A $20 million bungle in early childhood payments is being investigated by the Ministry of Education.
Chief executive Karen Sewell says early childhood centres were "mistakenly" given a funding increase of 8% last year, instead of 4%.
Another 4% increase was due this July, but she says that will not happen because they centres have effectively been paid early.
Ms Sewell says an internal audit team has been put together, with the aim of preventing future errors, rather than handing out blame.
She says the mistake affects up to two thirds of all early childhood centres.
