KEY POINTS:
The head of one of the country's largest ministries has leaped into the position of New Zealand's highest-paid public service chief executive after receiving a whopping 14 per cent pay rise in the past year.
The latest State Services Commission annual report reveals that Ministry of Social Development chief executive Peter Hughes receives a remuneration package of $490,000 to $499,000.
The position last year had a $430,000 to $439,000 pay band, although the Department of Child, Youth and Family Services has been merged into the ministry, meaning that the responsibilities the job carries have grown.
The pay bands include salary, any motor vehicle, superannuation, and any performance payment made in the year to June 30.
The head of the Prime Minister's department, Maarten Wevers, has received a 5 per cent pay increase, much smaller than the 17 per cent rise a year before.
His salary came in for scrutiny last year after he was given a $60,000 pay rise, despite a major Telecom budget leak happening on his watch.
The pay scales of several public service chief executives have dropped over the past year, in many cases as a person left a post and a new appointee came in at a lower remuneration level.
The head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade is the second-highest paid chief executive, earning between $470,000 and $479,999.
At the other end of the scale, the lowest-paid is the chief executive of the Ministry of Pacific Island Affairs, at $190,000 to $199,999.
State Services Commissioner Mark Prebble notes in the annual report the difficulty he has bringing public service chief executive salaries closer to peers in the private sector.
"I am having difficulty reducing the disparity," he said.
"A contributing factor over the last year has been the number of new appointments made because, as is appropriate, new appointees generally start at a lower level of remuneration than their more experienced predecessors."
Dr Prebble said he would continue to monitor the disparity and consider how it might be reduced.
