No published New Zealand figure for the cost of insurance that did not reach a job

What it is. None - no source read gives a cost of uninsured contractors, denied claims or under-declared ACC earnings in New Zealand construction.

Sample. Searched: ACC levy penalties, uncovered or under-declared employers, uninsured contractors, public liability and contract works cover, declined claims, WorkSafe court summary register ("insurance" returned 8 entries and "uninsured" none; the 8 were not read). Review read the Accident Compensation Act 2001 on legislation.govt.nz and ACC's Q2 2026 work statistics deck, which the first search could not open; neither holds a defensible money figure. ACC's OIA responses and the ACC work-injury statistics web page returned PDF-only or empty pages. A frequency exists that the schema cannot hold: 54% of 170 surveyed renovators did not consider contract works insurance (AMI and Ipsos, 2022), which is homeowners, not contractors.

What it is not. Recorded as none on purpose. ACC guidance says levies apply to employers and to contractors paid schedular payments, and gives no penalty amount; the Act gives only a rate and a cap. ACC publishes counts of construction claims but costs only across all industries, so a cost per construction claim does not exist in anything read, and it would measure injury cost to the scheme rather than the cost of cover that lapsed. No regulator count of uninsured contractors was found.

Where it came from

• Business.govt.nz (Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment) (2026), What you pay for your employees: ACC levies
  sections on employer invoicing, penalties for late payment, and contractors · source record

Considered and set aside

• Insurance Business NZ: AMI and Ipsos survey of 536 homeowners: 54% of 170 renovators did not consider contract works insurance. A frequency from homeowners, with no dollar value and no damaged-project count.
• BizCover New Zealand: One broker's average monthly premiums (builders $60); a price of cover, not the cost of lacking it.
• Marsh New Zealand for NZ Transport Agency: NZTA principal-arranged public liability: $100,000,000 limit, $500,000 deductible; shows cover is a contract requirement but gives no loss from cover that failed.
• Howden New Zealand: ACC experience rating (penalties up to 75%, moving to 100%) is a levy loading for claims history, not a cost of under-declared wages, and is not construction-specific.
• Business Insurance: Auditor-General survey of public entities: less than half of NZ$225 billion of public assets insured; public owners, no dollar uninsured loss, no contractors.
• Insurance Business NZ: States public liability is often a contract requirement; no figures on uninsured contractors or denials.
• Insurance Council of New Zealand: The industry body publishes claims and weather-loss data but nothing on contract works, public liability or declined claims for contractors.
• New Zealand Parliament (legislation.govt.nz): The ACC levy penalty rule is in the statute: interest, then 10% of the total unpaid after 210 days and again every 180 days, capped at three times the unpaid levy (section 250). A rate and a cap, not an observed cost, and the Act counts no employer who under-declared.
• Accident Compensation Corporation: ACC quarterly statistics: construction had 27,121 new work claims in 2025, but costs are given for all industries only ($1,254,610,727 active costs, 271,126 active claims), so there is no cost per construction claim, and no link to cover that lapsed.
• Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment: MBIE estimates latent defects average about $23,000 per new house in 2025, but does not say who bears the cost or whether insurance responded.

non_compliance/insurance_compliance_none_nz · NZ · ALL ·the record ·link to this figure ·dispute this figure(or email support@demiton.io)