Voluntary Bonding Scheme Terms and Conditions

1. Registration of interest
2. Scheme confirmation
3. Commencement date
4. Payments
5. Definition of graduate
6. Eligibility Criteria
7. Minimum Employment Requirements
8. Moving between hard-to-staff communities and/or specialties
9. Pauses and breaks in the term of service
10. Parental Leave
11. Working as a locum
12. Privacy statement

1. Registration of Interest

1.1 You understand that a registration of interest is not an application for a place on the Voluntary Bonding Scheme. The purpose of the registration of interest process is to obtain contact details for potential applicants and to gauge the number of potential applicants.

1.2 A separate process to formally confirm your place on the Scheme will follow.

2. Scheme confirmation

2.1 To be confirmed in the Voluntary Bonding Scheme, you must be:

• a New Zealand citizen or permanent resident
• have completed your final year of study at an accredited New Zealand Training Institution (refer to the definition below) in 2010
• registered or able to be registered with the Medical Council of New Zealand, Nursing Council of New Zealand, or Midwifery Council of New Zealand
• working or intending to work in a hard-to-staff community or specialty for three to five years, as per the eligibility criteria for each occupation (see definitions below).

2.2 You understand that there are limited places on the Voluntary Bonding Scheme.

2.3 The Voluntary Bonding Scheme is a voluntary process and the Ministry of Health takes no responsibility for any employment decisions you may make based on the hard-to-staff areas defined by the Voluntary Bonding Scheme.

2.4 No Voluntary Bonding payments will be made if you withdraw before three full years (36 months) have been completed on the Scheme in accordance with these terms and conditions.

2.5 You are responsible for notifying the Ministry of Health (or its nominated agent) of any change of address or other contact details.

3. Commencement date

3.1 The commencement date of the Scheme for each graduate determines the date on which the graduate’s period of service in the Scheme begins.

3.2. For graduates who have indicated in their registration of interest that they are already working in a hard-to-staff community and/or specialty, the period of service is backdated to 1 January 2011. If employment was commenced later than 1 January 2011, the date on which employment began will be regarded as the commencement date.

3.3. For graduates who have indicated in their registration of interest that they intend to shift into a hard-to-staff community and/or specialty, the commencement date is the date the graduate begins employment in a hard-to-staff community or specialty. 2010 Graduates must have secured such a position by 30 June 2012.

4. Payments

4.1 You are responsible for initiating the first claim for payment after three full years (36 months) have been completed on the Scheme in accordance with these terms and conditions.

4.2 You will only be eligible for payments if:

• you have been employed in a hard-to-staff community and/or specialty (refer to the definitions below) for three full years (36 months) in accordance with these terms and conditions
• you meet minimum full time equivalent (FTE) employment requirements (refer to the definition below) OR the required number of births for Lead Maternity Carer Midwives (see section 5b below)
• you have complied with the rules governing pauses and absences from the Scheme (refer to the rules below).

4.3 No payments will be made until you have submitted a declaration confirming that the terms and conditions of the Scheme have been met during the relevant bonding period. You will also provide a report from your employer and/or college as evidence of compliance with the terms and conditions of the Voluntary Bonding Scheme during the relevant bonding period.

4.4 If you have a student loan, the Voluntary Bonding payment will be made against your student loan.

4.5 If you do not have a student loan, the Voluntary Bonding payment will be paid as a cash payment.

The annual bonding credits for each profession are:

Annual payment (after tax)

• Doctors $10,000 net
• Midwives $3,500 net
• Nurses $2,833 net

4.6 Taxes are deducted from bonding payments before they are paid. Rates may be subject to tax changes. As taxable income, the bonding payments will be taken into account for any calculations of Working for Families entitlements.

5. Definition of graduate

5.1 A graduate is defined as having completed the requirements of a training programme from the list of accredited institutions below in 2010 so that the graduate is eligible for registration in the following year.

5.2 List of accredited training institutions:

Medicine

• University of Auckland
• University of Otago

Nursing

• Auckland University of Technology
• Eastern Institute of Technology
• Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology
• Manukau Institute of Technology
• Massey University (Wellington and Palmerston North)
• Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology
• Northland Polytechnic 
• Otago Polytechnic
• Southern Institute of Technology
• Te Whare Wananga o Awanuiarangi
• UCOL Universal College of Learning
• UNITEC New Zealand
• University of Auckland
• Waiariki Institute of Technology
• Waikato Institute of Technology
• Western Institute of Technology
• Whitireira Community Polytechnic

Midwifery

• Auckland University of Technology
• Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology
• Massey University (Wellington)
• Otago Polytechnic
• Waikato Institute of Technology

5.3 New Zealand citizens who are currently in overseas training institutions and who meet the registration requirements of the New Zealand regulatory authorities can be considered for the Scheme on a case by case basis.

6. Eligibility Criteria

Medical graduates

6.1 Registration will be considered from 2010 graduates who will work in one of the hard-to-staff communities for doctors for up to two years then be accepted on, and be completing, a vocational training programme for one of the hard-to-staff specialties for doctors for the remainder of the three to five year bonding period.

6.2 Medical graduates have three years to complete their two year requirement in a hard-to-staff community. Those accepted onto the 2011 Voluntary Bonding Scheme must have entered vocational training in a hard-to-staff specialty by 1 July 2015. No more than two years in a community will count towards their bonding period.

6.3 Should the graduate complete their vocational training before the end of the bonding period, they must continue to work in a hard to staff specialty to be eligible for the remaining payments.

6.4 The hard-to-staff communities for doctors are:

• Northland DHB
• Lakes DHB
• Tairawhiti DHB
• Whanganui DHB
• Wairarapa DHB
• West Coast DHB
• South Canterbury DHB
• Southland
• Taranaki DHB
• Wairau Hospital
• Whakatane Hospital
• Thames Hospital.

6.5 The hard-to-staff specialties for doctors (in any community) are:

• general practitioner
• general surgeon
• internal medicine physician (Adult)
• psychiatry
• pathology
• rural hospital medicine.

Midwifery graduates

6.6 Registrations will be considered from 2010 graduates who will work in one of the hard-to-staff communities for midwives for the next three to five years.

6.7 The hard-to-staff communities for midwives are:

• Northland DHB
• Counties Manukau DHB
• Waitemata DHB
• Hawke's Bay DHB
• Taupo
• Taranaki DHB
• Whanganui DHB
• Hutt Valley DHB
• Wairarapa DHB
• South Canterbury DHB
• Southland
• West Coast DHB.

6.8 Graduates must undertake the Midwifery First Year of Practice programme.

Nursing graduates

6.9 Registrations will be considered from 2010 graduates who will work in one of the hard-to-staff specialties for nurses for the next three to five years.

6.10 The hard-to-staff specialties for nurses are:

• aged care
• mental health
• theatre
• intensive care (ICU)
• cardiothoracic
• surgical.

6.11 Preference will be given to graduates who intend to work in the aged care and mental health specialties.

6.12 Graduates must undertake appropriate entry to practice training, which may include:

• Nursing Entry to Practice
• Nursing Entry to Specialist Practice – Mental Health and Addiction
• Employer-run programmes

6.13 It is acknowledged that a number of other communities, specialties and professions may face difficulty in recruiting and retaining graduates now and in the future. Therefore other communities, specialties and/or professions for the Scheme may be considered as part of the periodic reviews of the eligibility criteria.

7. Minimum Employment Requirements

7.1 The Scheme is only open to graduates who obtain permanent employment in a hard to staff location/specialty and Lead Maternity Carer (LMC) midwives who work in hard to staff communities.

a) For doctors, nurses, and DHB-employed midwives

7.2 A minimum 0.6 FTE apples for all Scheme registrants.

7.3 Graduates who undertake substantive or continuous locum work will not be eligible for the scheme.

7.4 The responsibility for verifying that the full time employment requirements have been met will be the responsibility of the graduate.

7.5 Graduates will make declarations and provide a report from their employer before each bonding payment is made (see above).

b) For LMC midwives

7.6 FTE requirements apply to DHB midwives only.

7.7 LMC midwives have a different set of criteria to meet, based on the number of births carried out each year. This will vary depending on whether you work in an urban or predominantly rural hard-to-staff area. The communities defined as having a high proportion of rurality for the purposes of the Voluntary Bonding Scheme are:

• Northland DHB
• Hawke's Bay DHB
• Taupo
• Taranaki DHB
• Whanganui DHB
• Wairarapa DHB
• South Canterbury DHB
• Southland
• West Coast DHB.

7.8 An LMC midwife working in a hard-to-staff community must undertake the following number of births annually to be eligible for the Scheme:

• LMC midwives working in hard-to-staff urban communities are required to undertake at least 20 births in their first postgraduate year of practice and at least 30 births for their second and subsequent years of practice.
• LMC midwives working in hard-to-staff communities with a high proportion of rurality are required to undertake at least 15 births in their first postgraduate year of practice, and at least 21 births for their second and subsequent years of practice.

These criteria have been developed to bring an LMC’s workload as close as possible to the 0.6 FTE requirement for DHB midwives. The first postgraduate year of practice starts in the calendar year following your final year of study. If you are accepted into the Scheme, but are not in your first year of practice, you are required to carry out the specified number of births from the second year of practice.

7.9 The responsibility for verifying the number of births undertaken each year will be the responsibility of the graduate.

7.10 Graduates will make declarations and provide a report from their midwifery provider organisation before each bonding payment is made (see above).

8. Moving between hard-to-staff communities and/or specialties

8.1 The following criteria apply to graduates who wish to move between hard-to-staff communities and/or specialties.

• Moving between communities when only community criteria applies: a graduate will be permitted to move between communities, provided they move to a community that is on the hard-to-staff community list for their intake year. This criteria concerns doctors in their first two postgraduate years and midwives.
• Moving between communities when only specialty criteria applies: a graduate in a hard-to-staff specialty will not be restricted as to the community in which they work, as long as they continue to work in a hard-to-staff specialty. This criteria concerns nurses, and doctors from their third postgraduate year.
• Moving between specialties: graduates are able to move between hard-to-staff specialties, as long as they move to a specialty that is on the hard-to-staff specialty list for their intake year.

9. Pauses and breaks in the term of service

9.1 An absence of up to 14 weeks in a 12 month period will not affect the time period a graduate needs to complete bonding requirements. Such an absence is known as a break. This means a graduate can take up to 14 weeks’ absence in a 12 month period from their position in a hard-to-staff community and/or specialty without affecting their eligibility for bonding payments.

9.2 However, if the graduate still holds an employment agreement, any additional absence over 14 weeks will be deemed a pause in completing Scheme requirements.

9.3 Any time taken beyond 14 weeks away from the hard-to-staff community and/or specialty must be added to the term necessary to complete the bond, and no more than ten weeks may be added during the course of one year. No more than 50 weeks can be added to any bonding term. This allows a graduate a total of 24 weeks for purposes such as further training opportunities in any one year.

10. Parental Leave

10.1 Bonded graduates are eligible to take up to 52 weeks parental leave, as agreed with their employer, which mirrors the parental leave provisions provided for in the Parental Leave and Employment Act 1987.

10.2 Time spent on parental leave does not accrue towards a graduate’s bonding period. The bonding period will automatically restart as soon as the graduate returns to work.

10.3 Time spend on parental leave is separate to the pause and break provisions outlined in section 9 of the terms and conditions.

11. Working as a locum

11.1 The following criteria apply to graduates who may consider working in a locum position during their term of service on the Voluntary Bonding Scheme.

• For the purposes of the Scheme, undertaking “additional duties” for the graduate’s employer is not considered locum work.
• When applying for payments from the end of three years’ service, the graduate will be asked to confirm that they have not engaged in “substantive” locum work. The Ministry defines “substantive” locum work as being a period of six weeks or more.

12. Privacy statement

12.1 Our registration of interest form requires you to give us personal information such as your email address, employment and general professional details. The Privacy Act 1993 requires us to tell you that we are collecting and using your personal information.

12.2 All of the information you provide in the registration form will be treated as personal information and will be used, stored and disclosed in accordance with the provisions of the Privacy Act 1993. Relevant provisions include:

• the information must be collected directly from you
• the information will only be used for the purpose for which it is collected
• you have the right to request a copy of the information and to request correction of the information.

12.3 The information will be kept confidential and will not be disclosed to any person except in connection with the purposes for which it is obtained, or by operation of law.

12.4 By submitting the registration form, you are authorising the Ministry of Health to collect personal information about you. This information will be stored and used by the Ministry for purposes associated with the Voluntary Bonding Scheme.

12.5 You have the right to contact the Ministry of Health to request access to and correction of any personal information held about you.

12.6 We suggest you print a copy of this statement for your records.

For any questions regarding the Scheme please contact bonding@moh.govt.nz.