27 November 2025
Erika Whittome
[FYI request #32615 email] Tēnā koe Erika,
Your request for official information, reference: HNZ00104094
Thank you for your email on 19 November 2025, asking Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora for
the following under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act):
I am requesting the summarized Covid Paid Special Leave (CPSL) data by month (or
fortnightly pay period) of Covid sick leave for all Health NZ staff by DHB
Response
Please refer to the spreadsheet attached as
Appendix One.
Please note that:
Health NZ has identified that COVID Paid Special leave was applied in only some districts
during a specific timeframe, as outlined in the data caveats in
Appendix One.
Negative numbers relate to corrections relating to previous months; however, the payroll
system has recorded the change in the current payroll month rather than the month being
corrected.
Some districts could not differentiate COVID leave from other types of special leave. Data
for these districts is refused under section 18(g) of the OIA, that the information is not held
by Health NZ nor another agency.
The historic data was sourced using the terminology
“Covid”. As a result, while reasonable
care has been taken to prepare this material, we give no guarantee that it is free from
errors or defects. It is the best available data.
COVID Paid Special leave data is recorded in hours, rather than months or fortnightly pay.
Accurate conversion to days is not feasible as length of employees’ workdays vary. Please
note the data for April 2020 and August 2023 reflects complete months.
This data is provisional and used for operational purposes. It has not been through the full
quality assurance process that we use before publishing data and therefore is subject to
change.
How to get in touch
If you have any questions, you can contact us at
[Health New Zealand request email].
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.
Nāku iti noa, nā
Danielle Coe
Manager (OIA) Government Services
Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora
TeWhatuOra.govt.nz
PO Box 793, Wellington 6140
