Information for school boards

School boards are, by legislation the employer of the school's employees. As the employer, the board must know its payroll responsibilities and how they align with other board responsibilities. This includes ensuring that:

• staff are employed and remunerated in line with relevant employment agreements and legal obligations
• public money is being appropriately spent in the payroll, whether this is through the Operational Grant (BG) or through Ministry of Education (the Ministry) Teachers Salaries (TS)
• accurate and timely employee, payroll and employer/school information is provided to Education Payroll (or the Ministry, where specified)
• all instructions for employees' pay originates from boards or their appropriately delegated members of staff
• the principal or another delegated person checks that instructions or changes to EdPay have been correctly actioned
• Education Payroll and relevant employees (and the Ministry, where relevant) are notified of any errors, and assisted in the resolution of those errors where required
• employees are notified of payroll matters/changes, and providing advice when requested
• policy and procedures are in place for managing leave, and leave liabilities are effectively managed. See leave management.
• payroll costs from the Staff Usage & Expenditure (SUE) reports are entered in the school accounting system as a journal entry in a timely manner
• there is appropriate school IT infrastructure provided for payroll purposes.

It is the board's responsibility to make sure it has processes in place for the tasks it delegates, and that the principal and other delegated staff carry out these tasks as required. This will usually form part of the board's policy framework. Contact the NZ School Trustees Association (NZSTA) if you require assistance with this.

As part of the board's policy framework, it will establish delegated management of the school, which will include paying employees. This may include the principal delegating some tasks to staff at the school who administer the payroll.

The board is required to:

• authorise the principal to be an authorised user of the EdPay service
• know who is using EdPay to change pay
• have suitable processes set up to control the validity of and access to payroll information.

The board is responsible for ensuring that its employees are paid correctly. The board does this by making sure they, the principal, or delegated payroll staff:

• use the correct employment processes when employing staff
• use the correct employment agreements
• get employment advice from NZ School Trustees Association
• know their legal responsibilities when using EdPay. See legislation.
• ensure that correct information is submitted using EdPay or forms. See fortnightly pay.
• check payroll reports as soon as they are available.

All payroll instructions for employees must originate from the board or delegated members of staff. Principals and boards are responsible for checking that instructions or changes have been correctly actioned.

Before a payrun, Education Payroll generates a SUE report, which details the payments to staff in the payrun. Boards (or the principal, as delegated by the board) must thoroughly check and monitor each SUE report to ensure that salary and wage instructions are correct.

The board is responsible for making sure it keeps good employment and payroll records to meet legal and audit requirements, by:

• ensuring good record-keeping processes are in place
• making sure their principal and payroll staff know the law about keeping records. See payroll record keeping.

EdPay does not allow any users at a school to alter a principal's salary details. The board of trustees or the Ministry will send instructions regarding the principal's salary directly to Education Payroll.

Other payroll instructions for principals must be submitted via a form. The form must be authorised by the Board chairperson. For more information, see completing forms.

Ministry of Education's website:

• People and employment
• Collective agreements
• Individual employment agreements
• Managing school finances
• Ministry template: Schedule of Delegations

Other websites:

• Delegations under the Education Act 1989 (New Zealand Legislation website)
• Help for Boards (NZ School Trustees Association website)