTo can be easily incorporated into your current business operations.

Get your business PayTo ready

PayTo can provide numerous benefits to childcare and education centres, including faster payments, improved cash flow, simplified billing, and reduced risk of declined payments. With the added flexibility, seamless integration and real-time notifications, PayTo can provide a streamlined and efficient payment solution that saves you time, money and hassle.

If you’d like your business to be one of the first to trial PayTo, you can sign up for our pilot program. From there, the pilot team will reach out to you to provide the integration specifications and set up a meeting to discuss the next steps.