Novopay

An Otago primary school principal believes a new online tool being developed by the Ministry of Education for assessing primary pupil achievement may go the same way as the beleaguered Novopay payroll system.

The Government will stick with the plagued Novopay payroll system for now, and will write off small overpayments made to school staff.

The company behind flawed payroll system Novopay could be slapped with a financial penalty, after human error resulted in a privacy breach yesterday.

Problems with the Novopay Ministerial Inquiry's email system have been labelled a joke by Otago principals, after an email to schools had to be resent.

It seems teachers dealing with the cynically dubbed ''no-pay'' Novopay education payroll system still have no real reason to celebrate - despite receiving the much-anticipated results of a technical review and the announcement of a $6 million support package from the Government last week.

Otago school principal representatives remain distrustful about the troubled Novopay system, despite a Government support package and a review which says the system can be fixed.

About 350 primary school teachers picket on Portsmouth Dr following a New Zealand Educational Institute union meeting at the Edgar Centre, in Dunedin, yesterday.

Prime Minister John Key says compensation to schools to halt legal action over the Novopay system is a possibility, if the teacher unions would agree to a package.

Despite a small turnout of teachers and support staff at pickets in protest against the Novopay debacle outside National MP offices around Otago and Southland, the New Zealand Educational Institute is pleased with the support it received.

Teachers will protest outside National MPs' electoral offices tomorrow morning over problems with the Novopay payroll system.