Kia ora koutou
- Variations to the Support Staff in Schools’ and Kaiārahi i te Reo and Therapists’ collective agreements
- Important reminder: deadline for cultural leadership allowance allocation
- Therapists pay equity claim settled
- Reminder about timesheet changes
1. Variations to the Support Staff in Schools’ and Kaiārahi i te Reo and Therapists’ collective agreements
The final top up payments for employees covered by these variations will be paid in pay period 01, pay day 02 April 2024.
This will be top-up payments for backdated rates for termination pay to employees whose roles ended between 27 July 2023–30 November 2023.
Schools have already received funding to cover these backdated rate increases for former and current employees.
We will use the last known contact details and bank account information we have for former employees. If their information has changed, they can email Ohumahi.Support@education.govt.nz or phone 0800 114 117 with their new details.
For more information about this variation go to the Ministry’s website: Variations to the Support Staff in Schools' and Kaiārahi i te Reo and Therapists' collective agreements – Education in New Zealand
Correction: The Payroll Update on 21 February stated that termination pay would be backdated and paid to employees whose roles ended between 1 December 2022–30 November 2023. We apologise as this date range was incorrect. The correct date range is 27 July 2023–30 November 2023. Employees whose roles ended between 1 December 2022–26 July 2023, are not eligible for the new rates in the variation as their roles ended before the variation was ratified on 27 July 2023.
2. Important reminder: deadline for cultural leadership allowance allocation
Area schools and eligible primary schools were contacted by the Ministry of Education informing them of their eligibility to allocate one cultural leadership allowance to an eligible teacher - refer to email of 22 February 2024. Please note, not all primary schools are eligible.
The allowance must be assigned to a teacher and loaded in EdPay by 12 April 2024, or it may be redistributed during phase two of the allocation process.
The allocation is for one allowance per eligible school. It will be paid fortnightly at an annual rate of $5,000 and can be allocated to a full or part-time teacher. The allowance will be paid effective from 28 January 2024 or from the teacher’s date of appointment, whichever is the later.
With the employer’s agreement, the allowance can be equally split between two teachers. This would be paid fortnightly at an annual rate of $2,500 per teacher.
All eligible schools will receive a reminder email from the Ministry the week of 25 March 2024, outlining what to do to allocate the allowance.
Next steps:
- Once you have identified a suitable candidate, please load the allowance via EdPay.
- By completing this payroll instruction, you are confirming the eligibility of this teacher for the allowance based on the eligibility requirements and matrix.
- If you are splitting the allowance between two teachers, please use an EP16t form.
Instructions for adding the allowance and splitting the allowance can be found on EdPay.govt.nz: Cultural leadership allowance
3. Therapists' pay equity claim settled
The Therapists’ Pay Equity Claim was settled by the Ministry of Education and NZEI Te Riu Roa on 13 March 2024.
The Ministry, NZEI Te Riu Roa and NZSTA have released initial guidance to help schools and kura who employ therapists implement the changes resulting from the settlement. The guidance includes information on making sure we have up-to-date payroll information for employees who are covered by this settlement’ and that they are on the correct designation code(s) in EdPay.
View the guidance here:
Therapists’ Pay Equity Claim – Ministry of Education
The Ministry will also host webinars with NZSTA in Term 2 and Term 3 to outline the changes resulting from the settlement and provide additional support to you and your schools and kura in understanding the settlement.
If you have any questions, contact ohumahi.support@education.govt.nz or call 0800 114 117. Alternatively, contact NZSTA at eradvice@nzsta.org.nz or call 0800 782 435 (option 2).
4. Reminder about timesheet changes
Due to a change to how secondary teacher relievers are paid in the Secondary Teachers’ Collective Agreement 2022–2025 schools will need to enter a small amount of new information on timesheets for secondary relief teachers.
Primary and area schools also need to be aware of these changes because they affect the way all bulk timesheets are uploaded to EdPay.
Please check the Payroll Update 19 March 2024 if you need a reminder about these changes.
Ngā mihi
Education Payroll