The NSW emergency services are currently mostly funded by levying insurers who pass on the cost to policyholders through a surcharge on insurance premiums known as the Emergency Services Levy. In November 2023, the Government announced that it would remove the Emergency Services Levy, and consult on a new fair, state-wide, sustainable contribution system to fund the emergency services agencies.
To support the reform, an Act of Parliament called the Emergency Services Levy Insurance Monitor Act 2024 (the Act) appointed IPART as the Emergency Services Levy Insurance Monitor. The Act gives IPART strong powers to monitor insurers and to take action if insurers do not pass on the savings arising from the removal of the levy in premiums.
As Insurance Monitor, IPART’s role is to give the community confidence that insurers will remove the Emergency Services Levy from their premiums. We will do this by monitoring insurers’ pricing and conduct through the transition away from the Emergency Services Levy.
IPART will:
- issue guidelines that will make it clear what constitutes prohibited conduct (price exploitation and/or false or misleading conduct in relation to the emergency services funding reform)
- monitor prices of regulated insurance contracts
- collect information from insurers and monitor their compliance with the Act and guidelines
- receive and take action on complaints from insurance customers
- investigate and take action on price exploitation, false or misleading conduct, or other contraventions of the Act.
IPART does not have general oversight of insurance pricing, and we do not administer the existing Emergency Services Levy.
- Revenue NSW administers the Emergency Services Levy. Information about the Emergency Services Levy, including how it is collected and how you can seek more information, is available on Revenue NSW’s website.
- Information about making a complaint about general insurance is available on ASIC’s Moneysmart website.
We report quarterly on the performance of our functions and publish the reports on our website. Read our quarterly reports here.
If you have any questions about our Insurance Monitor role, please contact us at
insurancemonitor@ipart.nsw.gov.au.