Pay equity funding
This information is to help school boards and non-teaching staff understand their rights and responsibilities associated with the pay equity settlements.
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Current pay equity settlements
There are several pay equity claims either recently raised, underway or settled in the education sector relating particularly to non-teaching staff. These claims seek to address historic sex-based bias in the education workforce and provide equitable pay for covered employees.
There are currently five settlements which the Ministry is providing ongoing funding for:
- Librarians and library assistants' pay equity claim
- Science technicians' pay equity claim
- Administration support staff in schools pay equity claim
- Kaiārahi i te reo pay equity claim
- Teacher aide pay equity claim
Pay equity settlement funding
We will continue to provide ongoing funding to schools and kura, to cover the increased costs associated with pay equity settlements. Estimated funding will be provided as part of the quarterly operational grant instalments.
A wash-up adjustment will be calculated and paid annually, the following year, based on confirmed payroll data. Schools and kura are required to use the additional settlement funding to apply the pay equity outcomes and new pay rates.
Covered employees
Funding for pay equity settlements (settlement funding) is provided to schools and kura for covered employees who are on a relevant payroll designation code in Education Payroll.
2024 pay equity funding instalment schedule
- 1 January: Q1 estimated settlement funding instalment
- 1 April: Q2 estimated settlement funding instalment
- 1 July: Q3 estimated settlement funding instalment final wash-up for the previous calendar year.
- 1 October: Q4 estimated settlement funding instalment.
You will receive funding letters via the School Data Portal prior to receiving your settlement funding. These letters will provide a breakdown of the upcoming funding instalment and how it was calculated based on your school's payroll data. This includes role details (job, grade, step and rate) and hours worked.
School payroll information is confidential and the data we receive from payroll is anonymised, so we will not be able to provide a breakdown for each of your staff members.
Estimated funding calculations
Estimated quarterly funding instalments are calculated using the previous year's confirmed payroll data. We are aware that these estimates may not accurately represent covered employees in your school or kura or the hours they work each quarter for the current year.
However, using previous years’ data is the best estimate of additional funding for pay equity settlements. We will calculate and provide wash-up funding in the following year when we have confirmed payroll data.
Annual wash-up calculation adjustments
We receive confirmed payroll data for all schools and kura after the calendar year has concluded. Once this data is available, we calculate any adjustments to the previous year's estimated quarterly funding instalments for final wash-up funding.
Non-Education Payroll
If your schools or kura does not pay covered employees through Education Payroll, we collect information via email about any covered employees you employed in the year prior to:
- calculating any adjustments for the previous year’s final wash-up
- estimating quarterly funding instalments for the current year.
Settlement funding calculations for new schools and kura
For schools and kura that open during the year, we will estimate your covered employees’ pay equity funding based on an existing school or kura of a similar type, including location, number of students and size. This estimate will be adjusted during the wash-up process.
Wage and salary funding sources
We know that schools and kura receive funding from different sources to employ your covered employees. We will provide pay equity funding for all covered employees regardless of the funding source.
The settlements have no direct impact on these sources of funding. If you have questions about funding that you receive from another agency, please contact them directly.
Settlement-specific funding information
- Librarians, library assistants' and science technicians' settlement funding
- Administration support staff and kaiārahi i te reo settlement funding
- Teacher aide settlement funding
- Teacher aide increment funding.
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