Member Article

Innovative Coventry company strikes school meals deals

An innovative Coventry company, which has designed a system to allow parents to pay for their children’s school meals online, has signed two major deals.

ParentPay, which expanded into the University of Warwick Science Park’s Business Innovation Centre in Binley last autumn, devised the system to remove the hassle from paying for school meals and other school items while helping admin staff concentrate on other tasks by removing cash from schools.

The system is already being used in more than 4,000 schools across the UK and now ParentPay has been awarded a new contract which enables up to 600 Lancashire schools to go cashless by taking payments online.

That deal has been struck with BT Lancashire Services which provides ICT services to schools as part of a contract with Lancashire County Council.

The Coventry company, which also has offices in Baginton and Somerset, is also working in partnership with the Children’s Food Trust and the Department for Education to help drive school meal uptake in the South East, East and South West of the UK.

The Children’s Food Trust are supporting the implementation of The School Food Plan which, with Government support, aims to help head teachers improve food in their school.

Clint Wilson, chief executive of ParentPay, said it meant exciting times ahead for the company, which now employs 80 staff.

He said: “We have grown significantly over the past year and the University of Warwick Science Park has been the perfect base from which to do that – not only because of the quality of the space but because of the other services available too.

“These are two very important deals for ParentPay, which underline our excellent reputation in this field.

“Every parent knows the hassle of scrambling round looking for change and our system completely removes that because everything is done online.

“On top of that, and certainly in senior schools, it takes away some of the risk of bullying as children no longer need to carry cash for their meals – it can all be paid for in advance online.

“Many parents will identify with those issues and that’s how we got started. We took that everyday hassle and turned it into a business idea. We are delighted with the success so far and these two deals can lead further exciting times ahead.

“We know there are more schools and parents out there who want the system and we believe that will lead to continued growth.”

Locally, over 100 schools in the Coventry and Warwickshire area are using the ParentPay system and 600 schools across the Midlands as a whole.

Penny Robb, the manager of the University of Warwick Science Park’s Business Innovation Centre in Binley, said it was the perfect base for ParentPay to thrive.

She said: “The Science Park and its innovation centres are a hive for high-tech, innovative businesses. The space and business support we offer allow companies to get on and do what they do best – to innovate and develop ideas – in an environment conducive to that.

“ParentPay are a great of example of how technology can solve an everyday problem and it is proving to be a great success across the country.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Matt Joyce .