Running a service area
Setting a price
The four engines, what each is for, and how the calculation is shown to the school buying.
Four ways to price something, chosen on the service's own form. The catalogue shows the school the calculation as well as the answer, so choose the one that matches how you actually think about the charge.
Fixed
One price for everybody. Right for a product, a licence, a place on a course. Simple, and simple is worth something: a school can budget from the catalogue without asking anybody.
Per pupil
A rate multiplied by the school's number on roll, with an optional floor and ceiling. Right where your cost really does scale with the size of the school.
Set the floor thoughtfully. Without one, a very small school pays a figure that does not cover the work; with one set too high, per-pupil pricing is fixed pricing wearing a hat, and schools will notice.
The roll comes from the school, which sets and confirms it once a year. A change applies forwards only and never re-prices a live contract. See confirming the roll.
Tiered
A price per phase or size band: primary, secondary, special, all-through. Right where the work differs in kind rather than in proportion — a secondary HR case load is not a primary one multiplied by four.
Cover every band you are eligible to sell to. A band with no price is a school that cannot buy.
Quote
No list price. The school asks and you answer with a figure and a date it holds until. Right for scoped work, and wrong as a default: an item priced by quote gets asked about far less often than one with a number on it, because asking has a cost to the person asking. See asking for a quote.
VAT
Set the rate on the service. Everything a school sees shows net, VAT and gross together, and VAT is worked out and rounded line by line. An order total is the sum of its lines, which is what City Council's finance system reconciles against.
Multi-year terms
Where an agreement runs several years, set the price for each. The school sees which year of the term it is in and what the next one costs, so the figure on a renewal invitation is never the first sight of it. See contracts and SLAs.
Changing a price
A change applies to new orders and renewals. It never re-prices something already bought, which is what makes it safe to correct a mistake in the middle of a year.
Not what you were after?
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