Pay disparities

Many nurses and kaiāwhina working in the community earn less than their colleagues working in Te Whatu Ora hospitals and health settings.

Government funding has been set aside to reduce the pay gap with:

• $40 million in 2022/23
• Up to $200 million annually from 2023/24

Priority is given to services at greatest risk of services failures and equity challenges.

Initial priority funding (up to $40 million in 2022/23) was made as an initial payment to reduce pay disparities for nurses and kaiāwhina in:

• Kaupapa Māori providers
• Pasifika providers
• Aged residential care (ARC)
• Home and community support services
• Hospices

Further funding (up to $200 million annually) will get paid to providers in other health-funded sectors, including,

• General practice services that have completed the Te Whatu Ora workforce data collection
• Mental health and addictions
• Plunket/Well Child Tamariki Ora
• Family Planning
• School based health services
• Rural hospitals
• National Telehealth Service
• Community care services
• Youth One Stop Shop

This additional funding is intended to reduce the pay gap for eligible workforces. It will not result in pay parity, which is when there are similar terms and conditions for a workforce.

It is also not pay equity, which is where women and men receive the same pay for doing jobs that are different, but of equal value. Pay equity requires a claim to be submitted under the Equal Pay Act 1972.

This additional funding is for eligible nurses and kaiāwhina working in the funded sector, who are employed by health care providers that are contracted by the Government to provide health services.

An eligible worker means a person:

• employed by a health care provider, whether on a permanent, fixed term, or casual basis (to avoid doubt, this excludes contractors and bureau Nurses), as a Nurse or a Kaiāwhina to provide services under one or more of the provider’s existing agreements; and
• who is not the subject of a pay equity claim under the Equal Pay Act 1972 as at 1 April 2023 (whether or not that claim has been settled prior to 1 April 2023).

Nurse means an employee working in a nursing role and whose position description or employment agreement or letter of offer requires them to be registered by the Nursing Council of New Zealand, which, to avoid doubt, includes an enrolled nurse.

Kaiāwhina means a person who the health care provider determines has a position description that has 50 percent or more in common with the Te Whatu Ora-employed Health Care Assistant position.

Providers that have received offers for additional funding to reduce pay disparities can contact paydisparities@health.govt.nz.

Nurses and kaiāwhina who work for providers that have received offers for additional funding to reduce pay disparities need to contact their employer. Setting pay rates is the responsibility of their employers.