The Support Workers (Pay Equity) Settlements Act 2017 (the Act), indexes support worker wage rates with the Labour Cost Index (LCI) to ensure the relevance of wages over time.

As per clause 3 of Schedule 2 of the Act, wage adjustments are required for support workers if the compound annual growth rate for the LCI for the period 1 July 2017 and ending on 30 June 2021 is greater than 1.7 percent. As per the published LCI figure from Statistics New Zealand for the period ending 30 June 2021, the compound average growth rate for the period 1 July 2017 to 30 June 2021 is 2.07 percent.

Funding was approved in December 2021 to enable LCI adjusted support worker wage rates to occur, dated from 1 July 2021. Adjustments to the support worker wage rates are listed below:

Pay band 1 July 2021 Year 5 wage rates prior to LCI adjustment Revised 1 July 2021 Year 5 wage rates after LCI adjustment
L0 $21.50 $21.84
L2 $23.00 $23.36
L3 $25.00 $25.39
L4a $26.00 $26.41
L4b $27.00 $27.43