Work out a cost per student by dividing the total cost by the number of students you propose to take with you on the trip. Your calculations should be made available to anyone who may reasonably wish to see them. 

If money is left over after the trip, it should be distributed equally to all those who paid to go on it. 

Schools, colleges, charities or others should not profit from trips, unless:

• this intention was clearly explained at the outset to all participants
• their agreement obtained in writing and
• a clear statement of the costs and surpluses is made freely available at the end of the trip after all bills have been paid.   

You should keep clear, written accounts of all money collected, as well as a daily accounts book, showing:

• the date of each transaction
• who the payment was to or from
• the cheque number
• the resulting balance.   

Every sheet of the accounts book should be signed by the person maintaining it. Receipts (showing the amount paid, the total so far contributed and any amount outstanding) must be issued for every payment from a student. 

The group leader must be able to account for all the income and expenditure for an off-site visit. You should never pay money for a trip into your own bank or building society accounts, nor should money for trips be invested in the school or college’s own funds. A separate account should be set up, ideally with more than one signatory. 

A school/college deciding to organise its own trip abroad is likely to be caught by the Package Travel Regulations. The Regulations require an organiser to show evidence of security for pre-payments and for repayment following insolvency. 

Great care must be taken over the choice of a travel company, because there is, in practice, little to stop someone whose travel company has collapsed from starting up again under a new name. 

Help and advice

For more detailed advice, please refer to ATL's publication Taking students off-site.

For individual queries, please contact ATL's London office, e-mail the helpdesk, or contact your branch secretary. You may also wish to call the out-of-office-hours helpline.

If you need confidential support and advice, don't forget you can also call ATL's stress, crisis or legal helplines.