Relief teacher mileage allowance#
Category: Employment relations
This circular does not replace any other.
It is intended for presiding members of school boards of all state, state-integrated and secondary schools.
For more information, contact Te Whakarōputanga Kaitiaki Kura o Aotearoa | New Zealand School Boards Association (NZSBA).
Phone: 0800 782 435
Email: [email protected]
Action#
The action needed is to:
- note the increase to relief teacher travel allowances
- note where to seek more information.
Background#
The Government is responding to fuel supply uncertainty driven by the conflict in the Middle East. To support our education system during this period, the Government is providing temporary targeted support for relieving teachers to continue to be able to travel to and from their work in schools across the country, including in remote and rural locations.
To enable an increase in the mileage allowance for relief teachers in short-term positions, variations have been made to the area school teachers’, primary teachers’ and secondary teachers’ collective agreements with the agreement of unions PPTA Te Wehengarua and NZEI Te Riu Roa.
Within existing education workforce collective agreements, relievers in primary, secondary and area schools in short-term positions can currently access a travel/transport allowance, known as a mileage allowance. If public transport is not available, this allowance can be accessed after 10 kilometres of travel for primary teachers and after 20 kilometres travelled for secondary and area school teachers.
From 20 April 2026, this allowance will increase to:
- $0.83 per kilometre for motor cars
- $0.31 per kilometre for motorcycles.
The increased mileage allowance for relieving teachers will remain in place until whichever of the following occurs earlier:
- for 12 months from 20 April 2026, or
- until the MBIE measured price of 91 octane petrol has fallen below $3 per litre (including GST) for a period of 4 consecutive weeks.
All other terms and conditions relating to mileage allowance claims and reimbursements remain unchanged.
Find more guidance on the relief teacher transport allowance page.
Relief teacher transport allowance
NZSBA guidance#
The NZSBA can also provide guidance.
