The Department of Internal Affairs

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Fire and Emergency New Zealand – a funding review

Updated: 12 April 2024

Fire and Emergency New Zealand was formed in 2017. It brings together our urban and rural, and paid and volunteer firefighters. It responds to fire events, but also has other key functions (such as hazardous substances, and transport accident response).

The Government is reviewing the way that Fire and Emergency New Zealand is funded. Presently, Fire and Emergency is funded by levies through property insurance. If you insure your house or contents, some portion of your insurance bill goes to pay for Fire and Emergency.

Improving an insurance-based funding model

The Fire and Emergency funding review is now focussed on ways to improve an insurance-based levy system - the Department's media release announcing the new scope of the funding review is available here: Refined scope for Fire and Emergency’s funding model review (30 April 2021)

The Department worked with targeted stakeholders through this phase of the review to ensure that the Fire and Emergency levy adheres to the principles in the FENZ Act (that the levy is stable, universal, equitable, predictable, and flexible) and can be effectively implemented.

The Government has decided to make two key changes to the insurance-based funding model set out in the Fire and Emergency New Zealand 2017 Act:

  • the Fire and Emergency levy will be charged on insurance policies for fire damage instead of policies for any material damage, for example, flood or earthquake damage; and
  • the levy will be calculated on the ‘sum insured’ rather than the ‘amount insured’ in a contract, to align better with how insurance policies are written in New Zealand.

More information on these changes can be found in the Department’s press release here: Improving Fire and Emergency's funding model (8 December 2021)

There will be further public consultation prior to any change in the levy amounts that people will be required to pay.

If you want to get in touch with the funding review team you can email them at firefundingreview@dia.govt.nz

The Department’s advice and related Cabinet material is available here: Proactive release of material relating to changes to Fire and Emergency’s funding regime (PDF, 7MB)

Fire and Emergency (Levy) Amendment Act 2023

  • Following the Government’s decision to improve the insurance-based funding model as a result of the Fire Funding Review, the Fire and Emergency New Zealand (Levy) Amendment Bill was introduced in 2022 to make changes to the levy provisions in the Fire and Emergency New Zealand Act 2017.
  • The Fire and Emergency (Levy) Amendment Act 2023 changes the levy commencement date from 1 July 2024 to 1 July 2026.
  • The Fire and Emergency New Zealand (Levy) Amendment Act 2023 (Legislation website) received Royal Assent on 5 April 2023.
  • To find out more about the Amendment Act’s progress through parliament: Fire and Emergency New Zealand (Levy) Amendment Bill.
  • The Fire and Emergency (Levy) Amendment Act 2023 reduces the complexity of the levy system that will fund Fire and Emergency from 1 July 2026.
  • The new levy will be charged on contracts for insurance for fire damage (loss or damage only) instead of contracts of material damage. The new levy will be calculated on the ‘sum insured’ in an insurance contract rather than the ‘amount insured’
  • The new insurance-based levy will replace the existing transitional levy.
  •  Frequently Asked Questions

Fire and Emergency transitional levy

Fire and Emergency (Levy) Amendment Act 2023 supporting documents

Previous consultation material 

This material was used during previous consultation stages in the funding review:

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