When a student's school costs are being funded by an external payer — such as Work and Income (WINZ), Variety, or Oranga Tamariki — the process varies depending on the organisation. Some are managed by the caregiver, others by the school. Knowing who does what helps you direct families correctly and act when needed.
For payments from trusts, scholarship bodies, or other external organisations not listed here, see
Managing Trust and Scholarship Payments for Students.
WINZ funding is managed entirely by the caregiver — no school involvement is needed. The caregiver places their order in Kindo, selects bank transfer at checkout, and receives a reference number and payment amount. They pass these details — along with the Kindo WINZ supplier number — to their WINZ case manager, who arranges payment directly to Kindo.
Variety funding is managed by the caregiver. They contact the Kindo Helpdesk directly to request an invoice, which Kindo sends to them to forward to their Variety case worker. Once payment is received, it's applied to the student's account.
If a family asks about this process, direct them to the Help Centre article: Paying for items through Variety.
Oranga Tamariki
The Oranga Tamariki process is managed by the school administrator.
If Oranga Tamariki is paying Kindo directly, request the invoice on behalf of the student by emailing the Kindo Helpdesk at helpdesk@kindo.co.nz. For full instructions, see: Oranga Tamariki Invoices and Payments.
If Oranga Tamariki pays your school directly (for a payable item), invoice Oranga Tamariki from the school, then record the payment in Kindo via the POS page once it's received.
What happens next
Once payment is received by Kindo from any of the above external payers:
- The payment is applied to the family's Kindo wallet and immediately allocated to the item(s) shown on the invoice.
- The family will receive an order confirmation once completed.
- If the item is a payable, it will no longer show as outstanding on the Point of sale page. Transactions can be viewed on the Connect page and will appear as standard transactions - they are not distinguishable from other payment types.