NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / New Zealand

Govt sticks with Novopay system

APNZ
7 May, 2013 07:06 AM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

File photo / NZ Herald

File photo / NZ Herald

Principals say the Government had no real choice but to stick with troubled school payroll system Novopay and say a write-off of small overpayments will be a relief to some school staff.

Today Minister Responsible for Novopay Steven Joyce announced he would stick with Novopay for now - but wouldn't give it a long term tick - giving himself an out if needed.

Datacom provided the ministry with a backup payroll plan which could be rolled out from June this year and did not charge the ministry for compiling the plan.

This plan will be shelved for now.

Principal of Edgewater College Allan Vester doubted it would be easy to swap back to a system with Datacom.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"It's not like test driving a car where you can drive a car for a week and take it back and pick up your old one.

"They've destroyed the old car effectively."

Mr Joyce also announced the Government will write-off small overpayments, totalling $440,000, because the cost of pursuing them exceeded the value of the overpayments.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The overpayments included 7,949 staff being accidentally being paid $6.05 on a public holiday plus other small overpayments which totalled up to $300,000.

Mr Vester said this was good news for his school - where his executive office had spent long hours chasing small errors made in the system.

Principal of Rotorua's John Paul College Patrick Walsh said Mr Joyce had made a careful decision but hoped it was the right one.

"One has to congratulate Steven Joyce - he hasn't made a rushed decision- it's been very carefully considered, we hope and pray it turns out to be the right one."

Discover more

New Zealand|education

Joyce: I understand Novopay frustration

26 Feb 05:37 AM
New Zealand|education

Teachers to protest Novopay problems at National MPs' offices

04 Mar 05:28 AM
New Zealand|education

Teachers protest Novopay problems

04 Mar 09:30 PM
New Zealand|education

Parata blasted over Longstone payout

05 Mar 06:23 PM

He said the Government couldn't afford to turn around and go to payroll provider Datacom.

The college were told by the ministry they had to pursue 10 former staff members who had worked for six months looking after a Japanese tour group who were overpaid by $26,000.

The money was taken from the school budget and one teachers was living in Australia and they had difficulty locating the person.

"Our executive officer had up to spend two weeks of his time tracking these teachers down and getting the money back."

Some schools had made arrangements with the Ministry to repay overpayments by $50 a fortnight.

President of the Secondary Principals Association Tom Parsons said the decision was the only logical progression.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"Novopay pre-Christmas, and Novopay now are two different beasts."

Mr Parson said his school had staff who had been overpaid by up to $6000.

"That's been resolved, and other cases are being resolved."

He welcomed smaller overpayments being written off.

He said Novopay was performing as good, if not better than Datacom.

Mr Joyce said the long-term future of Novopay is still under review after saying three out of four payrolls had shown an improvement in the number of mistakes.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Mr Joyce released figures showing the Government had spent $58.9 million on Novopay.

The Government was scheduled to spend $41.7m - an overspend of $17.2m.

There is still a backlog of 25,000 errors being fixed with Novopay and the system has 379 defects, 426 have been resolved and there are 197 new bugs.

What the Government has spent on Novopay:

* $29.4m start up costs and total for the implementation of Novopay.

* $13.8m operation of the Novopay service since go live to end of April.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

* $8.2m cost to remediate Novopay including the Ministerial Inquiry, Deloitte technical review, programme management and reporting, provision of information.

*$1.5m Government funded remediation

* $6 million financial assistance to schools.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from New Zealand

live
New Zealand

'Threat to life': Tasman District upgraded to red warning; floodwater enters homes

10 Jul 11:17 PM
New ZealandUpdated

Search for missing man continues after car pulled from river

10 Jul 11:09 PM
New Zealand|aucklandUpdated

'Incredibly difficult': Body found in search for missing diver

10 Jul 11:08 PM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from New Zealand

'Threat to life': Tasman District upgraded to red warning; floodwater enters homes
live

'Threat to life': Tasman District upgraded to red warning; floodwater enters homes

10 Jul 11:17 PM

Electrical storms are set to hit at evening rush as Auckland braces for 16 hours of rain.

Search for missing man continues after car pulled from river

Search for missing man continues after car pulled from river

10 Jul 11:09 PM
'Incredibly difficult': Body found in search for missing diver

'Incredibly difficult': Body found in search for missing diver

10 Jul 11:08 PM
How NZ is tackling worker protection issues in the primary industries

How NZ is tackling worker protection issues in the primary industries

10 Jul 10:30 PM
Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP