22 October 2025
Andrew Riddell
[FYI request #31797 email]
Tēnā koe Andrew
Your request for official information, reference: HNZ00094576
Thank you for your Official Information Act (OIA) request which was transferred from the Ministry of
Health to Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora (Health NZ) on 29 July 2025. You requested the
following information:
“A report from Radio New Zealand yesterday included the following statement attributed to
the Ministry of Health: The average salary for both senior and registered nurses, including
overtime and allowances, was $125,662, Health NZ said.
Please provide the average salary including overtime and allowances separately for senior
nurses and for registered nurses. Also include the time over which this averaging has been
made.
Please also provide your definitions of "senior nurse" and "registered nurse".”
Response
The mean average total employment costs from NZNO payroll data for the 12 months to 31 May
2024 are $121,732 for a Registered Nurse (RN) and $141,200 for a Senior Nurse (SN). Total
employment costs are inclusive of overtime, allowance, superannuation, professional development,
etc, but exclusive of ACC levies.
The definitions for these positions, as outlined in the
Nursing and Midwifery Collective Agreement,
31 March 2023-31 October 2024, are:
• RN: a person as defined by the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003 and
its successors as a Registered Nurse.
• SN: a nurse who is appointed by a District into a designated senior position and is paid on
the scale at 8.0.3.
This agreement, containing additional information on salaries, overtime and penal time,
allowances, and expenses can be fo
und at Employment agreements – Health New Zealand | Te
Whatu Ora.
Please note, the $125,662 average salary figure was obtained by averaging payroll data for nurses
(excluding Enrolled Nurses) and was inclusive of overtime, allowances, superannuation, and other
entitlements. The employees who originally provided the initial calculations for this figure are no
longer with Health NZ, so calculations have been extracted, analysed, and re-validated to provide
you with your response below.
How to get in touch
If you have any questions, you can contact us a
t [email address].
If you are not happy with this response, you have the right to make a complaint to the
Ombudsman. Information about how to do this is available at
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or
by phoning 0800 802 602.
As this information may be of interest to other members of the public, Health NZ may proactively
release a copy of this response on our website. Al requester data, including your name and
contact details, wil be removed prior to release.
Nāku iti noa, nā
Sasha Wood
Head of Government Services
Office of the Chief Executive
TeWhatuOra.govt.nz
Health NZ, PO Box 793,
Wellington 6140, New Zealand
