Family Accounts

Family Accounts let a member (the guardian) cover the membership and package charges for other people linked to their account (dependants). A dependant can be one of two types:

Full login — has their own email address and can log in and manage their own bookings.
Login-less — has no email address and no login of their own. This is typically used for minors, and the account is fully managed by the guardian.

Either type of dependant is linked to a guardian, and the guardian becomes the billable party for that dependant's packages.

Setting up a dependant

Family Accounts are set up by staff — there is no option for a member to create this link themselves.

Staff link a dependant to a guardian from the guardian's own record, using Set Dependant, either from:

the ⋮ (Actions) menu on the guardian's row on the Members dashboard, or
the Set Dependant button in the My Family section of the guardian's member modal.

This opens a panel to either create a new dependant or link an existing member.

Create a new dependant

Choose the login type first:

Full login — opens the existing Create Member wizard, pre-linked to the guardian. The guardian is pre-filled and can't be changed inside the wizard, and the payment method and primary location steps are skipped, since both come from the guardian. An email address and a mobile number are both required, so once linked they can log in and use the app independently.
Login-less — opens a short form instead. An email address isn't required, including if you edit their name later. Their location is fixed to the guardian's location, and you can add a package for them while you're creating them. A “Use [guardian]’s address and emergency contact” checkbox is available to reuse the guardian's details.

Link an existing member

Use Find Existing Member to search by name, surname, or email. Linking an existing member moves their future charges only to the guardian — their existing invoices and statement history stay on their own record. A member who is already a dependant can't be linked again.

Once created, a dependant appears in Manage Members like any other member, and you can assign packages from their own Packages tab as normal.

Changing an active dependant's guardian

Changing an active dependant's guardian isn't available — there's no standalone action for it. A login-less dependant who has been deactivated can be given a new guardian when they're reactivated (see Reactivating below). To take a dependant out of a family, promote them to an independent member.

When Set Dependant shows

A guardian always keeps the Set Dependant option, so staff can keep adding dependants to the same guardian.
A dependant can't be a guardian, so Set Dependant isn't available on a dependant's profile.
A guardian can't become a dependant of someone else, so no one can have two guardians.

Identifying family accounts

On a guardian's member modal, the My Family section lists all of their dependants, with each person's login type shown. On a dependant's own modal, Switch to Guardian Profile opens the linked guardian's record.

On the Members dashboard, a flag under each member's name shows their family status — “Guardian of [n]” and/or “Dependant of [name]” — so you can identify family-linked accounts at a glance.

Promoting a dependant

A dependant can be promoted to an independent member from the Actions menu on the dependant's own member modal, or the menu on their row in the members list (Promote to Member).

Promoting gives them their own email address and login, removes the link to their guardian, and moves their billing to themselves from then on. If the dependant being promoted is login-less, they're prompted to add an email address as part of the promotion.

Switching between guardian and dependant profiles in the app

When staff link a dependant to a guardian, the dependant is automatically added to the guardian's Linked accounts in the app. Go to Profile > Accounts > Linked accounts and use the switch toggle to log straight into the dependant's profile, with no need to re-enter login details.

This link only runs one way automatically. If you switch into the dependant's profile and check Linked accounts from there, the guardian won't appear — this is deliberate, for safety. To switch back from the dependant's own login, the guardian needs to be linked from that side too, using the regular Link an Account flow (entering the guardian's own login details) from within the dependant's profile. See How do I help my Member link multiple accounts in their app? for the general Linked Accounts steps.

Billing and invoicing

Once a dependant is linked to a guardian:

Packages for a dependant are billed to the guardian. This includes packages added from the dependant's Packages tab, any pro-rata invoices, and packages a full-login dependant buys for themselves in the app.
The dependant's billing page mirrors the guardian's payment method and debit date — these follow the guardian's account, not the dependant's own. When you create a new dependant, their debit-order date is preset from the guardian's.
Billing is controlled at the guardian level, so the payment method fields on a dependant's own member modal are locked and can't be clicked or edited. Any change to a dependant's billing must be made on the guardian's record.
POS and store items are still billed to the person who makes the purchase — so if a full-login dependant buys a store item themselves, it's billed to them.
Login-less dependants can't buy from the app. Their guardian buys for them instead, choosing who the package is for.
Charges for a guardian's dependants appear on the guardian's invoices.

Grace periods and blocked bookings

If your facility blocks bookings for overdue invoices (see How do I prevent members with overdue invoices from booking?), this applies to family accounts as follows:

If an overdue invoice relates to all members of the family — for example, a combined family invoice — no one linked to that family account can book. The guardian and every dependant are blocked until the invoice is resolved.
If an overdue invoice is for a single dependant only, just that dependant is blocked, whether they book themselves or the guardian tries to book on their behalf. The guardian and any other dependants can still book as normal.

The existing “You have an outstanding invoice” error applies here the same way it already does for any other member with an outstanding invoice.

Deactivating, suspending, and placing members on hold

Deactivating a guardian

Deactivating a guardian also deactivates their dependants. Whether you start the deactivation from the ⋮ (Actions) menu on the Members dashboard or from within the guardian's member modal, the deactivate window lists the guardian's active dependants, and you can choose Promote Instead on any of them to make them an independent member rather than deactivating them. If that dependant has no login credentials, they're prompted to add an email address/login before being promoted. Packages end at the end of the day before the deactivation date.

Scheduled deactivation: scheduling a deactivation for a guardian shows the same dependant notice and promote option as an immediate deactivation.

Deactivating an individual dependant

A dependant can also be deactivated on their own — from the Actions menu on their row, or their own member modal — without cascading up to the guardian or to any other dependants.

Suspending a guardian

Suspending a guardian doesn't suspend their dependants. The dependants stay active and can still be booked, and the guardian can still log in to manage them.

Placing a guardian on hold

Guardians can't be placed on hold — there's no option for this. Workaround: end the guardian's package instead. The guardian stays active with no package, and their dependants continue to be billed normally.

Bulk actions on the Members dashboard

Deactivate: everyone selected is deactivated, including any guardians. A notice lets you know that the dependants of any selected guardians will also be deactivated.
Suspend: each selected member is suspended individually — suspending a guardian this way doesn't suspend their dependants.
Place on hold: any guardians and their dependants in the selection are skipped — the hold still applies to the rest of the selected members.

Reactivating a guardian and dependants

Reactivating a guardian does not automatically reactivate their dependants. Each dependant stays deactivated and is reactivated by hand.

A login-less dependant can't be active without a guardian, so when you reactivate one, the Activate panel asks you to choose either:

Set New Guardian — pick a guardian from the eligible members. Members who are already dependants aren't eligible.
Promote Member — give them their own login and email address; they'll need their own billing.

Suspending an individual dependant

A dependant can be suspended on their own, independent of their guardian. This blocks only that dependant. It's available everywhere other member actions are — the Actions menu on the Members dashboard and the dependant's own member modal.

Placing a dependant on hold

A dependant can be placed on hold individually with no change to the existing workflow — both an immediate hold and a scheduled hold, using the same hold settings that already exist for any other member. Dependants are skipped when members are put on hold in bulk, so place them on hold one at a time.

Booking, cancelling, and waitlists in the mobile app

When a guardian is logged in, they can book, cancel, or join a waiting list on behalf of themselves or any of their dependants — both full-login and login-less:

Booking a class: the guardian is asked “who are you booking for?” If the selected person has more than one package, the guardian is then asked which package to use.
Cancelling a class and joining a waiting list follow the same “who is this for?” flow, so the guardian can cancel or join a waitlist for a specific person.
Buying a package: the guardian chooses who the package is for — themselves or one of their dependants.
Bookings tab: shows bookings for the guardian and for each of their dependants, so each person's bookings can be reviewed individually. Bookings, cancellations, and reporting remain independent per person — a family link doesn't merge this data together.

Purchasing packages and store access for dependants

Two settings control, per dependant, what a full-login dependant can buy themselves in the app. Both are off by default:

Can purchase packages — lets the dependant buy their own packages in the app. Packages they buy are billed to their guardian.
Can purchase from the in-app store — lets the dependant buy store (POS) items in the app. These are billed to the dependant.

The toggles are only shown for full-login dependants. They aren't shown for login-less dependants, since they have no app login — their guardian buys for them.
You can change them from either the App Permissions section on the dependant's own member modal, or next to their name in the My Family section on the guardian's modal — the two stay in sync. Guardians can also change them in the app for their own dependants.
When a toggle is off, the dependant can't buy that kind of item in the app; for packages, the packages screen in their app is disabled or shows a notice.
Guardians can purchase a package for themselves or for a dependant: on the Buy Package screen, selecting “buy package” prompts “who is this for?”, listing the guardian and each dependant as options.
Packages can't be shared between a guardian and their dependants — everyone linked to a family account still needs their own package.

Contracts and waivers

If a dependant has their own email address (a full-login dependant), contracts and waivers are sent directly to that dependant's email.
If a dependant has no login/email address (a login-less dependant), contracts and waivers are sent to the guardian's email instead.
This same rule applies to all system notification emails, not just contracts and waivers (for example, booking confirmations and reminders) — sent directly to the member if they have login credentials, or to the guardian if the member has no login credentials.

Things to keep in mind

Family Accounts can only be set up by staff — members can't create or edit these links themselves.
A dependant can't be a guardian, and a member who is already a dependant can't be linked to another guardian.
Bookings, cancellations, and reporting stay independent per person, even within a family account.
Packages are never shared between a guardian and dependants.
Package billing for a family account is managed at the guardian level — including packages a full-login dependant buys in the app — and a dependant's own billing fields are locked. POS and store items are billed to whoever makes the purchase.
Audit trail: when a guardian books, cancels, or performs another action on behalf of a login-less dependant, the audit trail records that the guardian performed that action for the dependant. If a full-login dependant books (or cancels, etc.) for themselves, the audit trail shows the dependant as having performed the action themselves.
Injury logging: logging an injury for a dependant from the guardian's own profile/app isn't included in this release. Staff can still log an injury for a dependant directly from that dependant's own member modal.
Changing an active dependant's guardian isn't available in this release. A deactivated login-less dependant can be given a new guardian when they're reactivated, or any dependant can be promoted to an independent member.