Kia ora koutou
In this update:
- End of Year processing
- End of Year tip: Terminations
- Annualisation form EP23nt ready now
- Administration support staff in schools and Kaiārahi i te reo pay equity claims
- Pay details changes comments field
- Quarterly survey feedback
End of Year processing
A big thank you to the schools who have begun or completed their End of Year processing.
Please remember you need to have your information submitted before the End of Year screen closes at 5pm, 21 November to ensure that all your employees are paid correctly over the holidays.
You cannot change your school's term 4 2022 end date after the End of Year screen closes on 21 November.
It comes down to answering these four questions:
- Is your school's end date for term 4 2022 correct?
- Which employees' jobs are ending (terminating) in term 4 2022?
- Which continuing employees will have a last day for 2022 that is different to your school's term 4 end date?
- Have you booked annual leave for your 52-week workers?
Phone hours extension
While you are doing your End of Year processing our phones hours will be extending from today until 21 November. They will be open from:
- 9am–4pm from 14–18 November, and
- 8.30am–5pm on Monday 21 November
Click here to go to the End of Year Everything you need page on EdPay.govt.nz
You can also watch our End of Year video (opens in Vimeo.com)
End date changes for some fixed-term teachers
You may have noticed that some fixed-term teachers currently have their end date showing as 29 January 2023, instead of the usual date of 27 January 2023. We have changed the end date temporarily so that fixed-term teachers' roles can be terminated, if needed, in the End of Year screen. We will correct the date back to 27 January and their pay won’t be affected. There is nothing you need to do.
End of Year tip: Terminations
Please do not terminate an employee's role unless you are sure they are not returning to their current job in 2023. If they are returning to the same school next year, their role does not need to be terminated in End of Year, however their role will still need to be restarted in Start of Year screen for 2023.
If an employee who is returning to the school has their role terminated they will not receive any payments after their contract is ended, and it can mean they won’t be paid correctly for public holidays.
Annualisation form EP23nt ready now
The 2022 EP23nt is available now on the EdPay and forms page on the EdPay.govt.nz
Annualisation allows permanent and fixed-term, term-time only support staff who meet the criteria for annualisation to have their projected earnings for a 12-month period spread across the whole year. This means they receive equal fortnightly pays for the equivalent of a year. See Annualisation on the EdPay.govt.nz for more information.
From 2023, annualised employees need to have a work pattern as required by the Ministry of Education.
The EP23nt has been updated from last year's NOVO23nt, and we are in the process of updating all our forms (although we encourage you to use EdPay rather than a form whenever it is available).
Administration support staff in schools and Kaiārahi i te reo pay equity claims
Backdated increments for the period 20 August 2021 and 4 October 2022 will be applied for these employees in pay period 17, unless they are moving between grades 2 & 3 and 3 & 4.
There will be a separate email, coming soon, with next steps for those employees moving between grades 2 & 3 and 3 & 4.
Holiday pay for vacation 4 2021 will be recalculated based on the new rates. This will not include the top up for any eligible backdated increments and a future recalculation of holiday pay will be required, which we are aiming to do in pay period 18.
Pay details changes comments field
When making a pay details change in EdPay, please note that we cannot action any instructions that are left in the comment field. If you need to add additional information please reply to the email with your ticket number.
Thank you to everyone who responded to a recent survey in EdPay around the pay details change comments field. We wanted to know whether schools use the comment field. While there was a mixed response, we heard from schools that do use it - that it's really helpful for traceability and keeping a record of why a change was made. We've listened and will be keeping the comments field in place.
Quarterly survey feedback
Thanks to everyone who answered our quarterly survey. We heard from a few people that sometimes they get inconsistent advice when they call, and that schools want to be confident they are getting accurate guidance and information when they contact us.
This year, we've been through a big recruitment effort to replace people who have left so we can continue to offer a great support to schools. However, there is a lot of institutional knowledge that needs to be passed on before new people are ready to go on the phones. It can take up to 14 weeks for a new advisor to be ready to answer calls, and they are still learning when they start to take calls. We have great people, they are learning fast, and we are focusing on providing more consistent advice.
Remember that there is also a lot of information on our website, you may find the answers you’re looking for in the EdPay training, A–Z of payroll or the How to sections on our website. You can also let us know what you think about the website here: Website feedback
Ngā mihi
Education Payroll