Who should be put as the controllers/owners and representative?

This article outlines the requirements for designating controllers/owners and a representative when setting up card payments in Arbor. Controllers/owners are individuals with significant management control, while the representative manages daily financial operations. Personal details must be provided for verification, and the same person cannot be designated for both roles.

As part of the process for setting up card payments in Arbor, you need to provide details about your school, proof of the school details to verify its legitimacy, details about the school representative and controllers/owners, plus proof the representative is a real person.

You can see full instructions for setting up card payments here.

What is a controller/owner?

The school controller/owner is a person who has significant management control over your school, e.g. school headteacher, governor or trustee. These people have the ultimate responsibility regarding how money is managed at the school, essentially 'the buck stops with them', but they don't manage the movement of money day-to-day. You can specify multiple controllers/owners.

The controller is just a named person(s) and doesn't need to verify any changes or actions.

What is a representative?

The representative is the person in charge of managing money at the school on a daily basis. Although this person may manage the money on a daily basis, they may not be ultimately responsible for the whole school's budget and finances. Our payment provider uses this person's details to verify that the school's account is legitimate and run by a real business. You can only specify one representative.

The representative may need to upload their documents to verify their personal details. You can see more information about what details could be requested here: Identity verification required for card payments

Do the details need to be personal details?

The details added for representatives and controllers/owners must be their personal details. This is determined by our Payment Provider and isn't something we control at Arbor. Our Payment Provider runs a basic background check on the person's details to verify that they are a real person and that the school is a real legitimate business.

Can we put the same person for both?

You should not put the same person as both the representative and controller/owner. If you do, you will be required to submit verification documents for a different person.