School Survey: Guidance Notes

Page 1 – Banking Contract

This page is to gather some general information on the school and the person completing the survey.

Page 2 – Bank accounts

In the initial survey, each school informed HCC of the bank accounts they currently hold. As the school has confirmed that it wishes to be part of the new banking contract with Barclays, this means that your General Account will automatically be transferred.

This section of the survey requires the school to state which accounts they wish to transfer over to Barclays along with the General Account.

If you have accounts you wish to transfer, other than those given in the options, please click on the other option and HCC will contact you school directly regarding these accounts.

NB: DFES accounts are for Voluntary added schools only. Please ignore if not applicable.

Page 3 - BACs

This section of the survey requests information on BACs.

Question 1 Each School should be aware if it operates through BACs.

Question 2 Information on whether or not you receive money in by BACs can be found on your bank statements. All General Accounts will receive money by BACs as this is how HCC transfer the budget share.

Question 3 Any customer that currently use NatWest Payaway software would problems with the Barclays smartcards and the customer smartcard readers as they are not compatible. Consequently, they would have to pay a new set up fee.

Question 4 If you wish to have BACs please tick the yes option.

BACs (Bank Automated Clearing System) is a debit and credit system used to make significant number of direct transfers to/from clients’ accounts. It supports a much more streamlined payment system which will be integrated into schools accounting software – automatically updating the relevant ledgers when transactions are made. For a cost benefit analysis between BACs and normal payments please see the ‘Cost Benefit Analysis’ spreadsheet on the grid:

Page 4 – Direct Debits

This section of the survey requests information on direct debits.

Question 1 Each School should be aware if it pays money via direct debit.

Question 2 Information on whether or not you receive money in by direct debit can be found on your bank statements.

Page 5 – Standing Order

This section of the survey requests information on Standing Orders.

Question 1 Each school should be aware if it pays money out via Standing Order.

Question 2 Information on whether or not you receive money in by Standing Order can be found on your bank statements.

Page 6 – Drop ‘n’ Go

Drop ‘n’ Go (Barclays), Business Quick Deposit (NatWest), is a secure, quick and efficient method of paying in cash and cheques at Barclays branches. The charge for this service is 10p for every £100 of cash and 5p per cheque. For more information please click on the Drop and Go PDF on the grid –

If you have this system please tick the yes option. If not, can you also answer the subsequent question on paying in cheques and cash at the casher office of the local branch.

The Drop ‘n’ Go service is only available in certain branches. Please see the Branch list (on the grid) for information on your nearest branch.

Page 7 – Bank Courier Service/Direct Deposit Service

This service provides schools with a safe and secure method of making banking deposits alleviating the need for schools’ staff to travel to the bank. This is through an external courier service (E.g. Loomis) who will collect the cash (and cheques) from the respective school and deliver to a processing centre (using the Barclays Direct Deposit Service).

This differs from the arrangement that some schools, which currently have a Courier Service, will have with Loomis (and possible providers.) Currently, Loomis will deliver the cash to their own sorting stations. Under the Direct Deposit service offered by Barclays, the cash is delivered by Loomis to a Barclays sorting station.

For more information please click on the Business Direct Deposit Service Guide PDF on the grid:

The cost of this service is as follows:

Cash Centres – Notes In (pence per £100) / 7p
Cash Centre – Coin in (pence per £100) / 35p
Cash Centre – Cash Out (pence per £100) / 8p

Page 8 – Encashment Facility

Encashment Facility, aka Open Credit Facility (NatWest & Barclays), enables nominated members of the staff, who are not authorised signatories, to withdraw cash from the local Barclays branch.If you wish to set up this facility, HCC recommends, that you restrict it to a maximum of two members of staff.

Question 1 If you wish to have this facility, please click the yes option.

Question 2 If you do wish to have this system; please give the name and position of the person/people you wish to have encashment facility capability.

Question 3 Part of the security around this facility is placing limitations on both frequency and amount. Please provide the limitations you wish to place on the relevant staff.

Page 9 - Collection Service

The collection services are integrated services that make it easier for parents to pay schools online for trips, dinner money etc. HCC is currently in talks with Wisepay about the action which schools who have this service will have to undertake to accommodate the move to Barclays. Wisepay have agreed to do the back office work. However, it is likely that schools will have to point the payments for Wisepay to their new bank accounts. As stated this is still under negotiation and a communication will be sent to schools once the issues have been resolved

If you do not have Wisepay but have a similar collection service, such as Parent pay, please state the alternative company’s name.

Page 10 – Checkprint

Checkprint is a company which prints and produces bespoke cheques for individual organisations. If you use Checkprint, HCC will arrange for the checkprint stationary to be updated with the new bank details. Although, there is no charge for the alteration to the cheque, there is for ordering a new batch of cheques:

Software Package
Quantity / SIMS FMS6 / RM Finance
250 / £73.20 / £71.53
500 / £79.16 / £75.84
1000 / £99.18 / £94.19
2000 / £151.04 / £144.40
Extra Colour / £40 per colour / £40 per colour
Reverse Collation / £12 set charge / £12 set charge

Page 11 – Additional Information

Question 1

The One card facility is a business card facility which is linked to the school’s General account and enables schools to make purchases, the cost of which will be directly charged to the business card. The balance of the business card is debited to the school’s General Account on a monthly basis.

One account cards can still be used. However, the account that they are linked to will need to be changed to the new accounts. One Account Cards were not part of the Banking Contract tendering exercise and so a separate review is being undertaken to determine the best option for schools. One of the options being explored is to offer schools Government Procurement Cards and further details on this will be provided as soon as we have completed our review. We will endeavour to make any change as easy as possible, subject to banking requirements.

Question 2

Online banking is a system allowing individuals to perform banking activities at school, via the internet. It will enable the school to perform all routine transactions, such as account transfers, balance inquires, bill payments etc. Crucially for schools (and the local authority) it allows access to instant, up-to-date account information anytime anywhere.

Barclays have a leading edge internet banking platform which includes all the advantages mentioned above as well as offering:

·  Customised reports and data exports

·  Defined payment controls, accommodating complex signing mandates and limits per user.

·  Award winning support – There will be a dedicated implementation manager for online banking to work with HCC and schools. They will ensure access is set up correctly, issue cards and PINS and deliver training through Web ex session with Q & A time built in. There is also a helpdesk, based in Cheshire, for ongoing Q & A.

·  Cutting edge 128 bit security and Public Key Infrastructure(PKI)

Furthermore, as part of the banking arrangement, schools will receive a special tariff of £1 per account, per month. (The charge would normally be £13 per month).

HCC strongly recommends that schools take up the option of internet banking. It is believed it will help increase the efficiency and effectiveness of a schools financial management. It will also allow HCC to view school’s accounts and obtain bank balances for the year end process. For more information on the Barclays online banking (Barclays.net), please click on the PDF below.

Page 12 – Additional information continued

Question 1 Barclays need to be informed if a school holds any accounts which are are not in pound sterling.

Question 2 Please state how often you wish the receive you paper bank statement.

Question 3 This question is to allow the school to give any addition information they wish to convey to HCC regarding the banking contract and banking in general.