Payroll update 29 October 2025
Kia ora koutou
Update from the Ministry - Kāhui Ako fixed term teachers’ end dates
Please check the end dates of your school’s Kāhui Ako fixed term employment contracts in EdPay.
When the Kāhui Ako programme ends on 27 January 2026, teachers whose appointment extends into the 2026 school year will have their Kāhui Ako salary protected for 12 months, or until the end of their fixed term if that is earlier, as long as they continue working at your school.
Note: Kāhui Ako salary protection provisions do not apply to principals.
It is important that we have the correct end dates for Kāhui Ako in our system to make sure we apply accurate salary protection provisions for your employees.
Payroll changes following recent compliance review
In pay period 18, Education Payroll will process payment corrections relating to Priority Teaching Allowance for some employees. These corrections are back dated to 28 January 2025 (where applicable) and will appear on your SUE report in pay period 18.
The corrections will be charged to the funding source that covers the employee’s salary and/or allowances (eg, bulk grant or teachers’ salaries) for the period of the correction during the 2025 school year.
If your school has any questions about these payments, please contact your Payroll Advisor.
If the additional charges raise any issues for your school, please contact the Ministry Finance Team.
Salary increments reminder
If your school’s principal isn’t a regular reader of the payroll update, please draw their attention to this item.
Auto increments for support staff – advance check
Support staff receive an auto increment to their salary each year on their work anniversary unless they are on the top step for their grade or it is deferred by the principal, and any deferrals must be discussed with the employee two months before the increment date. Please check the auto increments screen in EdPay regularly to see which support staff at your school are due for an auto increment in the next 90 days. It is particularly important to check in term four, before End of Year closes, due to the number of work anniversaries in the new year.
Go to EdPay > My School > Administration > Progression > Auto Increments.
Term-time-only may not show in the auto increment screen and annualised employees may not show until their annualisation is processed.
For more information about the criteria and instructions for deferral, see the Deferring auto increments page on our website.
Check the Attestation School report for teachers’ salary increments
Teachers’ salary increments do not happen automatically. Schools need to:
- check the Attestation School Report regularly
- confirm whether salary progressions should go ahead
- manually update the Attestation School Report, and
-
email us.
You can download the report from EdPay > Reports > Attestation School Report. See our Attestation School Report page for more information.
End of Year – reminders and resources
The End of Year screen is now open in EdPay for you to complete your school’s End of Year tasks.
End of Year processing must be completed by 5pm, Wednesday 19 November.
Links to End of Year resources
We’ve created some resources to help you complete End of Year tasks.
Key dates coming up
Education Sector Logon (ESL) linking – progress update
And finally, a big thank you for your steady adoption of the new way to access EdPay via ESL and helping us increase security for our payroll system.
95% of EdPay users who logged in during 2025 have linked and are using their ESL account to open EdPay.
If you have an authorised user at your school who is one of the 5% yet to link, please guide them through the process if you can. The Education Sector Service Desk is ready to help: (0800 422 599 - option 2, service.desk@education.govt.nz) if they need any help.
Ngā mihi
Education Payroll