> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://clubdock.co.uk/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Payment methods

> Choose how parents can pay, what they are told about each method, when payment is due and when reminders go.

**Settings → Payment methods** decides which ways to pay a parent is offered at checkout, and what they are told about each. It also sets when payment is due and when ClubDock reminds a family that money is owed.

> [!NOTE]
>
> Only a **Manager** can change payment methods.

![Bank transfer in Settings → Payment methods, with What parents are told highlighted](https://mintcdn.com/club-dock/i5cYbq0jP2hBThbX/money/payment-methods.png?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=i5cYbq0jP2hBThbX\&q=85\&s=bffbff9496e643bdef259f507ed45828)

## The methods

| Method | How it arrives |
| - | - |
| **Card** | Paid at checkout through ClubDock Pay. Needs your Stripe account to be ready. See [Card payments with ClubDock Pay](https://clubdock.co.uk/docs/money/clubdock-pay.md) |
| **Tax-Free Childcare** | Paid at checkout through HMRC once your Ofsted details are in, or by the parent from their childcare account afterwards. See [Tax-Free Childcare](https://clubdock.co.uk/docs/money/tax-free-childcare.md) |
| **Bank transfer** | The parent pays into your bank account, quoting their booking reference |
| **Childcare vouchers** | The parent pays through a voucher scheme you are registered with |
| **Cash** and **Cheque** | Paid to you in person |

Switch a method on and it appears at checkout. Whatever you type under **What parents are told** is shown after they book, in their confirmation email and in any payment reminder.

## What each method needs before you can save it

Some methods are refused when you press **Save changes** if a parent would have nowhere to send the money:

* **Card** cannot be switched on until Stripe can take payments. The switch says why and links to ClubDock Pay. You can always switch it off.
* **Bank transfer** needs your **Account name**, **Sort code** and **Account number**.
* **Tax-Free Childcare** needs instructions under **What parents are told**. For a parent paying from their own childcare account, those instructions are how they find your club.
* **Childcare vouchers** needs at least one of these: the **Providers you are registered with**, **Your account reference**, or your own instructions. Any one of them is enough.

The field that is missing is named under it.

## Childcare vouchers

Childcare voucher schemes closed to new families in October 2018, and most parents now use Tax-Free Childcare instead. Only switch vouchers on if families who joined a scheme before then still pay you that way.

1. Under **Providers you are registered with**, type each scheme and press Enter. Each one becomes a chip. Pasting "Edenred, Computershare" makes two.
2. Under **Your account reference**, enter what a parent types into their voucher account to find you.
3. Press **Save changes**.

A parent who picks childcare vouchers sees the schemes and your reference before they book. After they book, they also see their booking reference to quote. That reference is how you match the money when it arrives.

> [!NOTE]
>
> There is no connection to voucher schemes. A voucher payment arrives in your bank like any other, and you record it on the booking as **Childcare vouchers**.

## When payment is due

Under **When is payment due?**, choose one:

* **at the time of booking**
* **within a number of days of booking**, then the number of **Days**
* **before the session runs**

A booking with nothing left to pay has no due date. A booking past its due date is overdue.

## Payment reminders

Under **When to send payment reminders**, type a number of days and press Enter. Each one becomes a chip that says what it means, such as "3 days after", "on the due date" or "the day before", in the order they will happen.

* A **positive** number is days after the due date. Clubs start with 3, 7 and 14.
* A **negative** number is days before it. **-1** is the day before payment is due, and is often the reminder most likely to get you paid on time.
* **0** is the due date itself.
* Whole numbers only, up to 180 days either way.

Reminders stop as soon as the booking is paid or cancelled, and a family is reminded at most once a day. To never send reminders automatically, leave the box empty. Staff can still send one by hand. See [Money owed to you](https://clubdock.co.uk/docs/money/money-owed.md).

## Pausing new bookings while a balance is overdue

Switch on **Pause new bookings while a balance is overdue** to stop a family adding new places while they owe money past its due date. Their existing places are not affected. The pause lifts by itself as soon as they pay.

This applies to every family unless you set one family differently on their parent record. See [A family's records](https://clubdock.co.uk/docs/families/a-familys-records.md).

## Recording a payment by hand

When bank transfer, voucher, cash or cheque money arrives:

1. Open the booking from **Bookings**.
2. In its menu, choose **Record a payment**.
3. Enter the **Amount**, the **Date received**, **How it was paid**, and a **Reference** as it appears on your bank statement.
4. Save.

A payment cannot be dated in the future. Paying less than is owed leaves the booking **Part paid**, and paying more puts the extra in the family's credit.

> [!NOTE]
>
> With Xero or QuickBooks connected, **Record a payment** is not offered. Record the payment in your accounting software and ClubDock reads it back onto the booking. See [What reaches your accounts](https://clubdock.co.uk/docs/accounting/what-reaches-your-accounts.md).


## Related topics

- [Card payments with ClubDock Pay](https://clubdock.co.uk/docs/money/clubdock-pay.md)
- [FAQs](https://clubdock.co.uk/docs/help/faqs.md)
- [Troubleshooting](https://clubdock.co.uk/docs/help/troubleshooting.md)
- [How money works at your club](https://clubdock.co.uk/docs/money/how-money-works.md)
- [Glossary](https://clubdock.co.uk/docs/help/glossary.md)


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