Administration Support Staff in Schools Pay Equity Claim

Learn more about the Administration Support Staff Pay Equity Claim settled in July 2022.

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  • Principals and tumuaki
  • School administration support staff
  • School boards

On 4 July 2022, we settled the pay equity claim for school administration support staff with NZEI Te Riu Roa.

Following endorsement by the employees covered by the claim, the settlement will now see more than 11,000 school administration support staff, mostly women, being fairly valued and paid for the work they do.

Photo of an administration staff member

What's happening now

Parental Payment Guide published

A parental payment, equivalent to six weeks’ pay, was introduced as part of the settlement. A guide explaining the parental payment and the process for applying was published on 20 March 2023.

Payment to employees

Administration support staff received their first payment at the new pay equity rates (including payment for the period from 20 August 2021 to 30 September 2022) on Tuesday 18 October. This includes payment to people who finished on or after 1 September 2022.

Former employees

Former employees who were covered by the claim can request their pay equity payment by completing the form through the link below.  

Details on completing the form, as well as common questions about the payment to former employees, are also available through the link. 

Schools and kura will not be required to pay covered former employees, who finished employment on or prior to 31 August 2022. The Ministry will pay them directly once they have completed the form below.   

Form for former employees to request a pay equity payment (external link)

People who finished employment on or after 1 September 2022 were paid as part of the 18 October payment.    

Non-EPL schools  

Employees who worked in schools or kura who did not use EPL will need to contact their school or kura. Schools and kura will be provided funding to cover these employees.

Funding

Covered employees in state and state-integrated schools and kura, including those who may have finished their job on or after 20 August 2021 and started another position at another school, or left the workforce entirely, are included in the settlements.

The Ministry provides the additional pay equity funding required by translating covered employees from the old pay scale to the new pay equity pay scale. This is a point-to-point translation following the translation rules of the settlements. Point-to-point means that covered employees will be transferred from their point on the previous Position Elements Table to the equivalent point on the new pay equity work matrix.

Funding calculation

Settlement funding is provided to cover the difference between the old pay scale rate and the new pay equity pay scale rate. This funding is calculated for all hours worked, by covered employees, from the effective date of the administration support staff pay equity settlement:

Pay equity settlement funding equation

For more information, visit Administration support staff and Kaiārahi i te reo pay equity settlement funding. 

Guidance on implementing the settlements

Guidance is available (see documents in the table below) to help you understand and implement the changes resulting from the settlement.  

The guidance documents include information on the ongoing pay equity funding from the Ministry, guidance on how to use the new work matrix, information on employees translating from the old pay rates to the new pay rates, guidance on pay equity regrading, and guidance on the parental payment.

A roadmap is also available which provides an overview of the key implementation activities of both the Administration support staff (APEC) and Kaiārahi i te reo (KPEC) pay equity settlements, planned for 2022 and 2023.

Make sure you’re reading the correct translation guide i.e., the guide based on the collective agreement – or associated IEA – of your employee. 

Guidance on implementing the settlement
Parental Payment Guide [PDF, 547 KB]
Pay equity and the school administration support staff claim [PDF, 679 KB]
Funding 101 Guide [PDF, 500 KB]
Work Matrix Guide [PDF, 583 KB]
Pay Equity Translation Guide – Support Staff in Schools' Collective Agreement [PDF, 614 KB]
Pay Equity Translation Guide – Specialist Residential Schools’ Collective Agreement [PDF, 450 KB]
Pay Equity Regrading Guide [PDF, 552 KB]
Administration support staff and kaiārahi i te reo pay equity roadmap rollout [PDF, 841 KB]

Webinars

To further support you in implementing the settlements, we hosted webinars with NZSTA and NZEI Te Riu Roa in August 2022 to outline the changes resulting from the settlement, and to provide additional support to you in understanding the settlement. You can view a recording of one of the webinars through the link below:

View the pay equity settlement webinar(external link)

How we got here

APEC timeline for webpage

Timeline of Administration support staff in schools pay equity claim to date

Other documents  
Settlement agreement  Pay Equity Claim Settlement Agreement – Administration Support Staff Pay Equity Claim [PDF, 8 MB]
Read a summary of our research that identified sex-based undervaluation for this workforce. Evidence report [PDF, 3.1 MB]
View a copy of the notification letter and factsheet that was sent to employees at the beginning of the claim. 

Notification letter [DOCX, 154 KB] 

Factsheet [PDF, 128 KB]


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