Leaked papers indicate it could take up to two years to fix glitches in the Novopay payroll system.
A briefing paper has revealed the Ministry of Education expects it will take 18 to 24 months before Novopay is delivering at levels that were expected.
It said the Ministry's contract with Novopay developer Talent2 would have to be renegotiated and extra funding will be needed.
Meanwhile Novopay minister Steven Joyce said the timeframe specified isn't good enough and steps are being taken to speed the process up.
