Nanaia
MAHUTA
Education Spokesperson

30 November 2012 MEDIA STATEMENT

Banks Step In As Government Fails To Step Up

The Government should be ashamed that it has been left to the country’s retail banks to help teachers and school support staff with financial woes caused by the Novopay debacle, says Nanaia Mahuta.

The major retail banks have recognised the magnitude of Novopay errors and are offering interest free overdrafts to school staff.

“While this is not an ideal situation it will provide some welcome relief to those who are continuing to battle to get their correct pay leading into Christmas.

“Teachers have completely lost faith in Novopay, and many are dreading the Christmas pay period. I raised concerns about the complicated Christmas pay round weeks ago, but there is still no assurance that the bungled Novopay system will be fixed by the end of year.

“Ministers Foss and Parata did not require a proper trial period to assure them that the system was up to scratch and they signed off on Novopay’s full roll-out without even seeing the results of limited testing of it.
“Craig Foss has also admitted that there was no implementation plan when he gave the final green light to Novopay going live.

“Ministers Foss and Parata should step-up and take their responsibilities seriously. They have let this saga drag on for far too long. Teachers deserve better.

“The Ministry of Education needs to move quickly to assess what level of compensation is needed for the time spent by payroll staff and principals to rectify on-going and persistent errors with Novopay, so that schools can start the new year on the front foot,” says Nanaia Mahuta.

ENDS

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