ASMS SECA · in force 1 Jan 2026 – 31 Jan 2027
The ASMS / Health New Zealand agreement puts every senior medical and dental officer on one national scale. Here it is, with the rules that decide your step and what sits on top.
Specialist and medical officer calculator
Fifteen steps. You are placed by negotiation when you're appointed — years of relevant experience and qualifications, aligned with colleagues of similar standing — and move up one step a year unless the employer has told you in writing, before your due date, why not.
Rates from 6 July 2026, clause 12.4(a). Full table with all three rate dates →
$198,386 step 1 · $282,645 step 15
$95/hr ordinary hourly rate at step 1 (÷ 2,086)
6 weeks annual leave · 10 days CME leave
$18,000 CME expenses a year from 1 July 2026 (was $16,000)
3 months paid sabbatical after every 6 years
Time-and-a-half for rostered after-hours on-call duties
Up to 6% matched superannuation
Health New Zealand published its own workforce factsheet during the 2025 bargaining round. These are averages across every senior doctor, not agreement rates — but they show what sits on top of base salary in practice.
6,419 senior medical officers (5,509 FTE) as at March 2025. Source: Senior Medical Officer Workforce Factsheet, Health New Zealand, September 2025.
Initial placement on the scale is negotiated between the prospective employee and employer, taking into account years of relevant experience and qualifications and aligning with the placement of existing staff with similar qualifications and experience. The date the employee met the requirements for vocational registration (or overseas equivalent) is used to assess where they would first have been placed. cl. 12.2(a)
Trained overseas? A doctor employed on the basis that their overseas qualifications and experience meet the requirements for vocational registration is placed on the Specialist Scale, subject to a time-limited expectation (not less than 24 months) for obtaining registration. cl. 12.2(g)(iii)
Not yet vocationally registered? A doctor who has not yet met the requirements for vocational registration but is expected to within 12 months is placed on the Medical Officer Scale at a step not less than the step closest in value below Specialist Step 1. cl. 12.2(g)(iv)
Senior doctors who are not vocationally registered — often called MOSS — are paid on a parallel 14-step scale. It is where a registrar moving up without a Fellowship lands, and where a specialist waiting on registration may be placed.
Rates from 6 July 2026, clause 12.4(b). Full table → · More on the medical officer grade →
| Item | What the agreement says | Clause |
|---|---|---|
| Availability allowance (on-call roster) | Paid to employees on an after-hours roster. The percentage depends on the former district's schedule — e.g. up to 10% (Waikato), up to 7% (Hutt Valley), up to 15% (Auckland), up to 18% (former Southland sites); one district schedule pays 8% for a 1:2 roster, 6% for 1:3 and 4% for 1:4. | 14, Schedule 1 |
| Continuing medical education leave | 10 working days a year; up to 30 (or 50 with an approved plan) can be carried forward. | 36.2(a) |
| Continuing medical education expenses | $16,000 a year (GST exclusive), rising to $18,000 from 1 July 2026. An extra $500 for those in two or more MOPS programmes. | 36.2(b), 36.2(c) |
| Annual leave | 6 weeks a year | 23.1 |
| Superannuation subsidy | Dollar for dollar up to 6% of gross taxable salary | 17.2 |
| Sabbatical | Three months on full pay after every six years of service. | 36.5 |
| Secondment | Two weeks every three years to a recognised unit for professional development. | 36.4 |
| Work-related expenses reimbursed | Annual practising certificate and disciplinary levies, other licences, Medical Protection Society membership (or agreed alternative), vocational registration fees, college membership fees where required, MOPS fees, approved training fees, vaccinations. | 21.2 |
| Relocation | Reimbursement of reasonable transfer and relocation expenses is negotiated before appointment. | 22.1 |
Source
Signed agreement, Health New Zealand (searchable) · checked 18 September 2026 — Salary tables on pages 9 and 10 of the PDF checked against the page image digit for digit.