Tauranga teachers are not holding their breath over Steven Joyce's recent three month deadline to clear the Novopay backlog.

Tauranga NZEI spokesperson Shona Woodhead says teachers are welcoming the announcement made on TVNZ's Q&A programme but says there are thousands of errors that need to be rectified.

Teachers protest against Novopay outside the Tauranga National MP's office on Devonport Road.

'We'd have to work it out. How many are they going to do each day to get it done? Are mistakes being fixed with other mistakes? A week ago we still had staff not being paid.”

Last week Shona joined Bay of Plenty teachers in a protest against the on-going problems and lack of resolution to the Novopay system.

Shona believes the protest was a catalyst for the Government setting the three month goal.

To make the deadline an expanded Novopay Backlog Clearance Unit has been created in an attempt to clear the issues that arose in the first six months of the system operating.

The Minister says the goal is to have the entire backlog reduced to business as usual within three months.

A total of 100 Ministry of Education and Talent2 staff will make up the unit. Salary assessments, the calculation and recovery of overpayments and the correction of errors from previous pay periods will be the main focus points.

Shona says although the clearance unit should have been established 'ages ago”, she congratulates the minister for taking this step.

'It would be fantastic if 100 people could learn the system, get enough training and figure it out and do it. That's what the Government should have done ages ago.

'So let's congratulate them for doing this, let's hope it will work. But I don't think we're all going to hold our breath with excitement.

'It's actually mind-boggling to think about. If you think about any office area and you were to put 100 staff in it and get them all trained up in the system, I congratulate him.”

Western Bay of Plenty NZPPTA Regional Chair Graeme Bridge says some of the staff at Aquinas College, where he teaches, have renamed Novopay – ‘Never-pay.'

'My school like so many others has the office staff going over and beyond to try and help teachers who are having pay issues.

'It does beggar belief that in an age when electronic management should be a leading light, we get an error ridden Novopay infested minefield that only now after months of highlighting the issues the Government is finally committing to a solution.”

Graeme welcomes the attempt to end the Novopay ‘misery.'

'We are at the point and fear that any change on our pay slips will lead to problems. While not every teacher has had an issue, a third of the teachers that responded to a recent PPTA survey have and that was from just one pay period.

'This sorry saga needs to be fixed as soon as possible and hopefully in a shorter time frame than the three months as announced by Minister Steven Joyce.”

Steven says with the extra staff and resources during the last six weeks progress has been made with the processing of each pay period as it is due.

'Up until now we have had around 40 people working on the backlog and they haven't been able to make enough progress.

'The new BCU of 100 (staff) will more than double the number of people doing the work and ensure they are expressly dedicated to clearing the backlog.

'The unit will remain in place for six months to ensure we remain on top of the workload and give schools confidence that their payroll will be accurate and their staff will be paid correctly.”

The Backlog Clearance Unit began operations yesterday.

Schools are expected to be briefed on what it means for them in the next week.

The $5 million remediation fund, approved by Cabinet in February to provide solutions on Novopay, will fund the resources for the new unit.

'This is another part of the plan to resolve the issues with Novopay as quickly as possible.

'Final decisions are yet to be made on the shape of the future delivery of the school pay service but this backlog needs to be cleared regardless of the path we take.”