In June 2024, IPART was appointed as the Insurance Monitor under the Emergency Services Levy Insurance Monitor Act 2024 (The Act). As Insurance Monitor, IPART will monitor insurers’ pricing and conduct during the transition from the emergency services levy (ESL) to a new model for funding the State’s emergency services.
In November 2023, the Government announced that it would remove the ESL, which insurers currently impose through insurance premiums, and consult on a fair, state-wide, sustainable contribution system to fund the emergency services agencies. The Government has not yet announced the transition date and model. More information about the Government’s policy is available here.
As Insurance Monitor, IPART will monitor insurers’ premiums and oversee their activities so that the community can have confidence that insurers will remove the ESL from premiums over the transition period.
IPART will:
- issue guidelines on prohibited conduct for insurers – including price exploitation and false or misleading conduct in relation to the emergency services funding reform
- collect information from insurers and monitor their compliance with the Act and guidelines
- monitor prices of regulated insurance contracts
- receive and take action on complaints
- investigate and take proceedings regarding prohibited conduct.
IPART does not have general oversight of insurance pricing and we do not administer the ESL.
- Revenue NSW administers the ESL. Information about the ESL, 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 will report quarterly on the performance of our functions and publish the reports on our website.
Read our first quarterly report for the period 1 July to 30 September 2024.
If you have any questions about our Insurance Monitor role, please contact us at
insurancemonitor@ipart.nsw.gov.au.