The verdict in three sentences
For a London borough or a Dublin-area council running breakfast clubs, after-school clubs and paid meals for around 2,100 children, the real cost is not the licence but the staff time spent on registers, recalculations and arrears chasing. An off-the-shelf school booking platform costs, as a 2026 order of magnitude, £5,000 to £14,000 per year (about 6,000 to 16,000 EUR) and covers most standard needs. A custom parent portal pays off when your concession rules, 48-hour booking cut-offs and finance integration do not fit a packaged product.
What the software actually has to do
The context has shifted. In London, all state primary pupils now get free school meals under the Mayor's scheme, and in Ireland the Hot School Meals programme reaches every primary school. What remains chargeable is wraparound care: breakfast clubs, after-school provision, holiday clubs, plus meals in secondary schools. The tool therefore needs to handle annual registration with consent forms, concession bands, bookings and cancellations up to 48 hours ahead, tablet registers for staff, and monthly billing by Direct Debit or card.
| Workflow | Typical paper or spreadsheet setup | Target with a parent portal |
|---|---|---|
| Annual registration | 2,100 paper forms in July, keyed over 3 weeks | Online form with uploads, validated in 4 days |
| Concessions | Manual checks, 5 to 8 % banding errors | Eligibility evidence uploaded, band applied automatically |
| Bookings | Weekly slips and phone calls | Booking until 48 hours before, then locked |
| Registers | Printed lists every morning | One tablet per site, offline sync |
| Billing | 2 days of calculation per month for 2 officers | Invoices generated in 2 hours, exception checks only |
| Payment | Cheques, cash, chasing | Direct Debit (Bacs or SEPA) and card |
| Catering orders | Estimated numbers, 8 to 12 % waste | Exact headcounts sent to the caterer |
Off-the-shelf or custom: an honest comparison
Most councils of this size buy a SaaS platform, and that is often right. Custom development makes sense when you have unusual pricing (sibling discounts, out-of-area rates, late-collection charges), several schools with different rules, or a broader resident portal project.
| Criterion | Off-the-shelf platform (2026 order of magnitude) | Kolonell custom portal |
|---|---|---|
| Set-up cost | £2,500 to £7,000 configuration | Medium application: 6,100 to 10,670 EUR |
| Recurring cost | £5,000 to £14,000 per year | Maintenance 53 / 114 / 183 EUR per month |
| Time to go live | 2 to 4 months, aligned on September | 3 to 5 months, with testing before term starts |
| Specific pricing rules | Limited to built-in options | Coded to match your policy |
| Data ownership | Export sometimes charged | Database and code handed over |
| Parent interface | Generic, multi-council | Council branding, WCAG 2.1 AA |
| Finance system integration | Standard connectors | Scoped in the project |
Over five years, a £10,000-a-year platform totals £50,000. A custom build at 10,000 EUR plus standard maintenance at 114 EUR per month comes to about 16,840 EUR over the same period, with hosting and change requests set in the quote. The gap is real, but only if the council is ready to own project governance.
Procurement: buying without regret
Below the UK Procurement Act 2023 thresholds or the EU thresholds applied in Ireland, councils can usually run a lighter competitive process, often a framework call-off or a request for quotation. Three clauses prevent trouble: data portability in an open format, a pilot school before rollout, and a separately priced migration of family records. UK GDPR and Irish GDPR also require a data protection impact assessment, especially for allergy data and care plans.
| Clause to include | Why | Risk if missing |
|---|---|---|
| Data portability | Change supplier without losing history | Paid or incomplete export |
| Pilot school first | Test the 48-hour booking rules | Billing errors across 2,100 families |
| Separately priced migration | Show the real effort | Change order mid-project |
| UK or EU hosting | GDPR compliance | Health data exposed |
| Availability penalties | Parents book in the evening | Outages during registration week |
| Staff training | Adoption by finance and club staff | Back to paper within 3 months |
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Siobhan, head of education services at a council near Dublin, measures the current cost. Two finance officers spend 2 days a month on billing, 48 days a year, plus 15 days keying registrations. At a loaded cost of 260 EUR per day, that is 63 × 260 = 16,380 EUR per year. Wraparound food waste adds up as well: 900 children booked into breakfast club on 180 days, 10 % of portions unused at 1.60 EUR, giving 900 × 180 × 0.10 × 1.60 = 25,920 EUR per year. If the portal halves waste and cuts admin time by two thirds, annual savings reach about 23,900 EUR, enough to fund either a platform licence or a custom build within the first year.
FAQ
How much does school booking software cost for a council with 2,100 children?
As a 2026 order of magnitude, expect £5,000 to £14,000 per year for an off-the-shelf platform, plus £2,500 to £7,000 of configuration. Pricing depends on headcount, number of sites and modules such as holiday clubs.
Can the system enforce a 48-hour booking cut-off and charge for no-shows?
Yes, this is a configurable lock rule: after the cut-off the booking becomes firm and billable. A no-show charge of 20 to 50 % can be applied where council policy allows it.
Do we still need meal billing with universal free school meals?
In London primaries and Irish primary schools, lunches are largely funded, but breakfast clubs, after-school care and secondary meals remain chargeable. Many councils find 30 to 50 % of their previous billing volume still applies.
How long do we need to be ready for September?
Start procurement by February to go live in June, when registrations open. A custom project needs 3 to 5 months of build and testing.
How is children's health data protected?
Allergy and care plan data are special category data: access limited to authorised staff, UK or EU hosting, and retention usually limited to the school year plus one.
Let's scope your project. We will define the parent portal, booking rules and finance integration with you for a go-live before the new school year. Detailed quote within 48 h. WhatsApp +221 77 596 93 33.
Mohamed Bah
Fondateur, Kolonell
Passionate about digital and entrepreneurship in Africa, Mohamed has been helping Sénégalese businesses with their digital transformation since 2020. Founder of Kolonell, he believes every SME deserves a professional and accessible online présence.
