Aged Residential Care Provider Newsletter
7 July 2017
This newsletter is designed to help Aged Residential Care (ARC) providers implement the Care and Support Workers (Pay Equity) Settlement.
This edition includes:
· Settlement payments underway
· Support for providers and workers
· What’s happening this coming week
· Leave liability: report to run
· ‘NotPetya’ ransomware update
· Working for Families guidance for employees
· Advance payment – GST application
· Pay equity guidance
· Key dates
· Frequently asked questions
Settlement payments underway
The Settlement advance payments were transferred into your accounts on the 30th of June so that you are able to pay your workers the new minimum wages from 1 July 2017.
The Ministry of Health would again like to thank ARC providers for all the hard work they have put in since the Care and Support Worker (Pay Equity) Settlement was announced in April.
Support for providers and workers
Support for providers
If you have any questions relating to the Settlement, please contact your funder in the first instance.
The Ministry has prepared a guide for payroll managers on implementing new pay rates under the Settlement. This is available for download from our website here. If you have a technical payroll question that isn’t covered in the guide, you can contact the specialist payroll team directly 04 570 9677 on
If you have a question about qualifications please contact CareerForce (0800 277 486 or email ).
Support for workers
Workers are being advised to talk to you, their employer, in the first instance.
If their issue remains unresolved they can contact the appropriate union. The unions will provide advice to members and non-members.
Union call centre numbers are:
• Aged Residential Care
• NZ Nurses Organisation – 0800 283 848
• E tu – 0800 186 466
• Disability Support and Home and Community Support Services
• PSA – 0508 367 72
• E tu – 0800 186 4662.
Workers can also contact their local Citizens Advice Bureau or Employment New Zealand – 0800 209 020.
The Ministry has prepared a one-page ‘Are you eligible?’ guideline for workers, which is available for download from our website here. This is designed to be easily emailed or printed and shared with workers to help them understand what they may be eligible for under the Settlement. If you haven’t already, please distribute this to your staff.
What’s happening this coming week
The focus for ARC providers over the coming week is ensuring the correct payment is made to your workers in their first pay under the Settlement.
If you haven’t yet completed a Workforce Translation Tool (WTT) we will call you to help you complete the form.
There may also be some outstanding claim forms for workers’ attendance at union ratification meetings. All ratification claims must be submitted to the Ministry by 14 July. Further information on the process to claim for an employee’s time to attend a union ratification meeting is available by downloading the ratification meeting claim form on this webpage.
Annual Leave liability: report to run
As advised last week, the Ministry will contribute to the impact of the Care and Support Worker (Pay Equity) Settlement on the cost of annual leave and lieu days for public holidays that were accrued prior to 1 July 2017. The Ministry will cover both Health and ACC eligible services.
We will be asking you for information in August. One-off payments will be made in September.
To be able to provide the information about your annual leave and lieu days for public holidays liability, you should by now have run the required payroll report as at 30 June 2017 and stored the information in a safe place.
If you still haven’t run the payroll report as at 30 June 2017 for each employee eligible under the Settlement and stored the data, we suggest you do it immediately.
If you are having difficulty in running this report please contact the specialist payroll team set up by the Ministry to assist you with technical payroll issues. You can contact the team on O4 570 9677 or
We will ask that you submit this information to the Ministry in August. Before requesting that you submit any information, the Ministry will assess the proposed information fields against all twelve principles in the Privacy Act and provide a short-form privacy impact assessment.
Your report will need to contain the following data:
a) Employee ID Code
b) Contracted (Agreed) FTE
c) Weekly hours
d) Annual leave balance in weeks (excluding accrued)
e) Lieu days for public holidays in hours
f) Dollar liability of (d) and (e)
g) Accrued annual leave balance
h) Dollar liability of (g)
i) Annual leave hourly rate (last 52 week average)
j) Ordinary hourly rate @ 30 June 2017
k) Translated ordinary hourly rate @ 1 July 2017.
Leave and lieu days for public holidays accrued after 1 July 2017 are covered by on-costs and included in the main pay equity cost modelling. Increases in leave liability arising from increases on 1 July 2018 and beyond will not be funded.
‘NotPetya’ ransomware update
Thanks to those who contacted the Ministry about ‘NotPetya’ ransomware.
We are not aware of any ‘NotPetya’ ransomware cyber attacks affecting the Ministry or wider health sector but we are continuing to monitor the situation.
If you have any queries or concerns, get in touch with your IT provider. If your organisation does not have an IT provider, contact the Ministry of Health call centre on 0800 855 151.
Working for Families, student loans and KiwiSaver - guidance for employees
The increase in pay under the Settlement may affect your workers who have student loans, KiwiSaver contributions and those receiving Working for Family Tax Credits.
Please advise your employees of the following information from Inland Revenue.
Working for Families Tax Credits
Your pay increase from 1 July may affect your payments for Working for Families Tax Credits. Make sure you check your family income estimate and let Inland Revenue know if it needs to be changed. This will help make sure you get paid the right Working for Families Tax Credits and avoid an overpayment.
Changes that you need to let Inland Revenue know about include:
· an increase or decrease in your family income
· the number of hours you and/or your partner work
· children coming into, or leaving, your care
· a partner change.
You can make changes online anytime through myIR at ird.govt.nz/myIR
Or, you can call Inland Revenue on 0800 227 773, Monday to Friday 8am to 8pm, and Saturday 9am to 1pm. You can also call from your mobile phone.
Student loans and KiwiSaver
If your pay increases you may notice your student loan repayments and KiwiSaver contributions changing too. An increase in wages is likely to see the amount deducted increase.
If you now go over the weekly repayment threshold of $368 for student loans you may see deductions start happening. Please ensure you are using the correct tax code.
Advance payment – GST application
No GST was applied to the advance payments for ARC national contract services. GST will be paid (and buyer created tax invoices issued) when you claim, as usual, through the Proposed Payment Schedule (PPS).
If you provide services that are not paid at a bed day rate, the advance payment for these services had 15% GST applied and paid. If these services normally have a different GST rate paid, this will be addressed through the wash-up.
Pay equity guidance
Providers have a legal obligation to ensure employees receive their increased wages in the first pay day after 1 July (ie, weekly or fortnightly, depending on their normal pay run).
The Ministry of Health has distributed a significant amount of relevant information to funders and providers.
Please find below a summary of the resources and information available for funders and providers.
· Care and Support Workers (Pay Equity) Settlement Agreement
· Operational policy documents for Aged Residential Care
· Information for Individualised Funding
· Guidance for employees
· Payroll guidance
· Guidance for employers on the following frequently asked questions and more is available in the fact sheet available for download from our website here:
· Worker and/or service eligibility
· Pay band translation
· On-costs
· Annual leave liability
· Casual employees
· Training
· Other relevant qualifications
· Ratification
· How the settlement is funded
· Employees' other conditions of employment
· Work underway to ensure the care and support sector is sustainable.
Key dates
· From 1 July 2017: The Care and Support Worker (Pay Equity) Settlement Act comes into effect. You have a legal obligation to ensure your workers receive their increased wages in the first pay day from their employer (ie, weekly or fortnightly, depending on their normal pay run).
· By 14 July 2017: All ratification claims must be submitted to the Ministry. Further information on the process to claim for an employee’s time to attend a union ratification meeting is available by downloading the ratification meeting claim form on this webpage.
Frequently asked questions
Frequently asked questions can be found in the employer factsheet which is on the Ministry website http://www.health.govt.nz/new-zealand-health-system/care-and-support-workers-pay-equity-settlement.
For more information visit health.govt.nz.
7 July 2017
Pay Equity Settlement Implementation 5