Events Transition Support Payment scheme (ETSP)

As the country moves to the new COVID-19 protection framework (CPF), the Events Transition Support Payment (ETSP) scheme is designed to provide assurance to organisers of large-scale events, so they can continue organising our much anticipated summer events.

Criteria

 Applicants must meet all the following criteria: 

1. Events with in-person paid ticketed or paid registered attendees of over 5000 in-person attendees.

2. Event date must be scheduled to begin between 17 December 2021 and 3 April 2022.

3. Prior to the announcement of this scheme, an event must have been publicly announced or have been actively in the market (e.g. where tickets or registrations have been advertised or for sale).

4. Event must be public-facing (i.e. open to the public and in New Zealand).

5. Event must be organised by a New Zealand registered organisation (e.g. an entity registered with the Companies Office or a charitable organisation).

6. Event must not be solely delivered by local government and other public authorities (but can be partly funded by those authorities, although costs incurred by local government would not be eligible for recovery).

7. Event must not be currently receiving funding through the Major Events Fund or receiving Arts and Culture Event Support Scheme funding from the Ministry for Culture and Heritage for the same period, nor have an agreement in place with underwriting of 80% or more of unrecoverable costs from local government or another insurer.

8. Event must require the use of COVID-19 vaccination certificates.

9. Event organisers can only apply once for cancellation and once for postponement for an event.

Further information

• If an ETSP is triggered (see ‘Triggers for payment’ below) and your event needs to postpone or cancel you will need to complete the 2-step application process.
• The number of confirmed or expected in person attendees (tickets sold or average attendance over the past 3 iterations of the event) must reach at least the minimum threshold of over 5000 and events must be held at a single location to be eligible.
• Multi-day events, or events with multiple performances, taking place at a single location would be eligible where the cumulative number of attendees meets the minimum threshold across the whole of the event (assuming the event has no more than 2 rest days per 7 days). An event cannot be spread across multiple weekends.
• Events that have been cancelled prior to the ETSP announcement are not eligible.
• Events that cancel due to unavailability of MIQ spaces are not eligible.
• You may be eligible for 90% of the eligible event’s unrecoverable costs. Profits and revenue, for example, are not eligible. Below is an indicative list of unrecoverable costs.

Examples of unrecoverable costs – services (indicative list only)

• Staff wages
• Ticketing Services
• Freight and Logistics
• Technical specialists (including staging, lighting, rigging etc)
• Health and Safety services
• Event delivery contractors
• Advertising, marketing and promotional material
• Traffic management services
• Catering and hospitality costs
• Non-refundable talent fees (e.g. sports people, artists, musicians etc.) 
• Volunteer-related costs (including training costs, uniforms, equipment etc)
• Bank Fees
• General administration costs
• Licencing Fees

Examples of unrecoverable costs – infrastructure and facilities (indicative list only)

• Venue and facilities hire
• Temporary infrastructure (stages, marquees etc), onsite building costs, and equipment hire
• Signage
• Fencing
• Event technology hire and setup, including Audio visual displays and interactives
• Traffic management infrastructure costs
• Event Broadcast costs, including pre-event planning and development
• Temporary venue lighting
• Radio and communications equipment
• Recycling and Waste services
• Core services connectivity (Fees related to electricity, gas, water or internet connection) 

Application process

Update 19/11/2021: We have revised the ETSP eligibility form to clarify the wording for questions 3A, C, D and E. The eligibility criteria remains the same.

Update 2/12/2021: We have revised the ETSP eligibility form to clarify and update wording for questions 3A, 3B, 3F and “Other information on eligibility."

Step 1

Download and complete the ETSP eligibility form for events scheduled to begin between 17 December 2021 and 3 April 2022. Once completed, email your form to our provider, Aon at:

nz.schemes@aon.com

You will receive a letter either confirming or denying your eligibility to the ETSP scheme. Applications that meet the required criteria will be accepted up until 30 April 2022.

Step 2

If your event is eligible, and you have to cancel or postpone it because 1 of the payment triggers has been activated (see below), advise Aon of the cancellation or postponement by emailing:

nz.schemes@aon.com.

Aon will provide you with the claim form to complete and return to them. When Aon receive the completed claim form, and the required supporting documentation (e.g. invoices), they will assess your claim.

If your claim is successful, you will receive payment.

Triggers for payments

Update 2/12/2021: An additional trigger point has been included.

Triggers for payments are when an event must be cancelled or postponed due to 1 of the following:

• the event is located in an area that is operating under Alert Level restrictions, which explicitly prohibit the event from occurring (Alert Level 2 or higher on the date/s of the event); or
• the event is located in an area that is operating under the CPF and is at Red Level or a localised lockdown on the date/s of the event; or
• at least 50% of tickets/paid registrations have been sold to attendees located within an Alert Level 3 or higher boundary, or within a CPF Red Level or localised lockdown area on the date/s of the event (assuming regional boundary restrictions are in effect); or
• the event is located in an area that is operating under the CPF and is at CPF Red or a localised lockdown at any point within the 4-week period prior to the start of the event; and there has been no explicit announcement yet regarding the CPF settings for the specific date/s of the event.

Terms and Conditions

Read the Terms and Conditions of the ETSP