Set up meals without payments

This article will cover what to do if either:

• you do not want to charge students for meals in Arbor, for instance, if you use an alternative payment system
• your Arbor package does not include Payments - in this case you will not be able to set prices, or track account balances

Permissions

• Meals: Administer All Students - Set up meals for students
• Finance: Administer - Set prices for the meals

If you don't have the permission, you'll need to ask your admin team to give you permission using these instructions.

Setting up meals

We have Payments, but we don't want to charge for meals

The setup process follows on from the first two main steps in our Setting up Meals - Step by step series. Please review this guidance first and complete steps 1 and 2 of the setup.

To ensure the meal provisions you have set up can be selected for meal choices, you will still need to create a price.

As you may wish to begin charging students in the future, we recommend setting the prices up for each group, one for:

1. Free School Meals (FSM)
2. Universal Free School Meals (UFSM)
3. All other students

Please add your prices in the order listed.

Adding All Students first prevents you from setting UFSM and FSM as separate price categories, since those students are also included in All Students.

If All Students is first added but not used, you can delete it by clicking the red Delete Price Category button to start with the FSM and UFSM categories instead.

To add a price:

• Go to School > Meals > [On the left-hand side] > Setup
• Click on Prices
• Click on a provision
• Click the green +Add button on the next page
  
  
  
  On the slide-over:
  
  
  • Set a recognisable Price category name
  • Set the Price (incl. VAT) to £0
  • Set the VAT rate (typically, you would use Exampt (0%))
  • Set whether the price Applies To students or staff
  • Set the Specific Group the price applies to. For example, Free School Meal Students for FSM; Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 for UFSM; or All other students for the remaining students.
  • Set the dates between which you want to apply the 0 price using the From and To fields, this could be a specific range or the whole academic year.
  • Click Set Price if you're fully done, and hit Set Price & Add Another to repeat the steps on the slide over until you have added a £0 price for all of your groups.

Repeat these steps until you have set prices for each provision.

Now that you have added your prices, you can finish your meal setup using Steps 4, 5 and the optional step (if required) of our Setting up Meals - Step by step series.

This will enable Teachers or Admin staff to record meal choices, but without creating any invoices against students' meal accounts. This will also mean you can use our meal reports in Arbor.

We don't have Payments

The setup process follows on from the first two main steps in our Setting up Meals - Step by step series. Please review this guidance first and complete steps 1 and 2 of the setup.

You will not be able to complete Step 3 - Add pricing, because you will not have the +Add button, so you can skip adding prices.

If you want to double-check if you can skip adding prices:

• Go to School > Meals > [On the left-hand side] > Setup
• Click on Prices
• Click on a provision
• Check if you see the green +Add button on the next page.
  • If you do not see an +Add button, complete your Meal setup by using Steps 4, 5 and the optional step (if required) of our Setting up Meals - Step by step series.
  • If you doo see a +Add button, add £0 prices using the instructions in the previous section (We have Payments, but we don't want to charge for meals).

Once you have checked this and confirmed you do not need to add prices and have completed the rest of the setup, you can be confident that Teachers or Admin staff to record meal choices, but without creating any invoices against students' meals accounts.

This will also mean you can use our meal reports in Arbor, however, you will not be able to top up or track account balances.

We want to start charging in Arbor

If you do decide to begin charging students within Arbor, you can:

• upgrade to a package that includes Payments
• update the current price for those students who would normally be charged for a school lunch

If you have Payments already and now need to add prices:

• Go to School > Meals > [On the left-hand side] Setup.
• Click on Prices for your meal
• Select the provision.
• Click on the Meal Provision Price you wish to update in the table
  
  On the slide-over
  • Click Update Meal Prices
  • Set an End Date for your £0 price in the Existing Prices table, this is the last day that you do not want to change for meals
    
    In the New Prices table
     
    • Click +Add if you need to add a new row
    • Set the new price in the Price column
    • Set the Start Date of the new price in the Start Date column - this is the first day the new price applies, so the day after the Existing Price ends.
    • Set the End Date of the new price in the End Date column - this is the last day the new price applies, so if the price will stay the same for the rest of the year, set this to the last day of the academic year.
      
      
  • Click Add meal price changes to confirm your selections.

If you did not have payment previously, use our Setting Up Meals - Step 3 - Adding Prices to add in your prices as if you were setting this up for the first time. The summary of the steps you will need to take is:

• Go to School > Meals > [On the left-hand side] > Setup
• Click on Prices
• Click on a provision
• Click the green +Add button on the next page
  
  On the slide-over:
  
  
  • Set a recognisable Price category name
  • Set the Price (incl. VAT) to £0
  • Set the VAT rate (typically, you would use Exampt (0%))
  • Set whether the price Applies To students or staff
  • Set the Specific Group the price applies to. For example, Free School Meal Students for FSM; Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 for UFSM; or All other students for the remaining students.
  • Set the dates between which you want to apply the 0 price using the From and To fields, this could be a specific range or the whole academic year. The From Field needs to be the first day you want to start charging for meals; do not backdate this.
  • Click Set Price if you're fully done, and hit Set Price & Add Another to repeat the steps on the slide over until you have added a £0 price for all of your groups.

 Students will then be charged from the new date you have added.