Public consultation on increasing transitional levy now underway

5 April 2023

Fire and Emergency New Zealand has today opened public consultation on a proposal to increase the transitional levy that provides the majority of its funding.

When the Fire and Emergency New Zealand Act 2017 came into force creating a unified and expanded fire and emergency service for New Zealand, a transitional levy on fire insurance policies was established to provide a stable source of funding while the organisation went through the process of preparing to set a new levy under the provisions in Part 3 of the Act. However, implementation of the Part 3 levy was deferred by the Government to enable a review into the funding model for Fire and Emergency and, subsequently, to make changes to the Part 3 framework to ensure it is simple to implement to minimise unnecessary cost and disruption. This means the transitional levy will remain in place until July 2026.

Fire and Emergency now faces a funding shortfall in the 2024/25 and 2025/26 financial years. To ensure our people can continue to do their jobs effectively and most importantly safely, for the benefit of all New Zealanders, we are proposing a 12.8% increase to the transitional levy component across all levied insurance policies for the 2024/25 and 2025/26 financial years, taking effect from 1 July 2024.

Further adjustments to the levy regime are expected once the Fire and Emergency New Zealand (Levy) Amendment Bill comes into force. Any increases to the transitional levy would apply until the new Part 3 levy comes into effect.

We welcome written submissions from insurance policy holders, their representatives and interested members of the public. Information on this consultation and how to submit a response can be found on our website at www.fireandemergency.nz/about-us/public-consultation.

The consultation closes on Tuesday 2 May 2023.