HSC 2023: Hundreds of exam supervisors have still not been paid by NESA as results released

The NSW Education Standards Authority has been criticised after hundreds of HSC exam supervisors have still not been paid for their time.

Hundreds of exam supervisors are still waiting for their paycheck from the state’s HSC administrator despite the results of the exams they spent hours supervising already being handed down to students.

The NSW Education Standards Authority’s lack of urgency in paying out has left a workforce largely made up of retirees, underemployed individuals and moonlighters looking for a few extra bucks irate, calling it a “ridiculous” delay for work they carried out up to two months ago.

In an email seen by The Daily Telegraph, one supervisor was told by customer service that their exam centre’s records were still being “second checked”, and that payments would be made “anytime between now and by the 22nd of December”.

Hundreds of supervisors are still awaiting payment.

One supervisor described the delay as “pretty bad form”, especially in light of the priority given to the release of HSC results to students.

“Without (supervisors) these exams and thus results would not take place,” another said.

Timesheets for the presiding officers and exam supervisors are taken down on paper, giving some explanation for the time needed to make sure every one of the 7,500 supervisors gets paid what they’re owed.

The lack of payment has been described as “pretty bad form”.

A spokeswoman for NESA said the payments have been “made in batches” over the last two months.

“Payments are made in batches throughout November and December and will be finalised before Christmas, as is the case every year,” she said.

“Payments to exam staff are processed after the HSC exam period, once all paperwork is received.

“It is our priority to pay the some 15,000 exam staff who support NESA and schools with the exam operation each year. We employ extra staff to support us with this additional workload at this time of year.”

The 2023 HSC written exams began on October 11, and concluded on November 3. The pay rates for staff employed during the HSC season varies, but supervisors earn around $27 per hour.