Getting started in EdPay

EdPay is the online system you will use to manage your school’s payroll and to submit and process payroll instructions.

Support and how to contact us

Your payroll advisor and school account team will support you so that your payroll experience is as easy and stress free as possible. Their name is in your welcome email. 

  • Phone 0508 668 6729 (9.30am – 3.30pm weekdays). Enter your 7-digit MoE number. Use leading zeros if your MoE number has fewer than seven digits, eg, 989989 becomes 0989989.
  • Email: support@novopay.govt.nz

How to log on to EdPay for the first time

We are currently linking EdPay to Education Sector Logon. We are linking Beta schools first before rolling it out to all schools, so for the next few weeks logging in will be different for EdPay and EdPay Beta.

Step EdPay instructions EdPay - Beta instructions
1


IIf you are logging in to EdPay for the first time, follow the EdPay instructions in this column. 

Open EdPay.

There are two ways to open EdPay:

  1. Click on the log in button on the EdPay website home page, or
  2. Click on a link to www.edpay.nz

We recommend you:

  • use Google Chrome as your default browser for EdPay, and
  • bookmark EdPay and our website for easy access.


If you are logging in to EdPay Beta for the first time, follow the EdPay - Beta instructions in this column.
You will need:

  • your ESL username and passphrase
  • a multifactor authentication method, eg, phone app
  • your MoE#, and
  • your EdPay authorised user email address.

Before you begin: Log out of EdPay - Beta and close all your browsers (eg, Chrome and Edge). This will make sure you open the latest version of EdPay - Beta.

Open EdPay - Beta.

There are two ways to open EdPay Beta:

  1. Click on the log in button on the EdPay website home page, or
  2. Click on a link to beta.edpay.nz

We recommend you:

  • use Google Chrome as your default browser for EdPay, and
  • bookmark EdPay and our website for easy access.
2 Log in to EdPay.


  1. Enter your username. This is your 7-digit MoE number. (Use leading zeros if your number has fewer than seven digits, eg, 989989 becomes 0989989.)

  2. Enter your temporary password. (Contact your payroll advisor if you have not received your password.) Your password will be re-set every three months.

  3. Click Accept & Login. 
You will land on the linking page.
1. Click on the Logon via ESL button, then enter your ESL user name and passphrase.


2. Set up your MFA method in ESL, if you haven't already.



3. Enter your MoE# and your EdPay authorised user email address in the linking screens. We will then send a passcode to your email address.



4. Enter the passcode. The system will link your EdPay account to your ESL logon and EdPay will open.


3

Review EdPay's Terms of use. Click on your profile, then select Terms of use.

It’s important that you read and understand the terms of use. Your access to EdPay means you are responsible for:

  • maintaining the privacy of payroll information, and
  • keeping up-to-date payroll records.

Review EdPay's Terms of use. Click on your profile, then select Terms of use.

It’s important that you read and understand the terms of use. Your access to EdPay means you are responsible for:

  • maintaining the privacy of payroll information, and
  • keeping up-to-date payroll records.
4 Navigate around EdPay.
  • Click on My Employees to see the list of employees at your school. Click on the tabs across the top to see what information is in each one.
  • Click on an employee's name to view their job details, and their personal and financial details. Click on the Job history tab to view their current and previous roles at your school.
  • Click on the headings in the left hand menu - Add an employee, Reports, Timesheets and Leave.
  • Hover hints: hover your mouse on a blue question mark to read more information, or tips and tricks.

Navigate around EdPay.

  • Click on My Employees to see the list of employees at your school. Click on the tabs across the top to see what information is in each one.
  • Click on an employee's name to view their job details, and their personal and financial details. Click on the Job history tab to view their current and previous roles at your school.
  • Click on the headings in the left hand menu - Add an employee, Reports, Timesheets and Leave.
  • Hover hints: hover your mouse on a blue question mark to read more information, or tips and tricks.
5 When you are ready to close EdPay, please make sure you log out. (Closing the browser does not log you out.) Click on your profile and select the Sign Out button.
When you are ready to close EdPay, please make sure you log out. (Closing the browser does not log you out.) Click on your profile and select the Sign Out button.

Five things to start your EdPay journey

What How

Get to know the pay cycle

Make use of EdPay training resources

The EdPay training section of the website has guides and videos to help you when you are learning how to use EdPay, or with a task you haven't done before or for a long time.

Here are some examples:

Explore the EdPay training page for the full list of these ‘how to’ resources. Use them every time you need to do something new.

Find out when to use EdPay online and when to submit a form

Most of your payroll work can be done directly in EdPay. However, there are some tasks that require forms to be completed and submitted through your payroll advisor in the school account team. 

The EdPay and forms page to find out:

  • tasks that can be completed in EdPay
  • tasks that need a form
  • back-up forms for if EdPay isn't available.

Learn about tickets

Every email that is sent to the Education Payroll Service Centre and some submissions in EdPay will generate an email response showing a task reference/ticket number or PRN (payroll receipt number). Careful management of tickets will help to avoid errors, which may result in an employee being paid incorrectly. When responding to an email, please use the reply function to keep your request on the same ticket, so we can provide you with a faster response. (If you initiate a new email, it generates a new ticket which then has to be matched up with old ticket(s) manually, slowing down our response times.) 

For more info go to Manage tickets

Understand the purpose of the SUE report

The SUE report shows the gross pay details of a school's employees in a pay period. The 1st SUE report allows you to check details and correct pay errors before the pay run. The final SUE report forms part of the school's accounting records. 

For more info go to SUE report


The EdPay website

The EdPay website is where you will find all the payroll information you need. Save this website link to your favourites: www.edpay.govt.nz


Keeping up to date through the website

Resource Description
Alerts Urgent information you need to know about outages, system issues or payroll deadlines.
News Regular newsletters with important updates and reminders (these are also emailed to you).

Help resources on the website

Resource Description
Information for…
...authorised users, school employees, relievers, principals and boards of trustees. Learn about user access, roles and responsibilities within EdPay. A must read for all new users!
Pay cycle
Information about the fortnightly pay cycle, including the deadlines you need to know about.
Payroll calendar
Rolling calendar of key dates.
A–Z of payroll
Find out about payroll topics located in quick links.
How to
Guidance for completing payroll tasks throughout the year.
EdPay training
Build your knowledge of EdPay and payroll activities through our videos, guides and FAQs.

Key things you need to know

Topic Information
Activity history status This table shows the meanings of status descriptions in EdPay.

Status Description
Draft 
The draft transaction you have begun has been saved. This is the only action that allows you to keep a draft.
Attachments Requested 
After submitting an ‘Add Employee,’ you will receive an email with a task reference number (ie, payroll request number). If attachments are requested, add them, and reply to the email. (Do not start a new email as this will generate a new request.)
Submitted
Your transaction has been submitted and is being processed.
Successful 
Your transaction has been processed and the new employee is now in your My Employees list.
Cancelled 
You have cancelled your transaction.
Customer action required 
Requires you to do something to action this item.

Adding or removing authorised users
See Authorised user access
Annualisation
Annualisation lets you spread out the earnings of support staff who work only during term time, giving them equal fortnightly pays all year. Caretakers and cleaners cannot be annualised. The employee needs to agree that they would like to have their payments annualised.
See More information about annualisation 

Audit

The School Annual Accrual Report (SAAR) forms part of the school's annual financial statements. The purpose of the school audit is to check and certify the SAAR to verify that the people named were employees of the board, and that the amounts paid to them are correct.

See More information about audit 
Auto save
Once you begin filling out an ’Add Employee’ screen, it will automatically save as a draft in your activity history.
End of Year / Start of Year

Information is collected at the start and end of each school year:

Start of year information ensures all employees are paid correctly from the beginning of the new school year.
End of year information ensures all employees are paid correctly over the term 4 holidays.

You will be sent updated guides and information at the beginning of the start of year and end of year process.

See More information about End of Year
See More information about Start of Year
Overpayments

An overpayment is when an employee receives more pay than they are entitled to. The best ways to reduce the risk of overpayment is to enter payroll instructions as you go, check them and also carefully check the first SUE report for errors.

If there is a change in pay for an employee after cut off, notify your payroll advisor to make the change early.

See More information about overpayments
Payroll controls

Internal controls are the mechanisms, rules and procedures implemented by a school to ensure the integrity of financial and accounting information, promote accountability, and prevent fraud. Besides complying with laws and regulations and preventing employees from misappropriating assets or committing fraud, internal controls can help improve operational efficiency by improving the accuracy and timeliness of financial reporting.

See More information about payroll controls, especially Authorisation, transaction checking and approval.
Payroll record keeping

Payroll record keeping falls into two categories:

  1. Records an employer must keep to meet various legislative requirements for retention of payroll records
  2. Records that schools must keep to support annual financial statements.
See More information about payroll record keeping
Relievers
Short-term relievers will not appear on your school employee list in EdPay. You can find them under the Reliever tab if they have been paid by your school within the last three pay periods. 
Salary loading EdPay displays a ‘pay rate’ based on minimums under collective agreements or individual employment agreements. Rates above those minimums are shown as salary loading in the allowances section.
Terminating a job

When terminating a job, remember to:

  1. Contact your payroll administrator to perform the following terminations:
    • did not start
    • bulk termination
    • no termination pay due.
  2. Submit a NOVO6 termination form for:
    • annualised employees
    • employees that do not start
    • cleaners/caretakers transferring schools.
Other termination specifics
Medical retirement
Only valid for teachers and principals.
Overpayment at termination
 If a staff member agrees for an overpayment to be offset from their termination pay, their signed permission is required. Remember to keep this for auditing purposes.
Cut off times and termination pay
All termination requests sent through to EdPay will automatically update your employee’s last day of duty to ensure they are paid accurately.

Timesheets Complete forms in sequence to avoid resetting some fields.