Sometimes a member can't attend for a while — a family holiday, a medical leave, or a period of financial pressure. Rather than cancelling their subscription, you can pause it for a set number of payments or until you're ready to start collecting again. Nothing is taken while a subscription is paused, and resuming it is a single click.
Finding the pause option
Go to Finance → Online Payments and open the Recurring Payments tab.
Expand the subscription plan you want to manage and find the member's row. Click the options menu next to their name and choose Pause.
Setting the duration
The pause dialog asks how long you want to stop collections.
| Option | What it does |
|---|---|
| Indefinite | Payments stop until you manually resume the subscription. Use this when you're not sure how long the absence will last. |
| 1, 2, 3, 6, or 12 payments | Collections are skipped for that many payment cycles, then resume automatically. |
Recording a reason
Choosing a reason is optional, but useful when multiple leaders manage subscriptions for the same group.
| Reason | When to use it |
|---|---|
| Financial support | The group is subsidising this member. See the privacy note below. |
| Temporary absence | The member is away — holiday, travel, or family circumstances. |
| Medical leave | The member is unable to attend for health reasons. |
| Other | Anything that doesn't fit the above — a free-text box appears for your note. |
The reason you choose appears in small text beneath the Paused badge on the member's subscription card, so anyone looking at the subscription later understands the context.
Notifying the parent
The Notify parent by email checkbox is ticked by default. When you confirm the pause, the parent receives a brief email letting them know their subscription is on hold.
If you select Financial support as the reason, the checkbox automatically unticks. This stops a sensitive notification going to the parent — they won't receive an email, and the reason only appears in your subscription management view.
You can tick or untick the checkbox yourself regardless of which reason you select.
Pausing multiple members at once
To pause more than one member at the same time, tick the checkboxes next to the members you want to pause, then choose Pause selected from the bulk actions bar that appears at the top of the list. The same duration, reason, and notification options apply to all selected members.
Resuming a subscription
When you're ready to start collecting again, find the member's row and click Resume. Collections restart on the next scheduled payment date.
If you paused for a fixed number of payments, the subscription resumes automatically once those payments are skipped — you don't need to do anything.
What's next
- Collecting Subscriptions from Parents — setting up the recurring plans these pauses apply to.
- Seeing Direct Debit Setup Progress — check where each parent is with their Direct Debit setup.
- Payments and Direct Debit for Parents — what parents see in their portal.
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