Novopay Still Pain for Principals

School principals report that the Novopay payroll system that caused so much chaos when it was first introduced is still struggling to deliver accuracy, and judging by their feedback, principals are still hugely frustrated at the inadequacies of a system that continues to suck their patience dry.

A survey conducted this week by the New Zealand Principals’ Federation (NZPF) had a strong response from 714 principals who reported that on average 5.89 staff per school were incorrectly paid in the latest pay period and two thirds of schools still have unresolved problems from last year (66.3%).

‘We always expect the first pay round of the year to be a bit challenging,’ said Philip Harding NZPF President, ‘but this error rate is way beyond anything we imagined,’ he said.

Harding is disappointed by the number of problems that remain unresolved from 2013.

Unsurprisingly, a whopping 72.7% of principals have no confidence that Novopay is on track to providing an effective payroll tool that is fit for purpose.

‘We cannot ignore this direct feedback from schools, which tells us that the Novopay saga is far from over,’ said Harding.

‘Government has already poured millions of tax-payers’ dollars into patching and propping up a payroll system that continues to let schools down, when it was supposed to create significant savings,’ he said. “The unbudgeted costs associated with this debacle must be eye watering.”

Principals want to know when the government will finally acknowledge that Novopay can’t be fixed and start work on its replacement.

ENDS

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