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Maktab Management Software: A Buyer's Checklist

Software 3 November 2026 · Hidayah

Maktab management software keeps an evening maktab's fees, register and family records in one place, and the questions worth asking before you buy follow from those jobs. The table sets out what the software does and the question that tests each part. The sections after it explain why each question matters for a small UK maktab that teaches for an hour or two after school. Prices and rules are for the UK as of November 2026, and this is general information, not legal advice.

What the software does, and the question that tests it

What it doesThe question that tests it
Collects feesCan parents pay by Bacs Direct Debit and card, and what does each payment cost, all in?
Keeps one ledgerCan cash handed in at the door go against the same invoice?
Takes the registerCan a teacher mark present, late or absent on a phone before the lesson?
Holds children's recordsWho can see what, and will you sign a written contract covering our data?
Lets you leaveCan we export everything, and is the data returned or deleted at the end?

Can parents pay by Direct Debit, and what does it cost?

Where fees are small and monthly, compare Direct Debit and card on your own fee. Stripe's published UK price for Bacs Direct Debit, as of November 2026, is 1% per payment, with a minimum of 20p and a cap of £4.00. A standard UK card on the same price list costs 1.5% plus 20p. On an illustrative £30 monthly fee, that comes to 30p by Direct Debit and 65p by standard card, before any platform fee. So ask each supplier to put its own fee on top of Stripe's UK prices, and to say whether the maktab or the parent pays it.

Then ask how a parent signs up. Stripe's documentation says that to debit a customer's account, you must collect a Bacs Direct Debit Instruction, also called a mandate. It also says Bacs requires notifying customers when their payment details are collected and confirmed, and before their account is debited. A good supplier can show you the screen a parent fills in and the email that follows. In Hidayah, parents authorise once through Stripe and the monthly fee is then collected automatically, as the madrasa fees by Direct Debit section of the features page shows.

What parents see on their statement

Ask about this before the first collection, not after. Stripe's documentation says that by default a customer's bank statement identifies Stripe as the service user and includes the mandate reference. A parent who does not recognise the name could raise a dispute with their bank. The same page says there is no set time limit for customers to file Bacs Direct Debit disputes. Find out what the statement will say, and tell parents in advance.

Does cash at the door land in the same ledger?

If some fees still arrive in an envelope at the door, they need a place in the same record. If cash goes in a notebook and online payments sit in the software, the treasurer is matching two lists by hand. If your maktab is a charity in England or Wales, the Charity Commission says you must ensure that it keeps accounting records for at least 6 years. That guidance applies to England and Wales, and links to separate guidance for Scotland and Northern Ireland. The Commission's guidance on internal financial controls also lists comparing accounting records and bank statements each month to make sure they reconcile.

Ask the supplier to record a cash payment against a child's invoice while you watch, then pull up a report of everything billed and collected. Hidayah keeps online and offline payments in one ledger and adds no Hidayah fee to cash or bank transfers recorded in it.

Can the register be done before the lesson starts?

If your class has a few minutes of settling in before teaching starts, the register has to fit inside them, on the teacher's phone. Ask to mark a class during the demo: present, late or absent for each child, with late minutes kept. Then log in as a parent. A parent should see their own child's attendance, fee balance and payments, and nothing about any other family. A portal that answers those questions saves the office a run of evening phone calls.

Who in the maktab can see what?

If your maktab runs on a few volunteers, access matters. The person collecting fees does not need teaching notes, and a class teacher does not need every family's balance. The ICO's guide to data security says your security measures should seek to ensure that the data can be accessed, altered, disclosed or deleted only by those you have authorised to do so. The same guide says that if personal data is accidentally lost, altered or destroyed, you should be able to recover it.

So ask for the list of roles, whether changes to records are logged, and how often backups are taken. In Hidayah, a class teacher sees only their assigned classes, an accountant gets financial access only, and changes to student records and class assignments are logged with who did what and when.

Who controls the records, and is there a contract?

In one of the ICO's own examples, a charity buying new software to manage volunteer information reviews how the software company will store and use personal information and what security measures are in place to protect it. A maktab can do the same. Ask the supplier whether it handles your data as a processor on your behalf.

The ICO says that every time a controller uses a processor to process personal data, there must be a written contract that binds the processor to the controller. The ICO says the contract must also say that the processor should not engage another processor without the controller's prior specific or general written authorisation. Ask for that contract and the list of other companies involved, such as the payment processor and the hosting company, before anyone types in a child's name. The ICO notes that this guidance is under review after the Data (Use and Access) Act and may change.

How do we leave, and what happens to the data?

Ask this before you join, while the supplier still wants your business. According to the ICO, the contract must say that at the end of the contract the processor must, at the controller's choice, delete or return all the personal data it has been processing for it. Ask what format the returned data comes in, and run a full export yourself during any trial. Students, parents, invoices, payments and attendance should all come out in a spreadsheet file a volunteer can open. Every Hidayah report exports to CSV or PDF, and the maktab fee and attendance reports section of the features page lists them.

What does it cost in total?

Add the monthly subscription, any charge per student or per class, any setup fee and the fee on each online payment. Ask whether moving to a larger plan later costs anything extra. For comparison, Hidayah is £39 a month for up to 99 students or £60 a month for up to 300, with every feature in both plans. Stripe's standard fees and a 0.3% Hidayah platform fee apply to online payments.

Testing the answers on one class

Written answers tell you what a supplier says. A trial shows what a teacher actually meets at the start of a lesson. If a supplier offers one, run a single class through it for two weeks: take every register, record every cash payment and send one parent the login. Any gaps then show up while the old notebook is still there to fall back on, and before the rest of the maktab has been moved across.

Questions maktab committees ask about software

What should maktab management software do?

Take fees by Direct Debit and card, record cash against the same invoice, let a teacher take the register on a phone, show each parent their own child's balance and attendance, give each volunteer only the access they need, and export everything to a file you can open.

Is Direct Debit cheaper than card for a small monthly fee?

On Stripe's published UK prices as of November 2026, yes. Bacs Direct Debit is 1% with a 20p minimum and a £4.00 cap, against 1.5% plus 20p for a standard UK card.

Does a maktab need a contract with its software supplier?

Under UK data protection law, as of November 2026, if the supplier handles personal data for you as a processor, the ICO says there must be a written contract. Ask the supplier which role it takes and ask to read the contract before you sign. This is general information, not legal advice.

How long should a maktab keep fee records?

If the maktab is a charity in England or Wales, the Charity Commission says accounting records must be kept for at least 6 years, as of November 2026. Charities in Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own guidance.

What does Hidayah cost for a maktab?

£39 a month for up to 99 students, or £60 a month for up to 300, with every feature in both plans. Stripe's standard fees and a 0.3% Hidayah platform fee apply to online payments. Cash and bank transfers recorded in Hidayah carry no Hidayah fee.

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