Using Autopay

Online Payments155 linked articles

Autopay lets a family save a card and authorise automatic payment of eligible invoices for one student at your school. The payer turns it on in the Family Hub. Octavia then collects the outstanding balance when the invoi

Automatic invoice generation and auto-send control when invoices are created and emailed. Autopay collects payment. These are separate choices: a manually created invoice can be paid by Autopay, and an automatically generated invoice can still need manual payment.

Before You Start

Your plan must include Autopay, and your school must have a Stripe account connected and ready to accept payments. See Connecting Your Stripe Account.

The payer needs their own active Family Hub account:

A parent must have Hub access and be marked as responsible for payment for the student. If the student manages their own billing, the parent cannot set up Autopay for them.
A student paying for themselves needs their own activated Hub account and Responsible for payment enabled on their student record.

See Billing Access in the Hub for how student and parent billing access works.

You cannot turn Autopay on for a family or enter their card for them. The person paying must give their own authorisation.

How Families Set Up Autopay

Ask the payer to:

Sign in to the Family Hub and open My Billing for your school.
Find the student and select Set up beside Autopay.
Read what the authorisation covers and choose an email preference.
Tick I understand and agree to the above., then select Continue to Stripe.
Enter and save their card on Stripe's secure page, then return to the Hub.

The Hub confirms Autopay is now on. The setup saves a card rather than paying an invoice; eligible invoices are then collected according to their charge schedule. Card details are entered on Stripe; you do not see the card number.

An unfinished first setup does not authorise automatic payments. If the Hub shows Setup not finished, the payer can reopen Autopay and start again. Leaving a card replacement unfinished does not turn off an existing active authorisation.

Autopay is set up separately for each student and school. If it is already set up by another payer, the Hub explains that without showing the other person's identity or card details.

Which Invoices Autopay Covers

Autopay covers eligible invoices for that student, however they were created: manual invoices, monthly invoices, calendar-based invoices, term invoices and lesson-pack invoices can all qualify. There is no separate Autopay switch on each enrolment or billing contract.

An invoice must have been sent, have an amount still owing and have a due date on or after the coverage start date shown in Autopay. Earlier overdue invoices must be paid manually. Draft and void invoices are not charged.

An invoice can include several enrolments for the same student. A combined family invoice covering several students cannot be collected through Autopay.

The charge is the remaining balance, after recorded payments and applied account credits. Octavia adds no processing surcharge. If the invoice is fully paid before the automatic payment starts, there is nothing left to collect.

When Payments Are Taken

Autopay normally collects from midday on the invoice due date, using your school's timezone. Payments run throughout the day rather than at an exact guaranteed minute.

Most invoices require an email at least three days before the charge. The email tells the payer the amount and date. If there is not enough notice before the due date, the charge happens later so the payer still gets the required notice. They do not need to approve each notice.

During setup, the payer chooses between:

Email me at least 3 days before each charge — advance notice also applies to qualifying regular monthly fixed-amount invoices.
Just charge me — qualifying automatically generated fixed-amount invoices billed monthly or more frequently can be collected without a separate advance email.

All other invoices still require advance notice. Choosing Just charge me does not remove notice for term, calendar-based, lesson-pack or one-off invoices, invoices billed less often than monthly, or a manually created invoice that happens to have the same monthly amount.

If you change a noticed invoice's total or due date, or its balance increases, a fresh notice may be needed and the charge date can move. A lower balance can be collected without a new notice. If an uncharged payment becomes more than three days late against its scheduled charge time, a fresh three-day notice is required, including for Just charge me invoices.

The Hub invoice page shows when an invoice will be charged automatically. Until the charge date is settled, it explains that the date and amount will be emailed rather than promising a date.

Checking a Student's or Parent's Autopay

Open the relevant person's record and select Billing:

For a student who manages their own billing, use the student's Autopay panel.
For a parent payer, use the parent's Autopay panel. It lists their current authorisations by student.

The panel shows the authorisation status, a masked card summary when available, and the date from which eligible invoices are covered. Setup not finished means that particular setup is incomplete; a separate active authorisation can still be in place. A card-update message means the payer needs to manage their card in the Hub.

On the student record, the panel explains if Autopay is not set up or should instead be managed from a parent's billing tab. The parent panel may be absent when there is no current authorisation to manage. If loading fails, use Refresh Autopay; an error is not confirmation that Autopay is off.

Invoice list badges and the invoice's Autopay panel show whether that particular invoice is covered, excluded, paused, charging or needs attention. An active authorisation alone does not mean every invoice will be charged.

Leaving an Invoice Out of Autopay

To keep one invoice for manual payment:

Open the invoice.
In Autopay, tick Do not charge this invoice automatically.
Wait for the confirmation that the change was saved.

This excludes only that invoice. Autopay stays on for the student's other eligible invoices.

If an advance charge notice was already sent, Octavia automatically emails its original recipient to withdraw that notice and explain how to pay the invoice. If a payment is already in progress or needs review, the email instead tells them to check its status before paying another way. If no advance notice was sent, there is no withdrawal notice to send.

Untick the checkbox to include the invoice again. It must still meet the usual conditions, and a fresh advance notice is sent wherever one is required.

Exclude an invoice before collection starts. When the panel shows an automatic payment in progress or a failed attempt, it does not offer the checkbox. Exclusion cannot recall a payment already submitted, so check the payment status before arranging another payment.

Changing a Card or Email Preference

The payer opens My Billing → Autopay → Manage in the Hub:

Change card opens Stripe's secure setup page. The existing authorisation remains in place until the replacement is completed.
Under Email before charges, they choose their preference and select Save. The choice applies to invoices that have not yet been charged, subject to the notice rules above.

A completed card replacement keeps the existing coverage start date. It does not automatically retry an invoice whose payment already failed. That invoice needs manual payment; the replacement card is used for future eligible invoices.

Turning Autopay Off

The payer can select Turn off autopay in the Hub and confirm Yes, turn off autopay. You can also cancel on their behalf from the student or parent Autopay panel by selecting Cancel autopay and confirming. Keep autopay closes the confirmation without cancelling.

If both an active authorisation and an unfinished replacement are listed, cancelling only the unfinished setup does not turn off the active authorisation.

Cancellation stops future automatic charges under that authorisation. It does not cancel invoices, remove money still owing or refund a completed payment. A payment already submitted may still complete, so check the invoice before asking for another payment.

The payer can set up Autopay again later with a new authorisation. Turning it off and on again starts a new coverage date; earlier overdue invoices remain manual.

Changing Who Pays

Changing payment responsibility, removing a consenting parent's link or taking away a student payer's billing access can end the affected Autopay authorisation. When your change would do this, Octavia warns you before saving.

Review the warning and either cancel the change or confirm it. The replacement payer must set up Autopay themselves; an existing card authorisation is not transferred to them. Check any payment already in progress before collecting another way.

Failed Payments and Payments Needing Review

The Autopay needs attention panel appears on the invoices page when there are items to address. Select Open invoice to inspect the balance, Autopay status and any Payment activity shown.

What you see	What to do
A confirmed failure or a card needing action	Ask the payer to pay that invoice manually, using Pay now when available or your usual payment method. Octavia does not automatically try it again. They can also replace their card for future invoices.
Charging or processing	Wait for the result and check the invoice before requesting another payment.
Needs review	Check your Stripe dashboard to establish whether money was collected, and contact Octavia support if the outcome or recording remains unresolved. Do not assume either success or failure.
An account credit created from an excess payment	Review the payment and credit before deciding whether to keep the credit or arrange a refund.

While a payment is processing or needs review, Pay now may be temporarily unavailable to prevent another payment while the outcome is uncertain. This can also affect the payment link in an invoice email. Do not work around it by asking the family to pay again before checking Stripe.

When Autopay Is Paused

Autopay pauses if your school's plan no longer includes it or your Stripe connection cannot accept automatic payments. The payer can still see their saved-card summary and coverage and can turn Autopay off, but cannot replace the card or change the email preference from the paused screen.

Restoring availability can allow eligible invoices to be collected under the existing authorisation. The notice and late-payment rules still apply. Check the invoice's current status rather than assuming that every paused invoice must be paid again manually.

Emails, Receipts and Account Credits

Autopay setup confirmations, advance notices and other payer messages go to the login email of the person who authorised it. They do not automatically go to every linked parent or to a different contact who receives the ordinary invoice email.

Staff alerts go to Support email for billing enquiries, with your school's designated active administrator as a fallback when needed. Keep that billing contact up to date.

Successful automatic payments are recorded against the invoice for you. Do not record the same payment again manually. Receipts follow your normal automatic-receipt setting; turning receipt emails off does not stop payment recording or remove the receipt from the Hub. See How Stripe Payments Are Recorded.

A manual payment and an automatic charge can occasionally overlap, particularly if a family already has a Stripe checkout page open when collection starts. If the collected amount exceeds the invoice's remaining balance when recorded, Octavia holds the excess as account credit and alerts you. Check both payments before taking action. Refunds are handled in Stripe; also resolve the corresponding credit in Octavia so the refunded money is not left available to spend again. See Account Credits.

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