What additional relief teacher funding is#

Additional relief teacher funding (ARTF) is available for state and state-integrated schools.

It is to help with the costs of employing relief cover for a teacher taking eligible paid leave. All criteria must be met to receive ARTF.

You can apply for additional relief teacher funding when:

• a teacher has taken eligible paid leave
• your school has employed a reliever to cover the absence, and
• your school hasn’t received other funding to cover their leave.

When claiming this funding, you must keep auditable records of the teacher’s paid leave and the hiring of relief cover.

ARTF for sports or cultural leave#

This is only provided in cases where the event meets our conditions for sports and cultural ARTF.

Additional relief teacher funding for sports and cultural leave

How to apply#

You must submit an ARTF claim within 1 year of the date the leave started.

Before you start the request process via the Education Resourcing System (ERS), 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. For part-time teachers, funding is paid in proportion to their employed hours. When the application is for cover of a part-time teacher, you must outline their usual working hours and days in the application
• the claim meets all criteria
• note all claims will be processed subject to dates requested and evidence attached. This may include removing paid sick leave days identified by ERS which are not supported by the evidence provided.

The Education Resourcing System (ERS) – Applications and Online Systems

After you apply#

We calculate funding based on the number of days your school needs relief cover for.

We use the following formula to calculate additional relief teacher funding:

• (maximum relieving teacher base salary rate/190) times (the number of approved funded days)
• ACC and GST is then added to the payment.

If we approve your application, the ARTF payment is made to your school's bank account.

Long term illness of your principal#

For cases of hardship due to the long-term illness of your principal, contact your finance advisor to discuss your situation.

Regional offices

What we do not provide ARTF for#

You cannot claim ARTF when a relief teacher is not required, for example during school or public holidays, or teacher-only days. You also cannot claim it if a relief teacher wasn’t employed to cover an absence.

ARTF is not available for:

• leave without pay
• professional development
• a teacher who has taken paid sick days off from time to time that adds up to more than 8 days within a year, and is not able to provide acceptable medical documentation to support the days being claimed
• bereavement leave
• board-approved discretionary leave, including discretionary leave granted to teachers to attend to dependent members of their family (note: this is not the same as sick leave for a teacher to care for a dependent)
• leave for job interviews
• ACC claims
• leave where a board has received some other form of resourcing to cover the absence of a teacher.

ARTF isn’t a full reimbursement of any board’s particular relief related expenses or salary expenditure, which may include the payment of higher duties or acting up allowances. We provide relief teacher funding to school boards through their operational grant to help with relief teacher salaries and allowances.