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25/02/2026
Erika Whittome
[FYI request #33374 email]
Tēnā koe Erika
OIA: GEMS-46464 – COVID-19 sick leave
Thank you for your email of 24 December 2025 to the Ministry of Education (the Ministry)
requesting the following information:
In 2020-2023 there was an additional allowance of sick days for workers who got covid 19
that was on top of regular sick days.
Can you please provide summarized covid sick days data by month (or fortnightly pay
period) of Covid sick leave for all Ministry of Education and school staff?
eg one row would be "Nov 2021, 55 covid sick days taken"
The timeframe for this information on covid sick days is from the start of 6 April 2020 to end
of 15 August 2023. This is the timeframe that the Covid sick day allowance was in place
according to the IRD.
Your request was considered under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act).
Thank you for your email of 12 February 2026, after the Ministry’s initial response to your request,
where you provided the following clarification:
I am not referring to " COVID-19 Leave Support ". I am referring to sick days taken for
Covid-19. Would you please provide information on Covid-19 sick days as requested?
And thank you for your email response of 17 February 2026 providing the following further
clarification:
I am referring to the additional allowance of sick days for workers who got covid 19 that was
on top of regular sick days.
Please find below an outline of the sick leave entitlements, in addition to regular sick leave, that
were available to Ministry and school employees with COVID-19. Please note, we have provided
this information for the period April 2020 to August 2023, as noted in your original request.
Wellington National Office, 1 The Terrace, Levels 5 to 14, Wellington 6011
PO Box 1666, Wellington 6140, DX SR51201 Phone: +64 4 463 8000
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With regard to school staff, there was a contractual entitlement provided in the Primary,
Secondary, and Area School Teachers’ and Principals’ employment agreements related to
disregarded sick leave. Disregarded sick leave is time off work, taken as sick leave or sick leave
without pay, which can be reinstated where certain conditions or circumstances are met. More
information regarding this policy can be found here: https://web-assets.education.govt.nz/s3fs-
public/2024-11/Final-DSL-Guidance-Principals-and-
Teachers%5B1%5D.pdf?VersionId=hO72EynZhuHjtN9dfI1QKGXgbBiVdYp3.
From 30 January 2020, COVID-19 was officially considered a notifiable disease eligible for
disregarded sick leave. The Ministry has provided, as
Table 1, the number of disregarded sick
leave days by month from April 2020-August 2023.
Table 1: Disregarded Sick Leave days April 2020- August 2023
Calendar Year
Calendar Month
Disregarded Sick Leave Days
2020
April 8
May 11
December 1
2021
January 2
February 21
March 26
April 9
May 3
June 4
July 10
August 30
September 30
October 11
November 11
2022
February 2,478
March 32,556
April 10,979
May 20,199
June 14,939
July 8,439
August 8,925
September 2,905
October 2,340
November 7,458
December 4,114
2023
January 94
February 2,866
March 5,251
April 1,736
May 7,081
June 4,368
July 934
August 1,553
OIA: GEMS-46464
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Please note:
• The table shows the total numbers of disregarded sick leave days; the Ministry does not
hold this broken down by COVID-19.
• Data only includes regular teachers, not day relief or principals.
• Data is reliant upon accurate coding of sick leave by schools and teachers.
• Where there is no month in a year in the table above, no leave booking was recorded for
that month
For Ministry employees, discretionary leave (special paid leave) in certain situations was available.
The Ministry’s guidance at the time, which also followed information provided by the Public
Services Commission, allowed for managers to approve special paid leave in situations where an
employee was unable to work from home and provided a positive COVID-19 test. This special paid
leave did not come off a person’s sick leave balance. Please see
Table 2 below for further
information about this special paid leave.
Table 2: Special Paid Leave Hours – COVID-19
Year/Month
Hours of Special Paid
Leave - Covid 19 taken
2020
March 179.20
April 632.30
May 19.00
June 144.40
August 60.80
September 23.20
November 38.40
December 60.80
2021
January 24.00
May 11.80
June 72.20
July 191.30
August 841.40
September 748.85
October 1,032.25
November 615.43
December 475.14
2022
January 908.99
February 1,767.19
March 3,740.19
April 1,494.84
May 1,438.89
June 1,093.84
July 1,919.63
August 726.65
September 150.80
OIA: GEMS-46464
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Please note:
• This was only available to permanent or fixed-term employees
• Where there is no month in a year in the table above, no leave booking was recorded for
that month
• If the booking runs across two months, it is recorded in the month the booking started
• Leave booking for Special Paid Leave – COVID-19 was in hours. Most Ministry staff (that
are full time) work 7.6 hours per day
• There is no data past September 2022 as the Ministry moved to a new payroll system and
no Covid-19 leave codes were set up there.
Please note, we may publish this response on our website after five working days. Your name and
contact details will be removed.
Thank you again for your email. You have the right to ask an Ombudsman to review my decision
on your request, in accordance with section 28 of the Act. You can do this by writing to
[email address] or to Office of the Ombudsman, PO Box 10152, Wellington 6143.
Nāku noa, nā
Sarah Gray
General Manager Integration Services
Te Pou Rangatōpū | Corporate
OIA: GEMS-46464
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