Holidays Act remediation payment – March 2024

We made a remediation payment towards Holidays Act arrears for some school employees on 19 March 2024.

Overview  

While we continue work to fully address Holidays Act errors, we are making a series of payments based on initial estimates. This means some of the money owed can be paid sooner. 

Scope 

This payment is based on an initial estimate for annual holidays for 52-week specialist and support staff.

It covers part of the remediation period – from 4 September 2013 to 27 January 2022.

Approach  

While the Holidays Act remediation calculator is under development, we have adapted an existing estimation tool to complete calculations based on a reduced set of data conforming and remediation rules. 

After we complete additional work on the data, we will use the Holidays Act remediation calculator to calculate individual amounts owing across all leave types for the full remediation period (from 1 March 2010).  

Payments 

Around 3,000 school employees received a payment in this round. 

Of those receiving a payment: 

  • 71% received less than $500 
  • 51% received less than $200 
  • 37% received less than $100. 

Due to earning history and leave patterns being unique, each case is different. Length of service is not a factor in whether arrears are due or the size of any payment made. 

School employees receiving a payment 

If you received a payment in this round, it was included in your normal pay on 19 March 2024. 

If your payslip is usually emailed to you, we contacted you directly on the payment date with more details about your payment.

You do not need to take any action to receive your payment. 

When we complete further calculations, you will receive the difference between the total amount owed and any amount already paid. 

In the unlikely event that we pay you more than the total amount owed, we will not recover overpayments. 

Inland Revenue and the Ministry of Social Development have information about getting lump sump payments and whether you need to declare income.  

Getting lump sum payments – Inland Revenue(external link) (external link)[PDF, 73 KB] 

Do you need to declare income? – Ministry of Social Development(external link)

You can contact them with questions about whether your payment affects any benefits, tax credits or other support payments you receive or make: 

Contact us – Inland Revenue(external link)

Getting in touch – Ministry of Social Development(external link)

School employees not receiving a payment 

Most school employees did not receive a payment in this round. If you are a 52-week specialist and support worker and you didn’t receive a payment, there could be several reasons for this. For example:

  • you may not be due a Holidays Act payment
  • you might be owed a payment for a different leave type or for an error outside of the period covered by this payment.

We won’t be able to confirm whether or not you are owed Holidays Act remediation until we’ve completed further calculations to fully address historic Holidays Act errors. 

Former school employees 

Remediation payments for former employees will be made at a later date. 

If your details have changed since you left the school sector, you may wish to register on the School Payroll Remediation Portal to make sure we can reach you in the future. 

Schools Payroll Remediation Portal(external link)

Engagement 

We have consulted the Labour Inspectorate and our Sector Working Group on this approach and we continue to engage with them on the details of our broader remediation programme. 

Our Sector Working Group includes representatives from: 

  • Amalgamated Workers Union of New Zealand 
  • E Tū 
  • NZEI Te Riu Roa 
  • Public Service Association 
  • New Zealand Post Primary Teachers’ Association Te Wehengarua 
  • Secondary Principals' Association of New Zealand 
  • New Zealand School Trustees Association. 

More information  

Questions and answers about this payment

Holidays Act non-compliance

Schools payroll remediation programme

Contact us  

If your query is not covered on our questions and answers page, the best way to get in touch is via our: 

Query form(external link)

Questions and answers 

 You can also contact the team by: 

To ensure we only release personal payroll information to the correct person, please provide the team with your: 

  • full name 
  • Ministry of Education (MoE) number 
  • date of birth 
  • IRD number. 

Keeping yourself safe from phishing scams  

Phishing is when someone uses an email, text or phone call to try to get access to sensitive information (like bank account numbers and passwords). 

For schools payroll remediation payments, we will never ask you for your bank account login or password. The information you receive from us will direct you to the Ministry of Education’s website. 

Phishing scammers will claim to be from a legitimate organisation, and often have email addresses or websites that look very real. They'll often ask you to claim a prize, check your details, or tell you that your account is expiring or needs to be checked. 

Email phishing scams – Netsafe(external link) 

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