Novopay - Time for Joyce to put his money where his mouth is

25 March 2014

Novopay - Time for Joyce to put his money where his mouth is
In March 2013 minister for Novopay Steven Joyce dropped money into schools to tide them over while their bungled pay system was being fixed.

More than a year later, according to a PPTA survey, the system is still impacting on teachers’ lives at an unacceptable level.

PPTA president Angela Roberts challenged Joyce to put his money where his mouth is.

“If this mess is as good as it gets – and that’s definitely not good enough- then it is time for an audit of the real cost burden this private company (Talent2) has put on schools.
“If it is still unstable then the government should be providing another cash injection to help schools survive,” she said.

Between 27 February and 7 March PPTA surveyed members on the impacts of the school payroll failures.

The survey, which was answered by 2454 members from 479 different schools, revealed that 25% of respondents had problems with their pay, with 22.8% being paid incorrectly.
“This means the scale of the problem is still large, and much larger than the figures being quoted by government,” Roberts said.

The system was fatally flawed when it came to any change in normal wages and new problems – such as the incorrect recording of tax codes – were continuously springing up.

“I have not been paid correctly in 24 out of the last 26 pay periods,” said one survey respondent.
“Underpaid by $400 per fortnight for the past two pay periods…have just been told the problem may not be corrected in the next pay…this has placed me under considerable financial stress,” said another.

There was frustration among teachers that cabinet’s response to the debacle had focused more on avoiding political fallout than addressing the damage being done in schools, Roberts said.

“Clearly things are better than they were last year but the feedback we are getting is that schools still require significant support and the problem remains far too big.”

ENDS

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