Payment and Direct Debit Issues

Failed Direct Debit payment#

If a payment fails:

• GoCardless retries automatically — failed payments are retried by GoCardless, so the payment may still go through.
• Insufficient funds: The parent may need to check their bank account has enough money to cover the payment.
• Contact the parent: Let them know the payment failed and ask them to ensure funds are available for the retry.

Mandate cancelled by bank#

If a parent's Direct Debit mandate has been cancelled (by their bank or by the parent):

• The parent needs to set up a new mandate via their portal: My Finances → Set Up Payment.
• A new GoCardless mandate will be created with their bank.
• Future payments will use the new mandate.

GoCardless not connected#

If you see errors about GoCardless not being connected:

1. Navigate to Finance → Online Payments.
2. Complete the GoCardless OAuth connection flow.
3. Once connected, you can start creating payment requests.

Refund not appearing#

Direct Debit refunds typically take 3-5 business days to process. If a parent reports they have not received a refund:

• Check the refund status in Finance Actions → Manage Refunds.
• If the refund shows as processed, advise the parent to wait the full 5 business days.
• If the refund shows as failed, you may need to process it again.

Parent cannot see payment request#

If a parent is not seeing a payment request:

• Verify the parent has been invited and has an active account.
• Check the payment was created for the correct member/parent.
• Ask the parent to check My Finances in their portal.

Subscription vs one-off confusion#

Parents sometimes confuse the two types of payment:

• Subscriptions are recurring Direct Debit payments (termly subs, monthly contributions). They appear in the Recurring Payments tab.
• One-off payments are single charges (camp fees, event costs). They appear in the Payment History tab.

Stripe vs GoCardless#

A common point of confusion:

• Stripe handles your group's subscription to Scoutworks (the £150/year platform fee paid by the admin).
• GoCardless handles payments FROM parents TO your group (subs, event fees, etc.).

These are completely separate systems. Problems with parent payments are GoCardless issues; problems with your group billing are Stripe issues.

What's next#

• Setting Up Payments with GoCardless — connect and configure GoCardless.
• Payments and Direct Debit for Parents — the parent payment experience.