Good practice

New Zealand Care and Support Workers (Pay Equity) Settlement Act 2017

New Zealand · Wellington · See the New Zealand profile

NZD 2 billion pay equity settlement for 55,000 predominantly-female care and support workers, enacted June 2017. Wages rose 15-50% (minimum-wage workers: +21%). First major pay equity settlement in NZ history; extended sector-wide by the Pay Equity Act 2020.

NZD 2 billion

Settlement value (2017)

55,000

Care and support workers covered

+15–50%

Wage increase

+21%

Minimum-wage workers' increase

Details

Maturity: Established
Promoter: New Zealand Government / Ministry of Social Development
Period: 2017-present
Keywords: pay equity, care work, female-dominated sectors, wage discrimination, employment law

Context

New Zealand's Care and Support Workers (Pay Equity) Settlement Act 2017 implemented a NZD 2 billion pay-equity settlement for around 55,000 predominantly female care and support workers — the first major pay-equity settlement in the country's history.

Results

Wages rose 15–50% (21% for minimum-wage workers), and the settlement was extended sector-wide by the Pay Equity Act 2020.

Implementation

Implementation detail (cost, timeline, staffing, conditions for success) is not yet available for this practice.

Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

C-NAPSE web research — accessed 2026-06-21
New Zealand Government / Ministry of Social Development — accessed 2026-06-21
NZ Beehive: $2b pay equity settlement for 55,000 health care workers signed — accessed 2026-06-21
Library of Congress: New Zealand — Government and Care Workers Reach Pay Equity Settlement (2017) — accessed 2026-06-21
The Conversation: Historic pay equity settlement for NZ care workers delivers mixed results — accessed 2026-06-21

Quality score: 96/100

How is this calculated?

Evidence: Observational / pre–post

Top 4% in this catalogue (719 scored practices)

Scores cluster high, so position within the catalogue is often more telling than the number alone.

Evaluation

Evaluated by C-NAPSE

Score profile — the dimensions behind the score — how it's computed

Transferability / replicability2/3

The Bartlett case model influenced Canada's Pay Equity Act (2018) and Australian pay equity reform debates; MBIE documented the claim process for replication across NZ public and private sectors.

Impact on gender equality1/1

55,000 predominantly female workers (90% of sector) received 15-50% wage increases, directly correcting systemic gender pay discrimination in a female-dominated occupation.

Effectiveness1/1

Settlement met its objective of pay equity for care and support workers; enacted as law and implemented on schedule from 1 July 2017 with unanimous parliamentary support.

Efficiency1/1

NZD 2 billion cost spread over 5 years between government and employers; Ministry of Health review found meaningful quality-of-life improvements relative to investment.

Evaluated outcomes1/1

Ministry of Health (2019) independent report-back; Treasury NZ budget documentation; The Conversation peer-reviewed academic assessment (2019); Library of Congress documentation.

Sustainability1/1

Enacted as permanent law; Pay Equity Act 2020 further embedded sector-wide pay equity claims as a legal right, with no time limit on the mechanism.

Achievement / evidence1/1

NZD 2 billion commitment, 55,000 workers: minimum wage workers moved from NZD 15.75 to NZD 19/hour (+21%), with confirmed pathway to NZD 27/hour by 2022.

Gender-mainstreaming embedding1/1

Pay equity claims institutionalised as a permanent gender equality mechanism in employment law; a 90% female sector now has structural statutory wage protection.

Curator validation1/1

NZ legislation site, Beehive (PM office), Library of Congress, NZ Law Society, Treasury NZ, and academic sources provide multi-source authoritative documentation.

Cite this

Evidoria. New Zealand Care and Support Workers (Pay Equity) Settlement Act 2017. Persistent ID: d53f6940-b1f3-4304-8556-7ab805a15398.

Export as decision brief (PDF)

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