Chris Hipkins
Associate Education Spokesperson

27 November 2012

Foss asleep at the Novopay wheel

Craig Foss’ admission that he never asked to see the results from the trial run of Novopay is a gobsmacking, says Chris Hipkins.

“Novopay has been a train-wreck from start to finish, and its introduction was delayed by two years. That alone should have sent alarm bells ringing for Mr Foss before he signed off on its final roll-out.

“But in Parliament today the Associate Minister admitted he never asked to see the results of the trial run of the system.

“Those results were damning. Of the 731 trial-users surveyed by the Ministry of Education fewer than four out of ten felt they were ready for the new system to go live, and less than half could see any benefit coming from Novopay.

“How could Craig Foss give the green light to the $30-million Novopay system without checking the results of that trial run? It is unbelievable. It is negligence plain and simple.

“Craig Foss needs to accept responsibility for the absolute shambles that is Novopay. He is the Minister in charge of overseeing its introduction. The buck stops with him.

“Our schools, teachers and support staff deserve better from the Minister. His failure to do his job properly has caused massive disruption to schools nationwide.

“If Craig Foss is not up to sorting out the mess he allowed to develop he should get out of the way and let someone else get the job done,” says Chris Hipkins.

ENDS

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