Much-needed independent review on Novopay welcomed

Much-needed independent review on Novopay welcomed

NZEI Te Riu Roa is welcoming the confirmation that Novopay will finally be subject to an independent review.

NZEI National Secretary Paul Goulter says NZEI has been calling for an independent review for several weeks.

“We will certainly keeping a close watch to ensure that it is fully transparent and reveals exactly what has led to such an overwhelming failure of a major Ministry of Education project,” he says.

Mr Goulter says schools also need to be compensated for the ongoing costs associated with dealing with the shambles.

“This is wasted time and money that should have been used for children’s learning.

“Feedback from schools indicates that there has been no real improvement in the number of issues the new payroll system is throwing up.

Teachers and support staff received their latest pay last night, and Mr Goulter says the NZEI call centre has today received a similar number of calls about Novopay issues as in previous weeks.

“A lot of the historical issues have still not been sorted. Some of these have been outstanding for three months now – since the system was first introduced back in August. These include issues like sick leave provision for new teachers and maternity leave.

“We’re hearing about more problems around third party deductions – things like superannuation, Ministry of Justice and Child Support deductions.

“School support staff and principals say they have no faith in Novopay and don’t believe the systemic flaws in the system will be sorted this year.”

ENDS

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