The Care and Support Worker (Pay Equity) Settlement Act 2017 new wage rates are mapped against the employees’ current qualifications or their service with their current employer.
The ACT specifies these qualifications must be:
- I) a Level 2, 3 or 4 New Zealand Certificate in Health and Wellbeing from an NZQA accredited provider or;
- II) a qualification that has been assessed as equivalent by Careerforce.
The Government has tasked Careerforce with the role of assessing care and support qualifications for pay equity purposes. This is because we are the Industry Training Organisation for the Health and Wellbeing sectors and the Government-appointed body that sets skill standards, develops and facilitates achievement of NZQA qualifications across all our sectors.
Is My Qualification Equivalent?
Are you a care and support worker and wondering which level New Zealand Health and Wellbeing Certificate you are equivalent to for pay equity purposes? Search our growing list of EQUIVALENT QUALIFICATIONS here.
Read more
Assess My Qualification
Do you hold a qualification that you think is relevant to your care and support worker role? Apply HERE to get it assessed by Careerforce's qualification equivalency team.
Read more
Pay Equity, Qualifications and Careerforce
The new Pay Equity law has tasked Careerforce to lead establishing the equivalency of existing or expired care and support qualifications to New Zealand Health and Wellbeing qualifications.
Read more
How Careerforce Assesses Qualification Equivalencies
Are you wondering how Careerforce assesses qualifications for pay equity purposes? Let us explain the process, so you know you’re in good hands once you send in your qualification equivalency query.
Equivalent Qualifications
We've been busy assessing existing care and support qualifications against the New Zealand Certificates (Level 2, 3 and 4) to determine what Level they are equivalent to for pay equity purposes. Check if you qualification is on the list here.
Read more
Non-Equivalent Qualifications
Unfortunately not all care and support qualifications can be assessed for pay equity purposes. The majority of these are qualifications whose primary purpose are not to provide care and support knowledge and practical skills. Check out our list of non-equivalent qualifications here.
Read more
Overseas-gained Nursing Qualifications
Are you a care and support worker currently working in the aged care, disability, home and community support sectors and hold an international nursing degree from the Philippines, India, South Africa, Australia and the United Kingdom?
Read more
Gaining a New Zealand Qualification
If someone holds a qualification that is highly relevant to care and support work, there are a few ways they can gain the relevant New Zealand Certificate in Health and Wellbeing Level 2, 3 or 4. Check out Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) and other options here:
Read more
ACE Programmes
If you hold an ACE Programme then this may or may not be enough to gain equivalency to Level 2, 3 or 4 for pay equity purposes. Check if your qualification is on our list or submit a query and we'll check what you might be equivalent to.
Read more
Level 7 Qualifications and above
Qualification outcomes can vary depending on the elective subjects chosen as part of these qualifications. For qualifications at level 7 or above we may need to review and assess your transcript and course descriptors to be able to make an accurate assessment against the Health and Wellbeing qualifications.
Read moreHow Careerforce Assesses Qualification Equivalencies
Are you wondering how Careerforce assesses qualifications for pay equity purposes? Let us explain the process, so you know you’re in good hands once you send in your qualification equivalency query.
Equivalency Requirements
As the Industry Training Organisation for the Health and Wellbeing sectors, Careerforce has been tasked by the Government to lead establishing the equivalency of existing or expired care and support qualifications to New Zealand Health and Wellbeing qualifications.
We are now receiving requests about qualifications that may or may not be relevant to the care and support role. Please note it can take considerable time and analysis to establish the relevancy of these qualifications and qualifications are being added to the list as they are assessed.
Please check if your qualification is on the list of Equivalent or Non-Equivalent qualifications. If your qualification is not on the list, please contact us using the form above. If you have already submitted a qualification query, you can expect a reply soon.
