The Education Minister's issued a warning to early childhood education centres

Concerns have been raised about some centres holding onto money that was intended to improve teachers' pay.

Chris Hipkins says to receive the funding, they must commit to paying staff at least as much as the lowest-paid kindergarten, primary or secondary teacher.

He says if they already pay them that, the money still has to go into salaries.

Hipkins says if centres don't increase teachers' salaries, it's going to undermine the drive towards pay parity.