The New Zealand Educational Institute said generally overpayments are distressing for educators and staff.
The New Zealand Educational Institute said generally overpayments are distressing for educators and staff.
More than 800 cases of school employee overpayments have been reported across the country, including 66 in Northland, sparking calls for a system overhaul to address the persistent issue.
Overpayments occur when employees receive more money than they are entitled to receive.
The Ministry of Education said it can be caused by a number of reasons, including administrative errors, delays in processing updated information, or miscommunication about entitlements.
In many cases, the individual is then required to repay the excess amount which can cause significant financial stress.
According to the Ministry of Education there were 820 overpayments across the country by the end of last year.
The ministry said it routinely updates its systems to try to curb overpayments but the New Zealand Educational Institute said the system needs an overhaul.
The ministry said it was not aware of any trends in overpayment cases in Northland but noted that one school had nine overpayment cases in one month, “which does cause a spike given numbers are very low”.
New Zealand Educational Institute Te Riu Roa president Ripeka Lessels said generally overpayments are distressing for educators and staff.
New Zealand Educational Institute Te Riu Roa president Ripeka Lessels said overpayments can cause significant financial stress for teachers, principals and schools. Photo / NZEI
“They can also affect the relationship between a worker and their employer [for example, the school] even though it is quite possible that the error has actually not arisen at the school’s end.
“Problems with the payroll system are not a recent phenomenon. The Government needs to invest in a better payroll system for education staff so that unnecessary overpayments [and underpayments] do not continue to occur.”
Depending on the size of the school, a school may not have a dedicated payroll person to pick these errors up which creates the potential for over- and underpayments.
“A lack of resourcing for schools – particularly in small, rural schools can also increase the potential for pay issues.”
Lessels said they often assist educators navigate instances of overpayments to ensure their contractual and statutory obligations are met.
“The payroll system that is used to pay school staff has significant, systemic shortcomings - which the ministry is aware of and are taking steps to address - and needs to be completely overhauled to make it fit for purpose, more adaptable and equipped with appropriate safeguards to meet workers’ contractual and statutory entitlements.”
She added that pay issues tend to take a long time to fix.
The ministry said around 51.6% of the overpayments were caused when pay-impacting instructions were received from school payroll administrators after the cut-off date for the appropriate pay period.
As a result, the employee’s pay did not reflect the changes, and their pay was incorrect.
Pay-impacting instructions could be changes to hours of work, leave without pay applications, or a job termination date.
Other reasons for pay discrepancies include incorrect input, incorrect information provided, system errors and salary assessment-related errors.
Once an overpayment has been noted the employee is required to sign a letter consenting to deductions to return the funds.
“Education Payroll does not provide financial assistance or support services to employees affected by overpayments. However, they do offer payment holidays, and support employees with any hardship or write-off applications. We offer these to all schools in New Zealand, including schools in Northland.”
Employees can choose to make the repayment by automatic payment or by salary deduction.
