Schools Funding
Additional Relief Teacher Funding
Additional Relief Teacher Funding is to help with the costs of employing relief cover for a teacher taking eligible paid leave.
Only three types of Additional Relief Teacher Funding requests are made through the ERS.
- Sick Leave
- Sick Leave for Resource Teacher: Learning and Behaviour
- Family Violence Leave
Go to our website to see the criteria to submit claims and how to apply for all other types. Additional relief teacher funding - Ministry of Education
Medical Certificates and privacy
As the school, who is the employer of teachers, you deal with the personal information of those teachers who submit medical certificates:
- to justify their absences for sick leave and
- to allow you as the school to access Additional Relief Teacher Funding.
Because of this you need to take care of teachers' personal information in a way that complies with the Privacy Act 2020.
Your obligations to a teacher are as follows:
- Limit your collection of personal information to what you need to know.
- You need the medical certificate to prove the fact of the teacher's absence, and the dates thereof.
Sometimes additional information is provided, such as the teacher's medical history or the medical certificate may instead pertain to a teacher's dependant. In these cases, you will need to take out the unnecessary information by blacking it out or removing any unnecessary attachments.
We, the Ministry, have the following obligation to the teachers whose information we are receiving; we keep the personal information safe by storing it in systems where only authorised staff can access it.
Applying for Additional Relief Teacher Funding - Sick Leave, Sick Leave for RTLB or Family Violence Leave
Before you start the request process
Make sure:
- the sick leave has been booked in EdPay before the current pay period has closed
- you have the teacher’s medical certificate ready to upload.
- you have a copy of the part-time teacher’s work history ready to upload.
- The claim meets all criteria as per the website. Additional relief teacher funding - Ministry of Education
Create new request
Download the 'ARTF create new request user guide' and follow the steps below to create a new request.
From the home page or dashboard click New Request.
Select Additional Relief Teacher from the 'Request type' list.
Start typing the name of the teacher and select the correct name from the list.
Click Create request.
Select the dates of absence.
Enter the number of teacher only days that occurred during the absence.
Click Continue.
Click Choose file.
Locate and select the medical certificate to support the request and click Open.
If the teacher is part-time, attach confirmation of their work pattern, e.g. Monday-Wednesday full-time 0.60 FTTE.
Click Continue.
Double-check the information you have entered and amend if necessary.
Click Send for Approval.
Notify your approver that there is a request waiting for them to approve.
Approve request
Download the 'ARTF approve request user guide', and follow the steps below to approve and submit a request to the Ministry for Additional Relief Teacher Funding for sick leave.
Click View All Requests.
Click on the request ID of the request that is 'Pending Acceptance'.
Click on the Request tab and review the information in the request.
If the information is:
- true and correct then click Agree and Submit Request.
- not true and correct then click Cancel and Delete Request.
Note: this will delete the request and a new one will need to be created.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
FAQs about Additional Relief Teacher Funding requests in relation to using ERS.
You need to provide a copy of the medical certificate or letter from a registered health professional, that covers the claim period.
For part-time teachers, you must attach confirmation of their work pattern, e.g. Monday-Wednesday full-time 0.60 FTTE.
The ERS automatically picks up sick leave days for your teachers fromEdpay. This information needs to be up to date so ERS can make the correct calculations for the payment. If it isn't, the calculations may be wrong, and/or we may not be able to be process your request and you will have to resubmit it later.
The system will automatically calculate the sick leave taken between the two dates entered. If the teacher returned to work during the period claimed this will automatically be picked up in the system.