The government has warned it will use debt collectors to collect the hundreds of thousands of dollars still owed by school staff who were overpaid during the Novopay school payroll debacle.
After the system was introduced in 2012, many teachers and other staff were under- or over-paid.
The minister responsible for fixing Novopay, Steven Joyce, says the government suspended the use of collectors in March 2013 because of the problems with the system and the stress being put on staff.
But he says it will resume using them, because nearly 2000 people still owe $1.8 million and have made no attempt to repay it.
Mr Joyce says the government has recovered or arranged repayment of about $24.5 million that was overpaid.
