Special advisors give extra Novopay support to schools

Media release

15 November 2012

Special advisors give extra Novopay support to schools

As the Novopay training roadshows wrap up this week, the Ministry of Education will continue putting specialist advisors on the road to support schools.

Up to 10 advisors are available to visit schools nationwide. Schools wanting to access this service should email resourcing@minedu.govt.nz with the subject line of ‘end of year help’.

More than 1200 people have attended roadshows held over the past fortnight, which finished today in Auckland.

Ministry of Education Group Manager, Rebecca Elvy says the end of the school year is a very important time for payroll, and she knows many people’s holiday plans are dependent on receiving their pay.

“The Ministry encourages schools to continue sending in their end-of-year reports over the next week, so we can make sure the process runs well for the pay day of 12 December. To assist this, our Novopay specialist advisors will remain available to schools who want more support for end-of-year. This will supplement the advice and support available through the Novopay service centre.”

The Ministry is also reimbursing travel and attendance costs for staff who attended the roadshows, investing in ongoing improvements to Novopay’s performance and service, and working to minimise schools’ audit costs relating to Novopay.

“We are focused on driving down call waiting times and improving service responsiveness at the call centre; clearing the backlog of transactions, and posting daily information online so schools can see the progress being made.”

Ms Elvy says school administrators are working hard to ensure their end of year reports for Christmas payments are in by Wednesday, November 21. “We greatly appreciate this, as we know what a busy time of year this is for schools anyway,” she says.

“The majority of school staff will continue to be paid as usual over the break, but we need to make sure we’ve got everything lined up for support staff, and for the ten thousand teachers who are fixed term or long-term relievers, and for staff who are going to work in a new school next year.”

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