Start of Year special edition 1 Dec 2022
Kia ora koutou
In this payroll update:
- Start of Year opens on Wednesday 7 December
- Why do we do Start of Year?
- Key dates
- No 'Complete' button in EdPay
- Guides and help
- Frequently asked questions
- Timesheet only employees and public holidays
- Temporary extended phone hours
- Annualisation form EP23nt ready now
- Submit salary assessments for 2023 teachers
- Check your EdPay access
- Tell us who to contact in case of a payroll emergency
1. Start of Year opens on Wednesday 7 December
A big thank you for completing your End of Year processing by 21 November. Congratulations for getting that job ticked off your list.
Soon it will be time to complete your school’s Start of Year actions, and the Start of Year screen will be open in EdPay to do this from 7 December 2022 until 24 February 2023.
2. Why do we do Start of Year?
We need to complete Start of Year to make sure all your employees are paid correctly from the beginning of the new school year. It comes down to five questions:
- Are your school’s term dates correct for 2023?
- Do you need to restart any term-time-only auto-paid non-teachers or fixed-term teachers?
- Do you need to make any changes to your existing teacher and non-teachers' pay details, such as employment status, hours, allowances, funding source, leave or annualisation?
- Do you have new staff in 2023?
- Do you need to terminate any roles?
Start of Year information for your school must be submitted by 5pm, 24 February 2023.
But you can begin any time from Wednesday 7 December (the earliest possible open date for Start of Year due to the term 4 holiday pay processes).
3. Key dates
- 7 December 2022 – Start of Year screen opens in EdPay
- 30 January 2023 – last day to submit EP23nt (annualisation) forms
Authorised users please submit your EP23nt (if you want your pay to be annualised in 2023) before term 4 ends, to prevent losing your access to EdPay.
- 2 February 2023 – last day to restart employees starting in pay period 23 in the Start of Year screen
- 24 February 2023 – Start of Year screen closes at 5pm
Download a printable key dates flyer (PDF, 111KB)
4. No 'Complete' button in EdPay
There is no Start of Year complete button, as all information updates in real time. We will close Start of Year for all schools on 24 February at 5pm, so please ensure that any changes you need to make have been made before this date. They won’t be able to be changed in the Start of Year screen after this point.
5. Guides and help
6. Frequently asked questions
Why do we need to restart permanent term-time only employees?
Permanent term-time-only employees need to be restarted in EdPay, even though their roles were not terminated in 2022. This is because we need to know what day these employees are starting back so they can be paid correctly in 2023.
Has the Start of Year process in EdPay changed from last year?
The process in EdPay is the same as it was in 2022, but some of the key dates have changed by one day.
7. Timesheet-only employees and public holidays
Timesheet-only employees who are eligible for public holidays (Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year’s Day, and Day after New Year’s Day) will be paid these in pay period 20, based on their timesheets paid in pay period 18 and 19. This is the only time we automatically pay public holidays to these employees.
8. Temporary extended phone hours
On Friday 9 December (draft SUE), and Tuesday 13–Thursday 15 December our phones will be open from 8.30am to 5pm to support you over this busy period. Final pay for jobs ending in pay period 19 will pay on Friday 16 December.
9. Annualisation form EP23nt ready now
The 2023 EP23nt is available on the EdPay website here: EdPay and forms page
If you are new to school’s payroll or would like a refresher on what annualisation is, there is a new video called: What is annualisation? (2 mins, opens in Vimeo)
Reminder to complete your own form before end of term 4
If your pay is to be annualised you’ll need to complete the form for yourself (and have it approved by your principal) before the end of term 4, as without it you may lose access to EdPay at the end of January.
Make sure all your school’s EdPay authorised users (school administrators and school business managers) who are annualised have their EP23nt submitted before the end of the term 4 too.
For all other employees who are being annualised, their forms must be received by 30 January 2023.
10. Submit salary assessments for 2023 teachers
Please submit any salary assessments for newly graduated teachers, overseas teachers and teachers returning to the profession, as soon as possible.
A salary assessment is necessary to ensure the teacher receives the correct salary, and can be done even if they do not yet have a Ministry of Education number, IRD number or NZ bank account.
Assessments are likely to require the teacher to provide several supporting documents, so we advise them to start the process now.
To learn about salary assessment, please visit the EdPay website: Salary assessment
11. Check your EdPay access
EdPay passwords expire every 60 days. If your password needs to be reset your payroll advisor can help with this.
EdPay authorised users leaving or starting at the school
If authorised users are leaving in 2022, please fill out an EdPay5C to have their EdPay access withdrawn.
New authorised users starting in 2023, will need to be set-up with EdPay access using an EdPay5 form. The forms are on the EdPay and forms page
From time to time, we receive email requests to add or remove people from the authorised user list, but this can only be done via an EdPay5 or EdPay5c.
12. Tell us who to contact in case of a payroll emergency
Sometimes we need to contact your school and we cannot get a response using the existing contact details (especially when schools are closed due to lockdowns or the term 4 break). We need the name, phone number and email address of your school's designated authorised user. If you've already told us, you don't need to do anything. Otherwise let us know the right contact by email to support@novopay.govt.nz with 'Emergency contact' in the subject line.
Start of Year can be challenging but we're here to help. If you have a question, see if you can find the answer in one of the tools listed above, and if not, contact your payroll advisor. We will help you get things sorted.
Ngā mihi
Education Payroll