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ParentPay website unavailable for school meal payments | ParentPay website unavailable for school meal payments |
(about 1 hour later) | |
The website of payment firm ParentPay was unavailable for several hours, meaning parents could not transfer funds for school meals and trips. | The website of payment firm ParentPay was unavailable for several hours, meaning parents could not transfer funds for school meals and trips. |
The company normally serves more than 5,500 schools in 200 local authorities, helping about 1.5 million families. | The company normally serves more than 5,500 schools in 200 local authorities, helping about 1.5 million families. |
The company said it was affected "by a national internet connectivity issue - impacting some users. This is out of our control and we'll update you." | The company said it was affected "by a national internet connectivity issue - impacting some users. This is out of our control and we'll update you." |
Some parents said their children were unable to buy food due to the glitch. | Some parents said their children were unable to buy food due to the glitch. |
ParentPay said payments had been suspended until the issue was resolved. | ParentPay said payments had been suspended until the issue was resolved. |
By 17:30 BST, the website's homepage appeared to be accessible again intermittently, but the company had not yet confirmed whether the system was functioning. | |
Scepticism | Scepticism |
One parent, Victoria Lew, said on Twitter she had been trying to access her account for two hours. | One parent, Victoria Lew, said on Twitter she had been trying to access her account for two hours. |
"What do [the] kids do for lunch?" she asked, adding that she had been unable to get through to the company on the phone. | "What do [the] kids do for lunch?" she asked, adding that she had been unable to get through to the company on the phone. |
Charlotte Banks said on Facebook that neither of her sons had been able to buy food. | Charlotte Banks said on Facebook that neither of her sons had been able to buy food. |
"This is getting ridiculous now. Seems to be every few days there are issues with this site," she said. | "This is getting ridiculous now. Seems to be every few days there are issues with this site," she said. |
People also expressed scepticism about the company's explanation for the outage. | People also expressed scepticism about the company's explanation for the outage. |
Heidi Burrows said: "The only company who appears to have national internet connectivity are ParentPay, so I think you may want to adjust your wording as many of us work in big firms relying on internet and no one else is having this issue!" | Heidi Burrows said: "The only company who appears to have national internet connectivity are ParentPay, so I think you may want to adjust your wording as many of us work in big firms relying on internet and no one else is having this issue!" |
What is ParentPay? | What is ParentPay? |