Collecting Subscriptions from Parents

Most Scout groups collect regular subscriptions from parents — termly fees, annual subs, or monthly contributions. Scoutworks handles this through GoCardless Direct Debit, so payments are collected automatically on a schedule you set.

Setting up a subscription plan#

1. Go to Finance → Online Payments and open the Recurring Payments tab.
2. Open the Finance Actions dropdown.
3. Select Manage Recurring Payments.
4. Create a new plan: set the amount, frequency, a first collection date, and a name parents will recognise (e.g. "Beaver Scouts Term 2 Subs").

Once a plan is saved, you can add members to it individually or in bulk.

Why the first collection date matters#

The first collection date is the anchor for the whole schedule. Every future collection is worked out from it, not from when each parent happens to set up their Direct Debit.

Say your plan is £60 every four months, collected on the 1st, with a first collection date of 1 May. The schedule is 1 May / 1 Sep / 1 Jan for everyone on the plan. If one parent is slow to set up their Direct Debit and only finishes in late May, the schedule doesn't shift — Scoutworks collects the missed May payment as a clearly-labelled catch-up and that parent stays in step on 1 Sep / 1 Jan with everyone else.

Adding members to a plan#

Find the plan on the Recurring Payments tab and use Add member to pick who should be included. Each member gets their own subscription row, independent of everyone else's — changing one member's settings doesn't affect the rest.

When does a new member's first payment come out?#

When a child joins part-way through a term or year, you don't need to create a separate plan — just add them to your existing one. They join the plan's normal schedule, and their first collection is the next collection date that's still to come. They're never charged for collections that fell before they joined.

The point that catches people out: if you add a member after this period's collection date has already gone, that collection is skipped for them — their first payment is the next scheduled date, not the one that's just passed. Say your plan collects on the 1st of each month. Add a child on 20 June, after the 1 June collection has already happened, and their first payment is 1 July. Add them on 28 May and it's 1 June. The date that's already passed is never collected after the fact.

This is true everywhere a member is added to an existing plan: when you set up subscriptions after adding a new member, when you approve someone from the waiting list, and when you add members to a plan that's already running.

Termly plans work the same way. Take a plan that collects £60 every four months on 1 May / 1 Sep / 1 Jan. If a child joins on 10 June, their first collection is 1 Sep — in step with everyone else on the plan. The 1 May collection is in the past, so it's simply not charged; there's no back-collection for the part of the term before they joined. For weekly or yearly plans, the first collection is the next scheduled date the bank can process, usually a few working days later.

Delaying a new member's first collection#

If you'd rather a new member's collections didn't start until later — for example, the start of next term — add them to the plan now and then use Skip Payments to skip one or more upcoming collections. The parent gets a note explaining when their payments will start.

Reactivating a cancelled subscription#

If a subscription was cancelled and you reactivate it — for example, a child returns after a break — it resumes on the plan's normal collection dates rather than restarting from the day you reactivate it. The member falls straight back into step with everyone else on the plan.

How it works for parents#

1. Parents receive a notification about the subscription.
2. They approve it individually in their portal — My Finances → Recurring Payments.
3. GoCardless creates a Direct Debit and collects payments automatically from the start date onwards.

Each parent must explicitly approve each subscription. This keeps everything transparent and gives parents a clear record of what they've agreed to pay.

One Direct Debit per parent, not per child#

A parent only sets up Direct Debit once, even if they have several children in your group. That single agreement covers all of their children's subscriptions with you. Each child still gets their own subscription row that the parent approves individually, but every collection draws on the same Direct Debit — so a parent with three children sets up Direct Debit once and approves three subscriptions, not three separate Direct Debits.

The one exception is a parent who also has children in another group that uses Scoutworks: that's a separate Direct Debit, because the agreement is between the parent and each individual group, and each group's payments go to its own bank account.

Monitoring status#

The Recurring Payments tab shows each member's subscription status at a glance.

Filter by Mandate overdue to see parents who haven't finished their Direct Debit setup past the intended start date, and use Resend mandate link to send them a fresh setup link.

Parents cancelling subscriptions#

Parents can cancel their own subscription from the parent portal at any time. If a child leaves the group, the parent cancels the subscription — you don't need to manage this for them.

What's next#

• Setting Up Payments with GoCardless — connect GoCardless to your group.
• Catching Up on Missed Subscription Payments — what happens if a parent delays setting up their Direct Debit.
• One-Off Payments — collect one-time payments alongside subscriptions.
• Refunds — refund a single subscription collection when you need to give money back.
• Payments and Direct Debit for Parents — what parents see in their portal.