We’ve been on a bit of a roll with contactless payment stories in the last couple of weeks, and whilst it’s not the sexiest area of money innovation, here’s a nice little implementation that’s helping school kids pay for their meals.
sQuid has signed a deal with Nottinghamshire council to provide cards to its 28,000 secondary school pupils, with potentially over 100,000 primary school kids also getting a card in the future.
The initiative is due to begin in the new term in September, with sQuid cards allowing children to pay for low price items, normally school meals, and also meaning kids do not have to carry too much cash around with them.
The cards also enable the kids’ parents to monitor what their child is purchasing whilst at school, as well as top-up the cards, all online.
sQuid cards are already used in a number of schools around the country, with sQuid adding that the cards can help promote financial responsibility, as well as reducing cash kept on school premises (which will potentially reduce the cost of keeping it secure for the school). sQuidcard uses end-to-end security encryption and full fraud protection. All funds are held in a trust account and the scheme operates under FSA eMoney regulations.
It’s a far cry from the days when bullies used to empty the pockets of the school softie to get his tuck shop money.