62355 (2024). Hon Jan Tinetti to the Minister of Education

62355 (2024). Hon Jan Tinetti to the Minister of Education: What number of overpayments by Education Payroll, if any, were audited to ensure that a payroll mistake had not occurred, broken down by month for the last two years?

Hon Erica Stanford: I am advised by the Ministry of Education that the Education Payroll Limited overpayment process is audited annually by an external auditor during the school payroll audit. Any processing errors are identified via this external review. There have been two external audits in the last two years. The most recent audit was completed on 6 September 2024. Therefore, all overpayments from the last two years have now been part of the audit process. I refer the Member to the attached table showing the number of audited overpayments by Education Payroll between July 2022 and June 2024. Please note, industrial action took place in March 2023. When industrial action occurs, it is not possible to withhold payment of wages on the date the strike takes place. Accordingly, wage deduction for strike action is processed as an overpayment recovery after the strike. Strike deductions that were recovered as overpayments are not included in the attached table.