Novopay boss flies in ahead of announcement

Talent2 chief executive John Rawlinson. Photo / Supplied

The boss of the company which owns Novopay is in Auckland ahead of a planned announcement by Cabinet minister Steven Joyce about how the Government will deal with the payroll system and its string of problems.

Talent2's former physical education teacher turned chief executive John Rawlinson has been in New Zealand this week for meetings with the Ministry of Education, ahead of today's announcement from Steven Joyce.

Mr Joyce's office confirmed the minister - appointed to handle the Novopay debacle - had met with Mr Rawlinson during another visit last week as part of his efforts to resolve the problem.

A spokesman said Mr Joyce was planning to announce progress on resolving the problems with teachers' pay since the system was introduced last year, years after Talent2 was contracted to put the new system in place.

Mr Rawlinson was Talent2's founding chief executive, leading the company from start-up to its current turnover of more than $300 million with 1700 staff in 19 countries.

Green Party education spokeswoman Catherine Delahunty said today Steven Joyce needed to announce an independent investigation into the system to find out if it can be fixed.

"Steven Joyce is meeting with teacher pay stakeholders today, and they need to see that there is a genuine process for resolving payroll issues. Only an independent IT investigation can give teachers the assurance they need that a functioning payroll system is salvageable from the Novopay disaster."

The Office of the Auditor General has said it will monitor the Novopay issue but will not investigate it at this stage.

Mr Joyce has forecast a new wave of problems with the next pay round on February 6.