Scout SuiteHow-to guide
Collecting subs
A treasurer still decides who is charged and when an invoice goes out. Once that's done, card payments land on their own, and Direct Debit can collect what's due without anyone chasing a link.
Connect how families will pay
Under Settings → Financial connections, set up online payments if you want parents to pay by card — that's Set up Stripe. If the group collects Direct Debit, pick the Direct Debit provider for subs on the same page (Stripe Direct Debit once Stripe is connected, or GoCardless if you connect a GoCardless account). You can still record cash and bank transfers without any of this.
A bank connection is a separate job — see Reconciling the bank. You don't need it to send invoices or take card and Direct Debit payments.
Create a schedule and assign young people
In Finance → Income & Payments → Schedules, add a payment schedule — a name ("Term 1 subs"), whether it's recurring, instalment or one-off, the amount, and an interval if it repeats. Then Manage assignments and tick the young people it applies to.
RecurringInstalmentOne-offA schedule does not create invoices by itself. Assigning someone only records who should be charged when you generate them.
Generate the invoices
On the Invoices tab, Generate from schedule, pick the schedule and a due date, then Generate invoices. That creates a draft for each parent with an assignment — nothing is emailed yet, and parents can't see it.
If a young person has no parent account linked, they're skipped. If a parent has no valid email, you'll be warned — you can still generate, but you won't be able to send that invoice.
Send them
Open each draft and Send invoice. That emails the parent and moves the invoice to sent, which is what makes it appear in the parent portal. You can Resend, Send reminder, download a PDF, or Record payment if they paid cash or by bank transfer.
Parents pay — or Direct Debit collects itself
Parents see outstanding invoices in the parent portal and can Pay by card. If Direct Debit is set up for that group, they can Pay by Direct Debit on an invoice, or leave due invoices to be collected automatically — Scout Suite looks overnight for sent invoices that are due, with an active Direct Debit, and collects the remaining balance. Card payments mark the invoice paid as soon as they complete. Cash and bank transfers still need Record payment (or Mark as paid on Subs status).
How a parent prefers to pay subs (in full, each term, or monthly) is set per child under Edit details in the parent portal. That preference shows on Subs status — it does not generate invoices for you.
Camps and trips use these same invoices, not a separate payments tool — see Running an event. What a parent actually sees is in Using the parent portal.
Gift Aid is a different tab, and it packs donations, not invoice payments — see Claiming Gift Aid.
Money
More in this topic
Subs, Gift Aid, and reconciling the bank.