ECC Update PAY EQUITY CLAIM UPDATE Those of you who the ECC is representing in the Pay Equity claim process should have received the Ngā Whenu Raranga document from the ECE steering group. This document describes the process needed to commence the pay equity investigation. The ECE Steering Group also held two Ngā Whenu Raranga webinars in the last week of July. If you didn’t attend a recording can be found here, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVGp79lAS2E. A special webinar for employers the ECC represent also took place on 31 August with NZEI. While we are a long way off a settlement (potentially years), the ECC is dedicated to ensuring the investigation process is complete and scoped properly so it can be started. The Pay Equity claim involves the investigation of qualified and unqualified teacher wages/salary rates and conditions. The ECC has been closely involved in the development of Ngā Whenu Raranga and have attended all meetings, providing feedback and ensuring we are comfortable with the overall approach being taken. Please contact the ECC if you have any questions surrounding the Pay Equity claim. The ECC will continue to share what insights we can and try to give you opportunities to get your head around what's happening so we can ensure the employers ECC represents are bestpositioned. POLICE VETTING SERVICE UPDATE ECC has been getting numerous requests for assistance on Police vetting service delays. As staff sickness in Winter surged, centres have been forced to urgently find additional staff to ensure they meet ratios and other requirements. Before employing new staff a Police vet should be completed and assessed as clear. In some cases the time centre management spends waiting for the Police vets means fewer children can attend that service – this is how tight staffing has become for many. The Police don’t provide an urgent service as standard, but there is an urgent service option available through the Ministry of Education. Information about it is available on the education.govt.nz website (Google search: “urgent police vet moe”). ECC has been working with both the Police and Ministry of Education on the need to improve the response times on the vetting service. We wrote to the Minister of Education about the matter in July. In a recent ECC consultation we asked members about their experience with the Police vetting service (sample size=77). To the question, “How satisfied are you with the police vetting regime on a scale of 1 to 100?” the average satisfaction score was 57%. And to the question, “How reliable is the processing time for police vetting based on your recent experience on a scale of 1 to 100?” the average satisfaction score was 44%. Police are mostly delivering the vetting service on the set timelines, however the pressure on staffing is heightened and the need for a faster and more responsive service is clearly strong. Sadly, government does not often respond quickly to developing issues and Winter and the surge of staff sickness may recede before any response can be delivered. ECC UPDATE Nau mai, haere mai The Early Childhood Council (ECC) warmly welcomes the following early learning centres that recently joined the ECC: ● Ohope Beach Montessori Preschool, Ōhope ● Aubrey Early Learning Centre, Auckland ● Love and Joy Early Learning Centre, Auckland ● The Tree House Early Learning, Nelson ● Play Learn Grow Early Childcare, Auckland ● Newstead Country Preschool, Hamilton NETWORK MANAGEMENT QUERY Every week members call or email the ECC seeking help with various issues, and at the same time the Ministry responds to issues we raised sometimes many weeks prior – this is like a cycle. One top issue has been on the network management. The Ministry has clarified that only complete applications received before 1 February 2023 will be eligible for the transition process (applicants for a licence where the transition process does not apply will be subject to the new pre-licence step). This responded to questions from ECC about whether an application missing some of the documentation would qualify or not. For example, if a lift is required to obtain building code or other compliance then it would not be possible to apply if the lift was incomplete. However, if local government compliance could be obtained without the lift and a further application could be made subsequently then so long as all documentation can be provided – the application should be considered complete. There appears to be further delays with the release of the Ministry's online network analysis tool. September 2022 { 10 }
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDc2Mzg=