The State Services Commission has released its 2010 annual report which includes details of what public service chief executives have been paid for the past year.
The report's publication comes a year after the commission announced it had essentially frozen the pay of chief executives.
Six chief executives got pay rises, with the heads of Inland Revenue and the Ministry of Education going up by $20,000.
Overall total pay for all chief executives fell $430,000 in the year to June compared with the previous year.
This is partly because three chief executive positions have been eliminated, as the Government moves to merge the Food Safety Authority, the National Library and Archives New Zealand within other departments.
Of the 24 chief executives who had their performance reviewed, five had their pay cut, including heads of the Ministry of Maori Development and the Department of Internal Affairs.
Four chief executives earning between $350,000 and $450,000 a year have had their annual salary cut by $10,000, while one got a $20,000 cut.
State Services Commissioner Iain Rennie says he is pleased with restraint shown by public service.
However, he warned the tertiary education sector to exercise the same restraint, saying there has been a big rise in the number of people earning more than $100,000 a year at universities and polytechnics.
The Tertiary Education Union says equivalent positions in Australia pay up to another 40%.
