The government is making it harder to make a claim for pay equity that will cut costs, saying the current system is too loose.

There have been massive pay equity claims in recent years for nurses and resthome workers.

Workplace Minister Brooke van Velden announced the moves to raise the threshold for proving work has been historically undervalued to support a claim, on Tuesday saying changes back in 2020 had created problems.

“Claims have been able to progress without strong evidence of undervaluation and there have been very broad claims where it is difficult to tell whether differences in pay are due to sex-based discrimination or other factors.”

Claims were concentrated in the public sector, with costs to the Crown of all settlements so far totalling $1.78 billion a year, she said.

“The changes I am proposing will significantly reduce costs to the Crown,” she said.

"The changes will discontinue current pay equity claims