Direct Crediting of Salary

Overview

All employees of the Department paid through the central payroll system are required to use direct crediting (electronic funds transfer) for their salary payments. On first appointment with the Department, initial direct crediting arrangement details must be provided in writing to the principal or workplace manager for entry onto the payroll. To assist schools, a pro forma is available below for schools to amend and use.

Salary payments are credited to nominated accounts each fortnight. Variations can occur due to public holidays. Refer to Calendars — HR Administration for the current salary payment schedules.

Direct credit arrangements may be made with most banks, building societies and credit unions. It is also possible to distribute a salary payment across multiple accounts or institutions by nominating a net pay percentage or a specific dollar amount to specific accounts.

Changing account details

When changing account details it is advisable for the employee not to close the old account(s) at the bank, building society or credit union until the new arrangements appear on the pay advice slip.

Banking details should be adjusted using Employee Self Service (ESS), refer to the Resources tab for more information. Banking details must be updated by pay finalisation on the Friday before payday to be effective in the current fortnight’s pay.

Cancellation of a direct credit (recall)

There is no provision to produce a replacement payment in a recalled pay cycle, therefore to avoid the necessity to recall a pay, HR operators should vigilantly monitor all payroll results, payroll validation pages and payroll exception reports. This monitoring will provide alerts to potential payroll errors and overpayments allowing an opportunity to correct the payroll and avoid an error.

Direct credit cancellation is a high risk, complex and time-consuming process and as such approval will only be granted in the most exceptional circumstances

All other avenues of overpayment recovery must be exhausted prior to lodging a direct credit recall request.

Where a request for a direct credit recall is made, the request form must be forwarded to HR Services before 4:00pm on the Tuesday before pay day.

Note: A pay cancellation for an employee on the School Local Payroll is not possible. Pays for SLP employees cannot be cancelled.

Rejected direct credit

Where a financial institution rejects an employee’s salary to the nominated account(s) and returns the payment to the Department, the money will be held until the account details are updated. A direct credit is rejected when the employee’s account has been closed or the account or branch details are incorrect. It can take up to 4 working days for the funds to be returned to the Department by the financial institution.

Where an employee’s salary has not been credited to their nominated account, the banking and net pay distributions on the payroll must be updated accordingly and an email sent to HR Services at payrollservices@education.vic.gov.au to arrange for the payment to be made.

Related policies

• Calendars — HR Administration

Contact information

• Contact HR

Policy and Guidelines

There is no further guidance for this topic. For more information, refer to the Resources tab.

Resources

Procedures and forms

• Direct Credit of Pay Application Form (Word)
• Cancellation of Direct Credit Request Form (Excel)

For employees, select the appropriate link below for help and information and to access ESS:

• information about using eduPay — eduPay and eduPAY Help
• to access ESS (including remote access from home) — eduPay