Civil service pay scales

[Lauralocks]

Hi,

I've been looking at jobs on the NZ Government website and encouragingly there seem quite a few policy jobs. However they all have different job bands and I can't find a guide as to what the numbers/letter equate to in salary.

For example, one I have looked at recently is a Senior Policy Analyst in the Ministry of Health, job band 18PA. Any idea what the pay range is for that band?

A couple more, also in the Ministry of Health, are a Senior Advisor at band 17 and an Analyst at band 12.

And then there's a policy analyst/senior policy analyst at the Ministry of Social Development with no indication of bands for either level!

I know the pay for each title level (i.e. analyst/senior analyst) differs between departments but I assume (hope) they all use the same band system - so a band 16 is paid the same in every department irrespective of whether they are an analyst/senior analyst/principal etc.

Can anyone shed any light on the job bands thought? It would be really useful for our planning to get some sort of indication of how much I may be able to earn and a band number on it's own does not help!

Thanks
x

[eternalkiwi]

Bands are not uniform in each government department and the range covered by each band can also vary.
Even with the same band different government agencies could pay, on average, at a different point within the range.
Generally speaking policy roles pay a little more than similar roles outside policy.
Band 17 senior advisors can range from approx. $75k to $90k and a Policy Band 18 could range from approx. $85k to $105k.

[Lauralocks]

Thats a good starting point, thanks. If I did manage to get a senior level role I'd be looking at quite a pay rise! I'm on £28K UK currently. Would a band 12 be closer to my current pay?

Its also very hard to work out how valuable the NZ Government will see my experience as. I have 4 years experience working in policy, 2 for a charity then currently 2 for an organisation which although it is a charity is actually more like a think-tank than a traditional charity. The last 2 are as a senior policy and parliamentary officer. I also have a year as a project officer and 18 months as a a grants officer (overseeing programmes of different projects we funded). Prior to that I have 3 years teaching law at University.

Any policy people out there that can advise?

[eternalkiwi]

In additional to the external & internal policy roles you could also consider government / ministerial relations roles within government agencies.

I would expect most advisor roles for experienced staff within (central) government would pay above $70k. A higher salary (particularly for policy or ministerial roles) would also be possible. To get the initial role and become familiar with the NZ 'Machinery of Government' may require starting at the lower end of the range, though with your background opportunities to move to more senior roles could be possible in the short to medium term.

Shawn