A payment will be made on 1 February 2023 to education and care services who have opted into extended pay parity. 

This payment will recalculate advance funding paid for January and February 2023 using the updated extended pay parity funding rates. 

Education and care services who have yet to opt-in to extended pay parity can still receive the extended parity funding rates from 1 January 2023 if they opt-in through their RS7 return submitted for the March 2023 funding round.

On 1 March, we will pay the next instalment of ECE funding to licensed early learning services. The key dates for the 1 March payment are: 

An email acknowledging receipt of the RS7 return will be sent to your service. If you do not receive an acknowledgement within two working days of your submission, check your student management system (SMS) or Early Learning Information system (ELI) reports. 

If necessary, contact us at ECE.Funding@education.govt.nz. 

Education and care services will confirm their opt-in status to pay parity when they complete the Attestation of Certificated Teachers’ Salaries section of their RS7 return.

Through the attestation a service is confirming what salary conditions they have met for the attestation period of the RS7 return. For the March 2023 funding round the attestation period is October 2022 to January 2023.

Services are only required to meet the Step 6 to 11 and management minimum salary requirements from 1 January 2023.

More information about the Pay Parity Attestation can be found on our website:

Pay Parity Attestation – Ministry of Education

Following a change of ownership, the new owner may:

• submit an electronic RS7 return for the period after the purchase and send a paper based RS7 for the period prior to the purchase
• submit the entire funding claim using a paper based RS7 return. 

All funding following a change of ownership will be paid to the new owner. Any payment to the old owner should be actioned by the new owner. We do not split payments between the old and new owners.

Paper based RS7 returns must be sent by email to ECE.Funding@education.govt.nz or post to the ECE Operational Funding team at the Ministry of Education PO Box 1666, Wellington 6140.

If you have not been using your new system (SMS or ELI Web) for the entire funding period, you can:

• submit the portion of your claim electronically, for the month/s you have been using your new system and send a paper based RS7 form for the month/s before you began using this system; or
• submit your entire funding claim using the paper based RS7 return.

Paper based RS7 returns can be sent by email to ECE.Funding@education.govt.nz or post to the ECE Operational Funding team at the Ministry of Education PO Box 1666, Wellington 6140.

If, for whatever reason, your service submits your RS7 return after 9 February, funding will be processed for a later payment. 

RS7 returns received after 9 February, but before 8 March, will be processed for payment on Monday, 20 March.

You are responsible for ensuring the accuracy of the data submitted. Resubmissions are available to correct genuine errors or oversights that emerge after you submit your RS7 return.

Resubmissions should be made:

• electronically through your SMS for the October 2022 to January 2023 period 
• using a paper based RS7 return for the February 2022 to September 2022 period. 

Resubmissions relating to any time before February 2022 will not be processed. Any resubmissions may be audited by our Monitoring team.

Following the 1 March payment funding notices will be available for download from the Secure Data Portal (SDP).

Secure Data Portal – Education Sector Logon

Only funding contacts with access to the Secure Data Portal will be able to download their service’s funding notice.

For information about the Secure Data Portal and accessing electronic funding notices you can contact us at ECE.SecureDataPortal@education.govt.nz.

Teacher-led and hospital-based services must submit a record of the total number of discretionary hours along with their RS7 return. Services that have not used any discretionary hours do not need to complete the report.

If you use an approved SMS and require assistance providing the information, contact your SMS provider.

If you submit a paper based RS7 or use ELI Web, you must submit the following discretionary hours form:

Discretionary hours report form: 80 Hours – Ministry of Education

Completed discretionary hours forms should be returned to the ECE Operational Funding team to ECE.Funding@education.govt.nz or post to the ECE Operational Funding team at the Ministry of Education PO Box 1666, Wellington 6140.

For more details on the requirements for discretionary hours, refer to the ECE Funding Handbook:

3-B-2 Teacher-led education and care services – Ministry of Education

Electronic RS7 returns and ELI reports are available on the ELI homepage:

Early Learning Information (ELI) reports – Ministry of Education

For any questions, or if you need to discuss any funding issues, please contact our Resourcing Support team Monday to Friday 8am to 5pm:

Phone: 0800 323 323 or email: resourcing@education.govt.nz.

For any licensing, general operational matters, or if you require any updates to your service’s contact details, please contact your local Te Mahau office:

Local Te Mahau offices – Ministry of Education

If you have received more than $2,000 in targeted funding for the 2022 calendar year and have not yet provided a complete report, please send it to us by Wednesday, 1 February.

You can submit your report through this web form: 

Reporting requirements for Targeted Funding for Disadvantage – Ministry of Education

The information you provide is important – it helps us better understand how this funding is used and how effective it is at supporting children.

Find out more about Targeted Funding on our website:

Targeted Funding for Disadvantage – Ministry of Education

If you have any questions about completing this report, contact Data.Team@education.govt.nz.