Trust-e Cashless Catering

Cashless catering provides a fast, efficient school meals service.  It is a biometric system which uses students’ thumb prints at the revaluation pay points and at the tills.  These FAQs give comprehensive details about the system:

Q         What is a cashless system?

A         A cashless catering system is a solution, which is purpose designed to meet the ever-evolving needs and demands of the catering provision that is required by today’s schools and academies.

The Trust-e Cashless solution allows schools to be better able to provide their students with a faster, more efficient and more appealing meal service.

Q         What is biometric?

A         Biometric is simply a method of identifying an individual person.  We use an algorithm based scan, which reads between 50 and 130 points on the thumb.  It is not a fingerprint in any way, shape or form and is of use only in the cashless system.

Q         How does a biometric system work?

A         The information of a pupil who has been biometrically registered is stored on a secure biometric controller within the school, which only our provider, Nationwide Retail Systems Ltd, can access.  Once an account is credited the pupil places their thumb on the EPOS Terminal, which looks up their account details and allows them to purchase items using only this method of identification.

Q         How does my child register on the biometric system?

A         For students joining us in Year 7, registration will take place during New Intake days.  Students joining the school in other years may call in at the Canteen during the school day to register (preferably not during break/lunch time service).

Your child will be required to place their thumb on a biometric sensor twice to obtain a matching template, which only takes a few seconds.

Q         What if I prefer my child not to give a biometric thumb print?

A         In line with current legislation, we operate an “opt in” policy.   If you choose not to have your child registered on the biometric system, a 4 digit PIN code will be allocated.  Please note that PIN codes do not have the same level of security and it will be your child’s responsibility to remember the code and keep it secure at all times. 

Q         Will my child be shown how to use the system?

A         All students are shown how to use the cashless system during their induction

Q         What methods of payment can be used to credit an account?

A         Any amount can be credited to an account by way of any of the following methods.  Once an account has been credited the monies cannot be withdrawn and must be spent on the school meal/break services.

Online payments – Payments are made via the MCAS log in. 

Q         How can I check the credit on an account?

A         Balances can be checked on MCAS.

Q         Can I change the daily “spend limit”?

A         If you would like to apply a daily “spend limit”, this can be requested by contacting the finance team by email.

Q         What happens if my child’s account is not in credit?

A         All students have a overdraft of £5. Parents will receive a notification from MCAS to advise when the account is getting low. Students will not be served when they reach their overdraft limit.

Q         How do free school meal entitlements work?

A         All free school meal entitlements will be entered on to the system.  The cashless catering system will, on a daily basis, automatically allocate the appropriate accounts with the free school meal amounts.  Students with free meal entitlements remain anonymous at all times as all account types are accessed in exactly the same manner regardless of whether paid for or not.  Note that monies not spent from the daily free school meal allocation will not be carried over to the next day.

Q         Can anyone else use my child’s account?

A         No.  Due to the extensive security on biometric templates no-one will be able to access your child’s account.  As a secondary precaution, student photos (taken at the start of term in September) are allocated to the account.  If your child is using a 4 digit PIN code, which someone obtains and attempts to use, the photograph shown on the till point will alert the operator that a fraudulent sale is taking place.

Q         My child has an allergy, how will this be monitored

A         All allergy records registered with the school will be entered on to the cashless system.  When students attempt to purchase an item, which has ingredients that they are allergic to, the system will alert the operator and prevent them from selling the chosen item.

Q         Can I request a printed report of my child’s meal intake?

A         Yes, a statement detailing expenditure may be requested by contacting the finance department: finance@theferrers.org

Benefits of the Trust-E Cashless Catering system

• Increased speed of service reducing queuing times
• Increased uptake on Free School Meals
• Anonymity on Free School Meals 
• Facility to pay online via MCAS
• No need to carry cash
• Reporting facilities help decrease wastage and improve the overall efficiency of the meal service
• Parents may request a report to view transactions made

Data Protection information

NRS is accredited with ISO27001 – Information Security Management System – and is committed to ensuring that privacy is protected.  Should we ask you to provide certain information by which you can be identified, you can be assured that it will only be used in accordance with this privacy statement.

NRS is registered as a data processor under the Data Protection Act (DPA) and operate at all times under the DPA Guidelines.

Schools’ data will remain their responsibility and they remain fully in control of accessing, managing and updating all student data within the system. Schools and the local authority are operating as Data Controllers under the DPA. All NRS Staff that may have administrator access to schools’ data for support purposes are Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) checked.

Information collected to implement a cashless catering system is outlined below

Nationwide Retail Systems Ltd does not sell, distribute or lease your personal information to third parties.

You may request details on personal information which we hold about you under the Data Protection Act 1998.

NRS removes all data from servers one week after the cashless system has gone live within the school.

If you believe that any information we are holding about your child is incorrect or incomplete, please write to or email us as soon as possible, at the address below.

Nationwide Retail System Ltd.
Whaley Road
Barugh Green
Barnsley
S75 1HT
01226 732 200

support@nrsltd.com