A Cashless Catering System is a solution which is purpose designed to meet the ever evolving needs and demands of the catering provision, required by today’s schools and academies. The Trust-e Cashless Solution allows schools to be better able to provide their students and staff with a faster, more efficient and more appealing meal service.

Biometric is simply a method of identifying an individual person. The Trust-e Cashless System uses an algorithm based scan, which reads between 50 and 130 points on the finger/thumb. It is not a fingerprint in any way, shape or form and is of use only in the Cashless System.

The information of a pupil or staff member, who has been biometrically registered, is stored on a secure biometric controller within the school, which only your provider, Nationwide Retail Systems, can access with permission from the school. Once an account is credited, the pupil or staff member places their finger/thumb on the EPOS Terminal Biometric Reader, which looks up their account and allows them to purchase items using only this method of identification.

Registration days will take place leading up to the ‘go live’ day of the Cashless System. During these days, registration terminals will be placed in the school. Your child will attend at a requested time and will be required to place their finger/thumb on the Biometric Reader twice to obtain a matching template, which only takes a few seconds. If you have chosen to opt-out of this procedure, your child will be presented with a 4 digit PIN code.

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 Once an account has been credited, the monies cannot be withdrawn and must be spent on the school meal/break services.

A Revaluation unit will be sited at the student entrance within the school. This can be used to top up accounts by the pupil/member of staff placing their registered finger or thumb on the Biometric Reader or by entering their 4 digit PIN Code followed by inserting the accepted tender: £20, £10, £5 notes or £2, £1, 50p, 20p, 10p or 5p coins. Please note that copper coins are not accepted.

To make a payment online please go to the parents section of the school website and choose “Internet Payments”. If you have not already registered an account for school trips you will also find a guide on how to do this.

This can be done by the account holder either placing their finger/thumb on the Revaluation Machine scanner, or entering a 4 digit PIN code. The current balance will then be displayed. This can also be accessed via the schools online payment facility, if applicable.

Yes – the amount your child can spend throughout one day can be changed by written request to the school finance office.

A ‘lend’ can be processed at the EPOS terminal, which will then allow a meal to be taken. This facility will be limited to one payment of £2.30 which allows a student to purchase lunch. This will then show as a debit balance and will be recovered when credit is applied.

All free meal entitlements will be entered on to the system prior to the ‘live’ day. The Cashless Catering System will, on a daily basis, automatically allocate the appropriate accounts with the free school meal amounts. Pupils with FSM entitlement remain anonymous at all times as all account types are accessed in the exact same manner, regardless of whether paid for or not. Please note that any monies not spent from the daily free meal allocation will not be carried over to the next day.

No – due to the extensive security on biometric templates, no-one will be able to access your child’s account. As a secondary precaution, a photo image is allocated to each pupil (at the schools discretion). If your child is using a 4 digit PIN code, which someone obtains and attempts to use, the photograph shown at the EPOS Terminal will alert the operator of a fraudulent sale.

Yes – all allergy records registered with the school will be entered on to the Cashless System. When pupils attempt to purchase an item, which contains ingredients that they are allergic to, the system will alert the operator and prevent them from selling the chosen item

The system will allow you to register any items that your child cannot consume due to dietary needs or religious reasons. Any such items must be confirmed in writing or via email by the parent/guardian, and addressed to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.