Payroll update revised edition 8 July 2026 @ 4:30pm

News for School Payroll Staff

 


Kia ora koutou

Implementation of the variation to the PPCBU collective agreement (9 March 2026)

A variation to the Primary Principals’ (Collective Bargaining Union) Collective Agreement (PPCBU) was agreed on 9 March 2026 and introduced a small number of payroll-related changes.

 

Effective dates

  • The agreement term has been extended to 16 April 2028.
  • The PCT mentor allowance is available from 9 March 2026.
  • The PLD fund / Curriculum Change Allowance has five tranche payment dates.
  • From pay day 21 July 2026, PP08, payslips will show updated career stage payment codes.

New and updated allowances

Mentoring provisionally certified teachers (PCT)

Principals at U1 and U2 schools are now eligible for the allowance to mentor Provisionally Certified Teachers (PCT) when no eligible teacher is available to fill the role.

The allowance was introduced from the date of the variation, 9 March 2026. 

If the total combined hours of employment of the teacher(s) being mentored are:

  1. at least 0.8 FTTE the designated mentor principal will receive a $4,000 allowance per annum
  2. at least 0.5 FTTE but less than 0.8 FTTE the designated mentor principal will receive a $1,000 allowance per annum
  3. less than 0.5 FTTE no allowance is payable.  

If the principal at your school has been selected as a mentor for a provisionally certificated teacher, please complete a Mentor allowance (EP36M) form to request this allowance.

For more information, see clause 6.2.14 of the PPCBU agreement.

 

Professional Learning and Development (PLD) Fund / Curriculum Change Allowance

Eligibility

Principals covered by the Primary Principals’ (PPCBU) Collective Agreement or the Individual Employment Agreement (IEA) promulgated on 13 March 2026 will receive a professional learning and development payment to their school boards by default.

Process to opt for Curriculum Change Allowance

If a principal wishes to convert this fund to the Curriculum Change Allowance paid directly to the principal as remuneration, they will need to complete the nomination process through the Ministry of Education. The form to convert tranche 2 PLD to Curriculum Change Allowance will be sent out by the Employment Relations team on 20 July 2026. Principals will have until 5 August 2026 to complete this form.

Principals covered by the Primary Principals’ (NZEI) Collective Agreement (PPCA-NZEI) or a relevant IEA do not need to fill in this form. They will receive the Curriculum Change Allowance in accordance with the PPCA-NZEI.

You can read more about this in the Ministry’s 13 March Education Circular.

The PLD fund or Curriculum Change Allowance will be paid in five instalments over the term of the collective agreement.

 

 Exceptions

This allowance is not available to principals who are on leave without pay for the tranche period. Where a principal returns from leave without pay after less than 6 months, they can apply to the Ministry’s Employment Relations team to check their eligibility for the tranche.

 For more information see clause 6.2.15 of the PPCBU agreement.

 

Employment agreement updates

  • A new PPCBU Individual Employment Agreement (IEA) was promulgated on 13 March 2026 to reflect the variation.
  • Authorised users enter details by submitting an EP22 form.

 

Primary principal career stage allowance

From 20 July, we will begin phasing out the current codes for primary principal career stage allowances while we make some configuration changes in the background. You may notice these changes on your SUE reports.  The codes will change as follows:

 

As we make these changes, you may see both old and new codes on your SUE report.

 

Ngā mihi

Education Payroll