WO2020212924A2

WO2020212924A2 - Method for the automated collection and disbursement of educational funds

Info

Publication number: WO2020212924A2
Application number: PCT/IB2020/053650
Authority: WO
Inventors: Christiaan Rabie KOK; Ferdinand Thomas MARITZ
Original assignee: Eduswitch (Pty) Ltd
Priority date: 2019-04-17
Filing date: 2020-04-17
Publication date: 2020-10-22
Also published as: WO2020212924A3

Abstract

A method of distributing educational funds, which includes receiving identification information from associated parties and storing their information on at least one database; the associated parties being a beneficiary of a bursary, the beneficiary enrolled at an educational institution; a bursary grantor and the educational institution at which the beneficiary is enrolled at as a student; verifying the received identification information from each of the parties by comparing the received identification information of each party to at least one verification database; and authorizing a financial system associated with the individual or the bursary grantor to debit an amount of funds from an account associated with the individual or bursary grantor and to credit an account associated with the educational institution at which the beneficiary is enrolled.

Description

METHOD FOR THE AUTOMATED COLLECTION AND DISBURSEMENT OF

EDUCATIONAL FUNDS

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to distribution of educational funds. In particular, the invention relates to a method of distributing educational funds, to a method for the automated collection and disbursement of educational funds and to a system for the automated collection and disbursement of educational funds.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In certain countries around the world there are currently tax laws which provide that any bursary or scholarship granted by an employer to an employee or relative of an employee to study at a recognized educational or research institution may be exempt from tax should the scholarship or bursary be bona fide, be granted by an employer to the employee or to a relative of such employee.

However, in order for employees to benefit from this tax exemption there are specific criteria and processes that needs to be followed by the associated parties which provides for an administrative burden for employees and employers and the schools and or educational institutions in question.

It has been found that manual bursary systems are prone to fraud and are also limited in the scalability of the system as these systems rely on manual performance of validation of tasks, funds, claims, institutions and students.

It is the purpose of the current invention to provide a method and a system which removes the administrative burden placed on employees and employers and the schools and or educational institutions in question.

In this specification the term front-end application is intended to includes either a mobile application or a web-based platform. The term employee is intended to refer to an employee of an employer and also to a person associated with an employee, such as a family member or dependent that is entitled to receive a bursary via the employee's employer.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Broadly according to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of distributing educational funds, which includes;

receiving identification information from associated parties and storing their information on at least one database; the associated parties being:

a beneficiary of a bursary, the beneficiary enrolled at an educational institution;

a bursary grantor; and

the educational institution at which the beneficiary is enrolled as a student; verifying the identification information received from each of the parties by comparing the received identification information of each party to at least one verification database; authorizing a financial system associated with the individual or the bursary grantor to debit an amount of funds from an account associated with the individual or bursary grantor and to credit an account associated with the educational institution at which the beneficiary is enrolled.

The bursary grantor may be any one of an employer of the beneficiary of the bursary and the employer of a relative of the beneficiary of the bursary.

The received identification of each of the parties may be verified by confirming with both of the employer and educational institution that the received information is correct.

The step of receiving identification information from the associated parties may include the step of receiving identification information from a guardian of the beneficiary if the beneficiary is a minor.

According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a method for the automated collection and disbursement of educational funds, which includes

receiving identification information from associated parties and storing the information on at least one database, the associated parties being any one of an employee and the relative of an employee; an employer of the employee; and an educational institution at which the employee or their relative is enrolled;

verifying the received identification information of each of the associated parties as follows:

the information of any one of the employee and their relative against a first external verification database to confirm the details provided by the employee;

the information of the employer against a second external verification database to confirm the details of the employer; and

the information of the educational institution against a third external verification database to confirm the banking details of the educational institution;

authorizing a financial system associated with the employer to debit an amount of funds from an account associated with the employer and to credit an account associated with the educational institution at which any one of the employee and their relative is enrolled; and

compiling and transmitting a report to the employer indicating the funds paid on behalf of the employee to the educational institution, the report indicating the amount of funds to be deducted from the employee gross salary.

The step of verifying the received identification information of the employer may include the additional step of prompting the employer to confirm their details.

The step of verifying the received identification information of the educational institution may include the additional step of prompting the educational institution to confirm their details.

The step of authorizing a financial system associated with the employer to debit an amount of funds from an account associated with the employer may include the step of providing the employer with a schedule indicating the amount of funds to be credited to an account.

The employer may thereafter manually transfer the amount to an account associated with the educational institution. The method may include the independent steps of receiving a request from any one of the associated parties to register an employee profile, an employer profile and an educational institution profile before funds are automatically collected and distributed.

The method may include the step of receiving a request from an employee to register a new employee profile, and if the employee profile is successfully registered, the method may include sending a notification to the employer and the educational institution associated with the employee prompting them to register a new profile.

The method may include, once a request is received by the front-end application that the employee wishes to register a new profile, prompting the employee to enter required identification information which includes any of the following information regarding the employee; name, surname, email address, date of birth, employee number, monthly/annual salary, tax number, latest pay slip, educational institution at which the employee is currently enrolled, the educational expenses per month/year, a student number at the educational institution, and the like.

The method may include, if the employee pays the educational expenses of a relative, prompting the employee to enter required information regarding their relative.

The information may be received from the front-end application and stored on a database.

The method may include the step of using the provided information to determine if the employee is eligible for the automated collection and disbursement of their educational funds in accordance with the necessary tax laws associated with a country.

The method may include the step of verifying the eligibility of the employee by comparing the provided information to certain predefined requirements.

The method may include, if the employee is eligible, the subsequent step of verifying the information provided by the employee to information of the employee stored on the first external verification database. The method may include, if the details of the employee match the information as stored on the first external verification database, the step of prompting the employee to enter his employer details which includes any of the following: employer name, company registration number, human resources (HR) manager name, HR manager telephone number, HR manager email address, a company telephone number and a company address, and the like.

The method may include, once the employer information is received, comparing the information to the information provided on the uploaded pay slip.

The method may include the subsequent step of sending a notification requesting the employer to register a new profile to the registered email address of the employer.

The method may include requesting the employee to enter only the email address of his employer, with the employer required to provide the rest of the information.

The method may include, after the notification is sent to the employer, the step of prompting the employer to verify that the employee is currently in their employment and that the details regarding the employer as entered by the employee are correct.

The method may include prompting the employer to enter additional payment information comprising of a payment limit for the employee and a payment date.

The method may include verifying the information provided by the employer by comparing the information received from the employer to information of the employer stored on the second external verification database.

The method may include the additional step of prompting the employer to confirm agreement with terms and conditions of a payment agreement between the employer and the educational institution on behalf of the employee.

The method may include the step of notifying the employee that the employer registration is complete after the employer information is successfully verified with the second external database. The method may include the subsequent step of prompting the employee to enter the details of each educational institution which they or their relatives are currently enrolled at.

The details of the educational institution may include any of the following details; a name of the student enrolled at the educational institution, a student number of the student, a reference number, a type of educational institution, a name of the educational institution, an address of the educational institution, banking details of the educational institution, an educational institution’s financial administrator contact details, a deadline for expenses to be paid and a payment amount, and the like.

The employee may only be requested to enter certain minimum information regarding the educational institution, with the educational institution required to enter the remaining required information.

The minimum information may include the email address of the educational institution, a number of enrolled relatives, an amount of funds to be paid and a reference number associated with the funds.

The method may include, after the notification is received by the educational institution, the step of prompting the educational institution to verify if the employee or a relative of the employee is currently enrolled at the educational institution.

The method may include verifying the information provided by the employee regarding the educational institution by comparing the received information to information of the educational institution stored on the third external verification database.

The method may include the additional step of verifying the banking details of the educational institution with the financial system holding the educational institution banking account by sending a verification notification to the financial system prompting the financial system to confirm the educational institution banking details.

The method may include, once all three of the employee’s profile, the employer’s profile and the educational institution’s profile are registered, the step of sending a confirmation notification to all the parties indicating that registration was successful, and that their educational funds will be automatically collected and distributed to the relevant educational institution.

The step of authorizing a financial system to debit an employer account may include the additional step of sending a confirmation schedule to the employer indicating the employees currently in their employment being registered for the automated collection and disbursement of educational funds and a total amount payable to each educational institution at which the employees and/or their relatives are enrolled.

The method may allow the employer to adjust the schedule via the front-end application by removing an employee whose employment has since been terminated or/and to change the amount payable.

If the employer confirms the schedules, the method may include the subsequent step of authorizing the financial system to debit the account associated with the employer and credit the account of each educational institution.

The method may include, if the employer rejects or changes the schedules, sending a notification to each relevant party that changes have been made to their payment agreement.

The step of authorizing a financial system to debit an employer account includes providing the employer with a schedule indicating the amount of funds to be credited to each educational institution.

The method may include the step of permitting the employer to manually transfer an amount to an account associated with the educational institution.

The step of authorizing the financial system to debit the account associated with the employer account may include the step of sending a notification that a payment has been made to the employee, the employer and the educational institution.

The notification sent to each educational institution may include any one of the reference number and the student details associated with each payment. The method may include, after the payments have been received by the educational institution, allocating the funds to each associated student account and includes sending a notification to the employee that the funds have been received and allocated to the relevant accounts.

The method may include, after the registration has been completed, the steps of authorizing a financial system to debit an employer account and compiling a report to the employer indicating the funds paid on behalf of each employee to the educational institution is to be done periodically depending on a payment schedule of the educational institution and the agreement between the employee and the employer.

The method may allow educational expenses to be deducted from any one of the net salary and the gross salary of the employee.

The method may include a prior step of receiving a request from an employee who intends to determine if they qualify for the tax allowance.

The method may include the subsequent step of prompting the employee to enter a current income as well as an amount of educational funds paid for education on behalf of themselves or their relatives.

The method may include comparing the current income of the employee and the educational expenses amount via a lookup function to a database in which taxation tables are stored in order to calculate the possible saving of the employee.

The method may include, if the employee qualifies for a tax exemption, the step of receiving a request from the employee to register via a front-end application and which, once the registration is complete, causes the automated collection and disbursement of funds to facilitate a tax allowance.

The invention extends to a system for the automated collection and disbursement of educational funds, which includes

a server comprising;

at least one processor; a database;

memory operatively connected to the at least one processor; a first computer-executable module stored in the memory which, when executed by the at least one processor, after receiving identification information from an associated party over a network, causes the processor to compare the received identification information to at least one external verification database in order to verify the received information and to store the information on the database;

a second computer-executable module stored in the memory which, when executed by the at least one processor, after verifying the received information, causes the at least one processor to authorize, via the network, a financial system associated with the employer of the employee to debit an amount of funds from an account associated with the employer, to credit an account associated with an educational institution at which the employee or his relative is enrolled and to calculate the net salary to be paid to the employee after the amount of funds paid on behalf of the employee has been deducted from the gross salary of the employee.

The system may include an interface controller which is capable of interfacing with a front-end application which is in the form of any one of a mobile application and a web-based platform.

The interface controller may be arranged to receive a request from an employee to register a new profile after which the employee is prompted to enter required information which includes any of the following information regarding the employee; name, surname, email address, date of birth, employee number, monthly/annual salary, tax number, latest pay slip, educational institution at which the employee is currently enrolled, the educational expenses per month/year, his student number at the educational institution and the like.

The system may include, if the employee pays the educational expenses of a relative, prompting the employee to enter required information regarding their relative.

The information received by the interface controller may be stored on the database. The processor may be arranged to determine if the employee is eligible to receive a tax deduction by retrieving the income of the employee, as entered by the employee or as displayed on the employee pay slip and comparing this to allowable margins stored on the database.

The processor may, upon determining that the employee is eligible to receive a tax deduction, be arranged to verify the employee details by comparing the received information to information of the employee stored on a first external verification database.

The interface controller may be arranged to prompt the employee to enter his identification number and upon receipt of the identification number, the processor is arranged to retrieve the employee’s information from the first external verification database.

If the details of the employee match the information as stored on the first external verification database, the interface controller may be operable to prompt the employee to enter his employer details which includes any of the following; employer name, company registration number, human resources (HR) manager name, HR manager telephone number, HR manager email address, company telephone number and company address.

The processor may be arranged to retrieve the employee’s employer information from a second external verification database.

Once the employer information is received, the processor may be arranged to compare the received information to the uploaded pay slip or as stored on the second external verification database.

If the details are correct a notification controller of the server may be operable to send a notification to the employer to reregister a new profile via the front-end application.

The notification as sent by the notification controller may be in the form of any one of an email and a text message.

If the details of the employee match the information as stored on the first external verification database, the interface controller may be operable to prompt the employee to enter only the email address of his employer, with the notification controller being configured to send the notification to the provided email address through which the front-end application then prompts the employer to enter the required information.

The processor may be arranged to verify the employer’s information by comparing the received information to information of the employer stored on the second external verification database.

If the details of the employer are verified the notification controller may be configured to send a notification to the employee and the employer that the employer registration is complete.

The interface controller may be arranged, thereafter to prompt the employee to enter the details of each educational institution which they are currently paying as part of educational expenses for themselves or relatives.

The details of the educational institution may include any of the following details; a name of the student attending the education institution, a student number of the student, a reference number, a type of education institution, a name of the educational institution, an address of the educational institution, banking details of the educational institution, the education institution’s financial administrator contact details, a deadline for expenses to be paid, a payment amount, and the like.

The interface controller may be arranged to prompt the employee to enter only the email address of educational institution, with the notification controller being configured to send the notification to the provided email where the front-end application is arranged to prompt the educational institution to enter the required information.

After the notification is sent to the educational institution by the notification controller, the educational institution may be prompted via the front-end application to verify if the employee or a relative of the employee currently enrolled at the educational institution.

The interface controller may be arranged thereafter to prompt the educational institution to verify the details as entered by the employee as well as enter any outstanding information required. The processor may be arranged to verify the educational institution by comparing the received information to information of the educational institution stored on a third external verification database.

The processor may be further arranged to verify the banking details of the educational institution with the financial system holding the educational institution banking account by sending a verification notification via the notification controller to the financial system thereby prompting the financial system to confirm if the current bank details are correct.

The notification controller may be arranged to send a notification to all associated parties once the employee’s profile, the employer’s profile and the educational institution’s profile are registered, thereby indicating that registration was successful and that a financial system will now be an automatically authorized to distribute funds from the employer to each educational institution on behalf of the employee.

The second computer-executable module, when activated by the processor, and before authorizing via the network a financial, may be arranged to send a confirmation schedule to the employer listing the employees currently under his employment and registered together with the amount payable to each respective educational institution at which the employees are enrolled.

The front-end application allows the employer to adjust the schedule by removing an employee whose employment has since been terminated and to change the amount payable.

If the employer confirms the schedule, the second-executable module may be operable to authorize the financial system to debit the account associated with the employer account and credit the account of each educational institution.

The interface controller may be arranged to send a notification that a payment has been made to each associated party after the funds have been credited to the education institution. The invention will now be described by way of a non-limiting example only, with reference to the following drawing.

DRAWINGS

In the drawings:

Figure 1 shows a system for the automated collection and disbursement of educational funds; and

Figure 2 shows a sub method which includes registering an employee, employer and educational institution before educational funds can be collected and disbursed;

Figure 3 shows a further sub method which includes the collection and disbursement of the educational funds after the employee, employer and educational institution have been registered.

EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION

In Figure 1 reference numeral (200) refers to a system for the automated collection and disbursement of educational funds.

The system for the automated collection and disbursement of educational funds (200) comprises a remote server (202), at least one input device (204), loaded with a front-end application through which a user can create an employee, employer or educational institution profile. The remote server (202) is connected to the at least one input device (204) and to a plurality of external verification databases (206) via a public network, which, in this example is the Internet. The remote sever (202) also integrated into registered financial system (208) to facilitate secure payments between the employer (204.2) and educational institution (204.2).

The remote server (202) includes a processor (202.1 ), an interface controller (202.2), a notification controller (202.3) and a database (202.4). The database (202.4) containing the profiles as created by the employee (204.1 ), employer (204.2) or educational institution (204.3). The remote server (202) further includes memory (202.5) operatively coupled to the processor (202) and in which a first computer-executable module and a second computer executable module is stored. The first computer-executable module when executed by the at least one processor (202.1 ), after receiving identification information from an associated party via the front end application on the input device (204), causes the processor (202.1 ) to compare the received identification information to the external verification database (206) in order to verify the received information and to store the information on the database (202.4).

The second computer-executable module when executed by the processor (202.1 ), after verifying the received information, causes the processor to authorize, via the network, a financial system (208) associated with the employer of the employee to debit an amount of funds from an account associated with the employer and to credit an account associated with an educational institution at which the employer or his relative is enrolled and to calculate the net salary to be paid to the employee after the amount of funds paid on behalf of the employee has been deducted from the gross salary of the employee.

In operation, the system (200) for the automated collection and disbursement of educational funds provides a method (10, 100) for the automated collection and disbursement of educational funds, in particular the method (10, 100) allows educational expenses to be deducted from the net salary of an employee which results in a decrease in the taxable gross salary of the employee and allowing the employee to take advantage of a tax allowance. The method (10,100) comprises two sub methods (10,100) which includes a registration method (10) (See Figure 2) and a disbursement method (100) (See Figure 3).

As can be seen in Figure 2, at (12) a request is received from an employee accessing the front-end application to register a new employee profile. At (14) the front-end application prompts the employee to enter required identification information which includes any of the following information regarding the employee; name, surname, email address, date of birth, employee number, monthly/annual salary, tax number, latest pay slip, educational institution at which the employee is currently enrolled, the educational expenses per month/year, his student number at the educational institution and the like. If the employee pays the educational expenses of a relative the method can include prompting the employee to enter required information regarding their relative. The received information is thereafter stored on the database (202.4) of the remote server (200).

At (16) the processor determines if the employee is eligible to take advantage of the tax allowance. In order to determine if the employee is eligible the processor compares the current income of the employee and the amount of educational funds which are paid to the database on which taxation tables are stored in order to calculate the possible saving of the employee. If the employee is eligible to take advantage of the tax allowance the method continues to step (18), if however, the employee is not eligible, the front end application will display a notification informing the employee that he/she is not eligible at (16.1 ) and prompt the employee to re-enter their information at (14).

At (18) the processor executes the first computer-executable module in order to compare the information provided by the employee to information regarding the employee as stored on the external verification database which is defined by a registered credit bureau database (206.1 ). If the details of the employee match the information on the registered credit bureau database (206.1 ), the method may continue to (20), if however, the details do not match the front end application displays a notification informing the employee (18.1 ) accordingly and prompts the employee to re-enter their information at (14).

At (20) the front end application notifies the employee that his information is correct and prompts the employee to enter his employer details which includes any of the following; employer name, company registration number, HR manager name, HR manager telephone number, HR manager email address, company telephone number, company address and the like.

At (22) the employer information as provided by the employee is compared to the pay slip as uploaded at (14). If the provided information is correct the method continues to (24), if however, the information is incorrect the front-end application displays a notification at (22.1 ) informing the employee that the information is incorrect and prompts the employee to re-enter their information at (14).

At (24) the processor sends a notification via the network to the employer (204.2), indicating that the employee is eligible to receive a tax allowance and requires the employer to register a profile to continue. The notification is in the form of an email with a hyperlink to a web based front end application. Once the employer proceeds to the web based front end application the employer is prompted to verify that the employee is currently in his employment (26) and that the details regarding the employer as entered by the employee are correct. If the employer confirms that the employee is currently in his employment the method continues to (28) where the employer is prompted to enter additional information such as payment details which include a payment limit for employee, a payment date and the like, if however, the employer does not confirm that the employee is in his employment, the front end application displays a notification informing the employee (26.1 ) accordingly.

At (30) the information provided by the employer is verified by comparing the information to information of the employer stored on the external verification database in the form of a company registration database (206.2). If the information provided by the employer is verified the method (10) include the step of notifying the employee that the employer registration is complete (32), if however, the details does not match the front end application will display a notification informing the employer at (30.1 ) and prompt the employer to re-enter their information at (28). The step of notifying the employee is in the form of an email sent of the registered email address of the employee, the email containing a hyperlink through which the employee can continue with the registration process.

To continue the registration process (10) the employee is prompted at (34) to enter the details of each educational institution which they or their relatives are currently attending. The details of the education institution may include any of the following details; the name of the student attending the education institution, the student number of the student, reference number, the type of education institution, the name of the educational institution, the address of the education institution, the banking details of the education institution, the education institution’s financial administrator contact details, the deadline for expenses to be paid, the payment amount and the like.

At (36) the processor sends a notification via the network to each educational institution the notification indication that a student is eligible to receive a tax allowance and requires the educational institution to register and/or confirm that the student is currently enrolled to continue. The notification is in the form of an email with a hyperlink to the web based front end application. Once the educational institution proceeds to the web based front end application the educational institution is prompted to verify that the student is currently enrolled at the institution (38). If the student is not enrolled at the educational institution a notification is sent at (38.1 ) to the employee and the employer stating that the students is not currently enrolled at the educational institution. The method (10) then terminates at (38.1 ). At (40) the educational institution is prompted to enter any additional information required.

At (42) the information provided by the employee regarding the educational institution as well as the additional information provided by the institution is verified by comparing the information to information of the educational institution stored on the external verification database in the form of a proprietary school database (206.3).

Step (42) may include the additional step of verifying the banking details of the educational institution with the financial system holding the educational institution banking account by sending a verification notification to the financial system prompting the financial system to indicate if the current bank details are correct.

If any information could not be verified at (42) a notification is sent to the educational institute at (42.1) and the educational institution is prompted to enter the information again at (40).

If the information provided by the employee and the institution is successfully verified the method includes the step of notifying the employee, employer and institution at (44) that the registration process (10) is complete and their educational funds will not be automatically collected and distributed to the relevant educational institution. The step of notifying the employee, employer and institution is in the form of an email sent to the registered email address of the employee, employer and educational institution. The method terminates at (44).

In Figure 3 the method (100) for providing automated disbursement of educational funds after the registration method (10) has been completed is shown. At (102) the system (200) sends a confirmation schedule to the employer indicating the employees, currently under his employment, who are registered on the system (200) and the amount payable to each educational institution at which the employees and their relatives are enrolled. The employer is able to adjust the schedule, via the front-end application, by removing an employee whose employment has since been terminated or/and to change the amount payable at (104). If the employer confirms the schedules, the method continues to step (106) with the processor executing the second-computer-executable module thereby authorizing the financial system to debit the account associated with the employer and to credit the account of each educational institution.

If the employer however rejects or changes the schedules the method continues to (108) where a notification is sent to each relevant party that changes has been made to their payment agreement and that payment will not be made until new payment agreement has been confirmed by the employer and the employee. The method then terminates at (108).

At (1 10) a notification that a payment has been made to the relevant educational institution is send to each associated party. The notification that is sent to each educational institution includes the reference number and or student details associated with each payment. After the payments have been received by the educational institution the funds may be allocated to each associated student account where after a notification is sent to the employee that the funds have been received and allocated to the relevant accounts.

At (112) a report is compiled and transmitted to the employer indicating the funds paid on behalf of the employee to the educational institution, the report indicating the net salary to be paid to the employee after the amount of funds paid on behalf of the employee has been deducted from the gross salary of the employee. The method (100) terminates at (1 12).

The invention provides a new method of distributing educational funds, a new method for the automated collection and disbursement of educational funds and a new system for the automated collection and disbursement of educational funds. This method can be done on a monthly/quarterly/bi-annually/or annually basis depending on the payment schedule of the educational institution and the agreement between the employee and the employer. The inventors believe the key distinctions compared to other solution providers is that this is an online system. It is centralized, either party can register - there isn’t the requirement to download any software on site at the employer. It is fully automated, from one centralized system, connecting the three parties, in the back end all agreements are automated and shared by the necessary parties. This makes this solution, scalable, to the extent that can be viral, and having all the necessary checks and balances in place from a back end perspective, the necessary checks are done and correctly allocated, as well as the required funds in the form of a schedule. There is a three way matching, the employer with a list of all employees matches to each employee and in-turn matches to the various educational institutions. The system itself allows for communication between the various parties, where information or agreement requirements are still needed. The system would only allow for the creation of payment schedules where all the necessary information has been captured, adhering to all the financial and tax rules, for example, where in SA there is a limit to the amount which can be allocated per relative or dependent of the employee.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A method of distributing educational funds, which includes;

a bursary grantor; and

2. The method of claim 1 , in which the bursary grantor is any one of an employer of the beneficiary of the bursary and the employer of a relative of the beneficiary of the bursary.

3. The method of claim 1 , in which the received identification of each of the parties is verified by confirming with both of the employer and educational institution that the received information is correct.

4. The method of claim 1 , in which the step of receiving identification information from the associated parties include the step of receiving identification information from a guardian of the beneficiary if the beneficiary is a minor.

5. A method for the automated collection and disbursement of educational funds, which includes

receiving identification information from associated parties and storing the information on at least one database, the associated parties being any one of an employee and the relative of an employee; an employer of the employee; and an educational institution at which the employee or their relative is enrolled; verifying the received identification information of each of the associated parties as follows:

6. The method of claim 5, in which the step of verifying the received identification information of the employer includes the additional step of prompting the employer to confirm their details.

7. The method of claim 5, in which the step of verifying the received identification information of the educational institution includes the additional step of prompting the educational institution to confirm their details.

8. The method of claim 5, in which the step of authorizing a financial system associated with the employer to debit an amount of funds from an account associated with the employer includes the step of providing the employer with a schedule indicating the amount of funds to be credited to an account.

9. The method of claim 8, in which the employer thereafter manually transfers the amount to an account associated with the educational institution.

10. The method of claim 5, which includes the independent steps of receiving a request from any one of the associated parties to register an employee profile, an employer profile and an educational institution profile before funds are automatically collected and distributed.

11 . The method of claim 5, which includes the step of receiving a request from an employee to register a new employee profile, and if the employee profile is successfully registered, sending a notification to the employer and the educational institution associated with the employee prompting them to register a new profile.

12. The method of claim 1 1 , which, once a request is received by the front-end application that the employee wishes to register a new profile, includes prompting the employee to enter required identification information which includes any of the following information regarding the employee; name, surname, email address, date of birth, employee number, monthly/annual salary, tax number, latest pay slip, educational institution at which the employee is currently enrolled, the educational expenses per month/year, a student number at the educational institution.

13. The method of claim 12, which, if the employee pays the educational expenses of a relative, includes prompting the employee to enter required information regarding their relative.

14. The method of claim 12, in which the information is received from the front- end application and stored on a database.

15. The method of claim 12, which includes the step of using the provided information to determine if the employee is eligible for the automated collection and disbursement of their educational funds in accordance with the necessary tax laws associated with a country.

16. The method of claim 12, which includes the step of verifying the eligibility of the employee by comparing the provided information to certain predefined requirements.

17. The method of claim 16, which, if the employee is eligible, includes the subsequent step of verifying the information provided by the employee to information of the employee stored on the first external verification database.

18. The method of claim 17, which, if the details of the employee match the information as stored on the first external verification database, includes the step of prompting the employee to enter his employer details which includes any of the following: employer name, company registration number, human resources (HR) manager name, HR manager telephone number, HR manager email address, a company telephone number and a company address.

19. The method of claim 18, which, once the employer information is received, includes comparing the information to the information provided on the uploaded pay slip.

20. The method of claim 19, which includes the subsequent step of sending a notification requesting the employer to register a new profile to the registered email address of the employer.

21 . The method of claim 18, which includes requesting the employee to enter only the email address of his employer, with the employer required to provide the rest of the information.

22. The method of claim 20, which, after the notification is sent to the employer, includes the step of prompting the employer to verify that the employee is currently in their employment and that the details regarding the employer as entered by the employee are correct.

23. The method of claim 22, which includes prompting the employer to enter additional payment information comprising of a payment limit for the employee and a payment date.

24. The method of claim 23, which includes verifying the information provided by the employer by comparing the information received from the employer to information of the employer stored on the second external verification database.

25. The method of claim 23, which includes the additional step of prompting the employer to confirm agreement with terms and conditions of a payment agreement between the employer and the educational institution on behalf of the employee.

26. The method of claim 24, which includes the step of notifying the employee that the employer registration is complete after the employer information is successfully verified with the second external database.

27. The method of claim 26, which includes the subsequent step of prompting the employee to enter the details of each educational institution which they or their relatives are currently enrolled at.

28. The method of claim 27, in which the details of the educational institution includes any of the following details; a name of the student enrolled at the educational institution, a student number of the student, a reference number, a type of educational institution, a name of the educational institution, an address of the educational institution, banking details of the educational institution, an educational institution’s financial administrator contact details, a deadline for expenses to be paid and a payment amount.

29. The method of claim 27, in which the employee is only requested to enter certain minimum information regarding the educational institution, with the educational institution required to enter the remaining required information.

30. The method of claim 29, in which the minimum information includes the email address of the educational institution, a number of enrolled relatives, an amount of funds to be paid and a reference number associated with the funds.

31 . The method of claim 30, which, after the notification is received by the educational institution, includes the step of prompting the educational institution to verify if the employee or a relative of the employee is currently enrolled at the educational institution.

32. The method of claim 28, which includes verifying the information provided by the employee regarding the educational institution by comparing the received information to information of the educational institution stored on the third external verification database.

33. The method of claim 32, which includes the additional step of verifying the banking details of the educational institution with the financial system holding the educational institution banking account by sending a verification notification to the financial system prompting the financial system to confirm the educational institution banking details.

34. The method of claim 5 which, once all three of the employee’s profile, the employer’s profile and the educational institution’s profile are registered, includes the step of sending a confirmation notification to all the parties indicating that registration was successful, and that their educational funds will be automatically collected and distributed to the relevant educational institution.

35. The method of claim 5, in which the step of authorizing a financial system to debit an employer account includes the additional step of sending a confirmation schedule to the employer indicating the employees currently in their employment being registered for the automated collection and disbursement of educational funds and a total amount payable to each educational institution at which the employees and/or their relatives are enrolled.

36. The method of claim 35, which allows the employer to adjust the schedule via the front-end application by removing an employee whose employment has since been terminated or/and to change the amount payable.

37. The method of claim 35 which, if the employer confirms the schedules, includes the subsequent step of authorizing the financial system to debit the account associated with the employer and credit the account of each educational institution.

38. The method of claim 35, which, if the employer rejects or changes the schedules, includes sending a notification to each relevant party that changes have been made to their payment agreement.

39. The method of claim 5, in which the step of authorizing a financial system to debit an employer account includes providing the employer with a schedule indicating the amount of funds to be credited to each educational institution.

40. The method of claim 39, which includes the step of permitting the employer to manually transfer an amount to an account associated with the educational institution.

41 . The method of claim 5, in which the step of authorizing the financial system to debit the account associated with the employer account includes the step of sending a notification that a payment has been made to the employee, the employer and the educational institution.

42. The method of claim 5, in which the notification sent to each educational institution includes any one of the reference number and the student details associated with each payment.

43. The method of claim 42, which, after the payments have been received by the educational institution, includes allocating the funds to each associated student account and includes sending a notification to the employee that the funds have been received and allocated to the relevant accounts.

44. The method of claim 5, which, after the registration has been completed, includes the steps of authorizing a financial system to debit an employer account and compiling a report to the employer indicating the funds paid on behalf of each employee to the educational institution is to be done periodically depending on a payment schedule of the educational institution and the agreement between the employee and the employer.

45. The method of claim 5, which allows educational expenses to be deducted from any one of the net salary and the gross salary of the employee.

46. The method of claim 45, which includes a prior step of receiving a request from an employee who intends to determine if they qualify for the tax allowance.

47. The method of claim 46, which includes the subsequent step of prompting the employee to enter a current income as well as an amount of educational funds paid for education on behalf of themselves or their relatives.

48. The method of claim 47, which includes comparing the current income of the employee and the educational expenses amount via a lookup function to a database in which taxation tables are stored in order to calculate the possible saving of the employee.

49. The method of claim 47, which, if the employee qualifies for a tax exemption, includes the step of receiving a request from the employee to register via a front-end application and which, once the registration is complete, causes the automated collection and disbursement of funds to facilitate a tax allowance.

50. A system for the automated collection and disbursement of educational funds, which includes

a server comprising;

at least one processor;

a database;

51 . The system of claim 50, which includes an interface controller which is capable of interfacing with a front-end application which is in the form of any one of a mobile application and a web-based platform.

52. The system of claim 51 , in which the interface controller is arranged to receive a request from an employee to register a new profile after which the employee is prompted to enter required information which includes any of the following information regarding the employee; name, surname, email address, date of birth, employee number, monthly/annual salary, tax number, latest pay slip, educational institution at which the employee is currently enrolled, the educational expenses per month/year and a student number at the educational institution.

53. The system of claim 52, in which, if the employee pays the educational expenses of a relative, the employee is prompted to enter required information regarding their relative.

54. The system of claim 52, in which the information received by the interface controller is stored on the database.

55. The system of claim 50, in which the processor is arranged to determine if the employee is eligible to receive a tax deduction by retrieving the income of the employee, as entered by the employee or as displayed on the employee pay slip and comparing this to allowable margins stored on the database.

56. The system of claim 55, in which, upon determining that the employee is eligible to receive a tax deduction, the processor is arranged to verify the employee details by comparing the received information to information of the employee stored on a first external verification database.

57. The system of claim 55, in which the interface controller is arranged to prompt the employee to enter his identification number and upon receipt of the identification number, the processor is arranged to retrieve the employee’s information from the first external verification database.

57. The system of claim 56, in which, if the details of the employee match the information as stored on the first external verification database, the interface controller is operable to prompt the employee to enter his employer details which includes any of the following; employer name, company registration number, human resources (HR) manager name, HR manager telephone number, HR manager email address, company telephone number and company address.

58. The system of claim 56, in which, the processor is arranged to retrieve the employee’s employer information from a second external verification database.

59. The system of claim 58, in which, once the employer information is received, the processor is arranged to compare the received information to the uploaded pay slip or as stored on the second external verification database.

60. The system of claim 59, in which, if the details are correct a notification controller of the server is operable to send a notification to the employer to reregister a new profile via the front-end application.

61 . The system of claim 60, in which the notification as sent by the notification controller is in the form of any one of an email and a text message.

62. The system of claim 56, in which, if the details of the employee match the information as stored on the first external verification database, the interface controller is operable to prompt the employee to enter only the email address of his employer, with the notification controller being configured to send the notification to the provided email address through which the front-end application then prompts the employer to enter the required information.

63. The system of claim 62, in which the processor is arranged to verify the employer’s information by comparing the received information to information of the employer stored on the second external verification database.

64. The system of claim 63, in which, if the details of the employer are verified the notification controller being configured to send a notification to the employee and the employer that the employer registration is complete.

65. The system of claim 64, in which the interface controller is arranged, thereafter to prompt the employee to enter the details of each educational institution which they are currently paying as part of educational expenses for themselves or relatives.

66. The system of claim 65, in which the details of the educational institution includes any of the following details; a name of the student attending the education institution, a student number of the student, a reference number, a type of education institution, a name of the educational institution, an address of the educational institution, banking details of the educational institution, the education institution’s financial administrator contact details, a deadline for expenses to be paid and a payment amount.

67. The system of claim 66, in which the interface controller is arranged to prompt the employee to enter only the email address of educational institution, with the notification controller being configured to send the notification to the provided email where the front-end application is arranged to prompt the educational institution to enter the required information.

68. The system of claim 66, in which, after the notification is sent to the educational institution by the notification controller, the educational institution is prompted via the front-end application to verify if the employee or a relative of the employee currently enrolled at the educational institution.

69. The system of claim 68, in which the interface controller is arranged thereafter to prompt the educational institution to verify the details as entered by the employee as well as enter any outstanding information required.

70. The system of claim 69, in which the processor is arranged to verify the educational institution by comparing the received information to information of the educational institution stored on a third external verification database.

71 . The system of claim 70, in which the processor is further arranged to verify the banking details of the educational institution with the financial system holding the educational institution banking account by sending a verification notification via the notification controller to the financial system thereby prompting the financial system to confirm if the current bank details are correct.

72. The system of claim 50, in which the notification controller is arranged to send a notification to all associated parties once the employee’s profile, the employer’s profile and the educational institution’s profile are registered, thereby indicating that registration was successful and that a financial system will now be an automatically authorized to distribute funds from the employer to each educational institution on behalf of the employee.

73. The system of claim 50, in which the second computer-executable module, when activated by the processor, and before authorizing via the network a financial, is arranged to send a confirmation schedule to the employer listing the employees currently under his employment and registered together with the amount payable to each respective educational institution at which the employees are enrolled.

74. The system of claim 73, in which the front-end application allows the employer to adjust the schedule by removing an employee whose employment has since been terminated and to change the amount payable.

75. The system of claim 74, in which, if the employer confirms the schedule, the second-executable module is operable to authorize the financial system to debit the account associated with the employer account and credit the account of each educational institution.

76. The system of claim 75, in which the interface controller is arranged to send a notification that a payment has been made to each associated party after the funds have been credited to the education institution.

77. The system of claim 76, in which the notification that is sent to each educational institution includes the student details associated with each payment.

78. A method of distributing educational funds, as claimed in claim 1 , substantially as herein described and illustrated.

79. A method for the automated collection and disbursement of educational funds, as claimed in claim 5, substantially as herein described and illustrated.

80. A system for the automated collection and disbursement of educational funds, as claimed in claim 50, substantially as herein described and illustrated.