Payroll update 12 November 2025 – Start of Year special edition
Kia ora koutou
This is our special edition payroll update with the information you’ll need to complete the tasks in our Start of Year (SOY) process.
Whakataukī for our Start of Year process
Tē tōia, tē haumatia
This whakataukī highlights the importance of having a plan, a workforce and a way of doing things. This special edition is our plan of attack for Start of Year!
Start of Year opens on Monday 1 December 2025
Start of Year is open in EdPay from 1 December 2025 to 26 February 2026.
There are five things to check in the Start of Year process:
- Are your school’s term dates correct for the new school year?
- Have you restarted all fixed-term teachers and term-time-only non-teachers?
- Do you need to change existing employees’ pay details? (Eg, hours, employment status, allowances, funding source, leave or annualisation.)
- Do you need to onboard any new staff or jobs for the new school year?
- Do you need to terminate any jobs?
Key dates
You can download the printable Key dates flyer from our website.
Restarting fixed-term teachers and term-time-only non-teachers
Please restart fixed-term teachers and term-time-only non-teachers who are returning to your school next year in the Restart job tab. You need to do this before you change other pay details for them.
Why do we need to restart permanent term-time only employees?
We need to know which day they are returning to work so they can be paid correctly next year.
Reason for restart – Fixed-term teachers only
You will need to choose a Reason for restart for fixed-term teachers who started after 7 February 2025. Select one of these options.
For example, a fixed-term teacher with a one-year contract covering a parental leave period from the start of term three this year until end of term two next year. This is continuing/extending an existing contract with no new documentation for next year.
Holiday pay
When a fixed-term teacher is continuing their contract, their holiday pay will be reversed and repaid as if they were a permanent teacher. Holiday pay reversals will happen from pay period 20 in the pay period they are restarted.
Annualisation
Annualisation spreads out the earnings of term-time-only support staff into equal fortnightly pays throughout the year, including school holidays.
How to annualise employees
Annualisation does not roll over. You need to apply each year for each employee who wants their pay annualised. This is because the annualisation percentage calculation changes, depending on when public holidays and term dates fall.
There are two ways to annualise employees: the EdPay Annualisation screen or the Annualisation agreement (EP23nt) form.
EdPay screen or EP23nt form?
This flowchart shows which employees can be annualised via the EdPay screen, and which employees need to be annualised using the form.
Use the EdPay screen to annualise continuing employees whose jobs are currently annualised.
You will need to use the EP23nt form to annualise:
- new employees
- current employees with new jobs, and
- current timesheet and term-time-only employees whose jobs are not currently annualised.
If you are annualising an employee, please do not also restart them in the EdPay SOY screen.
New hires
Enter the new hire's details in EdPay > +New Employee. If this creates a ticket number, reply to the ticket with the EP23nt form so the new hire and the annualisation can be processed together. If it doesn’t, submit the EP23nt separately.
Due dates
Employees starting work before 31 January
If you have a term-time only employee starting before the annualisation period begins on 31 January, please timesheet those hours.
There is no 'Complete' button for Start of Year
There is no Start of Year ‘Complete’ button. This is because all information updates in real time. You can update or change details as required up until the Start of Year screen closes on 26 February 2026.
Emergency contact details
Thank you to those schools who have already provided an emergency payroll contact for the term four holiday period. If you've already told us who your contact will be, you don't need to do anything.
If you haven’t yet, please let us know their name, phone number (home or mobile) and email us with “Emergency contact” in the subject line.
Guides and help
If you are new to Start of Year and you’re finding the process a bit overwhelming, please contact your payroll advisor and they will help you get started.
Thank you for the extra work you do to make sure your school’s Start of Year processes run smoothly and everyone gets paid correctly.
Ngā mihi
Education Payroll