On this page (10 sections)
- What 'excess' and 'nominated transfer' mean
- What triggers it
- Where you can be placed: the one-hour rule
- Transfer points and your next move
- What happens to your pay
- Temporary teachers and other special cases
- Nominated transfer vs applying to transfer
- Questions to ask your principal and the Federation
- Your checklist if you're told you're excess
- FAQs
The short answer
In NSW public schools, a permanent teacher becomes 'excess' when their position is affected by falling enrolments, a school closure or merger, or changed curriculum needs. You get nominated transfer status and are placed in the nearest suitable vacancy within about one hour of your home address, as a priority appointment, with full transfer points.
- Being excess is about the position, not your performance.
- You can list preferred schools; list your current school first to be reappointed there if a place opens.
- Your salary step stays the same, because pay follows your step on the award scale, not the school.
What 'excess' and 'nominated transfer' mean
NSW public schools are staffed to a formula based mostly on student numbers. When a school's entitlement drops, it may have more permanent teachers in a subject or role than positions. The teacher whose position is affected becomes excess to the school's needs, and is given nominated transfer status so the Department can place them in another school.
The rules sit in the Staffing Procedure, which puts the Staffing Agreement 2024-2029 between the Department and the NSW Teachers Federation into practice. It applies from the start of Term 2 2024 to the end of the Term 4 2028 summer holidays (28 January 2029).
Work out your pay rise and back pay
⚙Your details
New pay rates
Default: the new rates' operative date, 9 October 2026.
When the back pay lands. Default: six weeks from today. New rates apply from the following pay.
E.g. a sign-on or cost-of-living payment in the agreement (gross).
Back pay owed (before tax)
$505
New salary
$92,882
+3.0% on $90,177
Rise per fortnight
$104
$71 after tax
Tax on back pay
$162
32% of the lump
Back pay in hand
$344
What this means
From 9 October 2026 you should have been paid $104 more each fortnight. Because the new rates weren't paid yet, the difference builds up and arrives as one back payment: about $505 before tax. After that, your fortnightly take-home goes from $2,723 to $2,794.
Payroll taxes back pay at your marginal rate rather than spreading it, so roughly 32% comes off. That's your actual tax on the money: it doesn't push the rest of your salary into a higher bracket. These are the latest rates already in force: if they are on your payslip, nothing is owed. This shows what you're owed if payroll was late applying them.
Estimate only. Back pay = (new − old) fortnightly pay × fortnights between the two dates, using the pay column in force at the start of each fortnight. Tax uses the ATO marginal-rate method on your annual salary for 2026–27; back pay for an earlier financial year over $1,200 may be taxed differently and is reported as a lump sum E. Old rates: 9 October 2025 column; Crown Employees (Teachers in Schools and Related Employees) Salaries and Conditions Award 2024, verified 16 October 2026.
What triggers it
Principals are generally excluded unless the school falls below P1 or stops operating.
Where you can be placed: the one-hour rule
A nominated transfer teacher is appointed to the nearest suitable vacancy within approximately one hour of the residential address recorded in SAP. 'Suitable' means a position that matches your teaching codes. When you match, you are appointed as a priority appointment, ahead of other ways of filling the job.
What happens, step by step
- 1
You are told your position is affected
Your principal tells you that you have nominated transfer status. Ask for the reason (enrolment, closure, curriculum) in writing.
- 2
Check your SAP home address
The one-hour radius is measured from the address in SAP. If it is out of date, update it straight away.
- 3
List your school preferences
You can list schools you would like. List your current school first if you want to be reappointed there should a position come back.
- 4
Central placement
Nominated transfers are managed centrally. You are placed in the nearest suitable vacancy that matches your codes.
- 5
You start at the new school
You receive full transfer points for both the school you left and the school you go to.
Transfer points and your next move
Transfer points help when you apply to move schools later. Nominated teachers get full transfer points for both the school they were nominated from and the school they are appointed to. So an involuntary move does not cost you the points you built up, and you start building at the new school too.
If you are placed somewhere you did not want to go, those points are part of your path to a school you prefer. You can also use the merit selection process for advertised positions; our guide to getting a permanent teaching job and the NSW targeted selection criteria explain how.
What happens to your pay
Your base salary is set by your step on the NSW award scale, not by your school. A nominated transfer on its own does not move you down a step. The final 3% rise under the 2024 award applied from 9 October 2026. These are the current classroom rates.
Take-home uses 2026–27 resident tax rates with the tax-free threshold, Medicare levy 2%, no HECS-HELP and no salary sacrifice. Employer super of 12% is paid on top. Source: Crown Employees (Teachers in Schools and Related Employees) Salaries and Conditions Award 2024.
Allowances tied to a school can change. If you move to or from a school with rural or remote incentives, such as the Rural Teacher Incentive of $20,000 to $30,000 a year, check what you gain or lose. See NSW rural and remote incentives for the full list.
Free calculator
Rural teacher incentives calculator
If your placement options include a rural school, see what incentives and allowances could be added to your salary.
Check rural incentivesTemporary teachers and other special cases
- Temporary teachers: where a nominated transfer affects a temporary engagement, at least 4 school weeks' notice applies.
- Above Centrally Identified Positions (ACIP): if an ACIP is disestablished after three years, the school keeps funding it until the teacher is placed through nominated transfer.
- Principals: generally excluded, unless the school falls below P1 or stops operating.
An example of the one-hour rule
- Your SAP address
- Your current home
- Affected position
- Secondary English, after an enrolment drop
- Search area
- Schools within about 1 hour of that address
- Match needed
- An English vacancy that fits your teaching codes
Illustration of the rule as written in the Staffing Procedure. The actual placement depends on vacancies at the time.
Nominated transfer vs applying to transfer
How an involuntary move differs from a voluntary one
Nominated transfer (you are excess)
- Started by a change at your school, not by you
- Managed centrally; you cannot withdraw it
- Nearest suitable vacancy within about 1 hour of your SAP address
- Priority appointment when your codes match
- Full transfer points for both schools
Transfer you apply for
- Started by you, usually to move closer to home or to a preferred school
- Depends on vacancies and how they are filled
- Location set by where you apply
- Competes with other ways of filling the job
- Points depend on your service history
The practical difference is control. In a nominated transfer the Department finds the job, and it has to be close to home and match your codes. In a voluntary move you choose where to apply but have no priority. If you were already thinking of moving, a priority placement close to home can work in your favour.
Questions to ask your principal and the Federation
- Which trigger applies to my position: enrolments, closure or merger, or curriculum?
- Which of my teaching codes are being used to match vacancies, and are any missing?
- Is my SAP residential address correct, and what schools fall within about an hour of it?
- What is the expected timing, and will I finish the term or year at my current school?
- If my position comes back, how will I know, and how does reappointment work?
- Which procedure covers how I was chosen, and can I see it?
Write the answers down, with the date and who gave them. If anything sounds different from the Staffing Procedure, or you think the wrong position has been identified, a NSW Teachers Federation organiser can check it with the Department before the placement is made.
Your checklist if you're told you're excess
- Ask for the reason and the date in writing.
- Update your residential address in SAP if it has changed.
- Check your teaching codes are complete and current, so you match the right vacancies.
- Write your school preference list, with your current school first if you want to return.
- Talk to your school's Federation representative or a NSW Teachers Federation organiser.
- Work out travel time and costs for likely schools within the one-hour radius.
- Check any rural, remote or school-based allowance you would gain or lose.
- Keep a record of conversations and emails about the process.
If you would rather leave than transfer, read resigning as a teacher first: NSW needs at least one month's notice, and more around the summer holidays. If you are weighing a move interstate, compare pay with the NSW vs QLD or NSW vs VIC comparisons.
Frequently asked questions
What is an excess teacher in NSW?
How far can I be transferred as an excess teacher?
Can I refuse a nominated transfer?
Do I lose pay if I become an excess teacher?
Do I keep my transfer points?
Can I go back to my old school?
Does nominated transfer apply to temporary teachers?
Sources we checked · last verified 2026-10-17
About this page
Written and fact-checked by the TeacherPay AU Editorial Team against the enterprise agreements, awards and official pages listed in the sources. It is general information, not personal financial, tax or legal advice. Spotted something out of date? Tell us and we'll fix it, usually within a day. See our editorial policy and how we calculate.
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