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Primary teachers’ collective agreement
The new collective agreement includes an increase in pay and unit rates, school camp allowance and changes to Chatham and Pitt Island provisions.
Effective Dates
- The new Primary Teachers Collective Agreement (PTCA) is effective from 2 April for a term of 30 months (to 2 October 2028).
- Payslips from 7 July (pay day PP07) will show the new rates and allowances, including any backpay.
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Increase to pay rates
Salary rates increase from 2 April and will increase again from 28 January 2027.
Speech Language Therapists (SLTs)
Allowances
Unit rate increase
The unit rate for all permanent, fixed term and additional units will increase to:
- $5,100 from 2 April 2026
- $5,250 from 28 January 2027
- $5,500 from 2 October 2028.
The school camp allowance will increase to $35.00 from 28 January 2027.
Chatham and Pitt Island provisions
New isolation allowance
The new Chatham and Pitt Islands isolation allowance (ISCHP) replaces the two Chatham Islands isolation allowances (CHTIP and CHTIS). Schools don’t need to do anything – we will move employees currently receiving the isolation allowance to the new code.
The isolation allowance for Chatham and Pitt Island teachers is $2,500 per annum. All teachers on Chatham or Pitt Islands are eligible.
Freight allowance increase
The freight allowance increases to $5,000 for the basic rate, $4,000 for the partner rate and $1,500 for the child/dependent rate.
Clarifications
Learning Support Coordinators can work full-time or part-time, including job share arrangements as agreed by the employer.
Additional hours - from 19 July 2026, we will remove the additional hours (PPTAH) pay code from EdPay timesheets and CSV options.
Moving employees to the new IEA
If an existing non-union employee has signed the new IEA between the promulgation date of 15 April 2026 and the implementation date of 7 July 2026, Education Payroll will transition them to the new agreement.
Authorised users must enter IEA details in EdPay > IEA screen or EP22 form.
Secondary principals NCEA change implementation - July payment
We will pay the July instalment in PP07 for eligible principals.
Matariki and term break reminders
Due to Matariki on 10 July 2026, the cut-off for sending us your out of cycle payment requests will move to 12pm Wednesday 8 July. We will process out of cycle payments on Thursday 9 July.
Holiday Pay reduction
At the beginning of each term break, we calculate holiday pay reductions for teachers who have taken unpaid leave during this term and/or previous terms, eg leave without pay (LWOP) or sick leave without pay (SLWOP).
If a holiday pay reduction is needed, it will happen in the pay that falls over the term break. It will appear on the SUE report as code HPR.
If employees want to know how their reductions are calculated, they can check the remuneration / holiday pay section in their employment agreement.
For more information, see the Holiday Pay Reduction page on our website.
Check your school’s Pay Ending Report before term break
The Pay Ending Report helps your school keep payroll information up to date and reduce the risk of processing errors and overpayments.
Before term break, please check your Pay Ending Report in EdPay. The report shows employees whose jobs are due to end in the next 90 days, and employees who have left but whose jobs have not yet been terminated in EdPay. Check whether you need to extend, restart or terminate any jobs.
Go to EdPay > Reports > Pay Ending report.
Overpayments
Overpayments can be time-consuming to resolve and may create unnecessary disruption for your school and your employee. 43% of payroll overpayments this year relate to job terminations and unpaid leave.
The earlier you can notify us about these will really help reduce the likelihood of an overpayment.
You can also check the My Employees page in EdPay to make sure job details are correct and jobs are terminated at the right time.
For more information, see the Pay Ending report page on EdPay.govt.nz.
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Education Payroll