General events
The ETSP has provided sufficient certainty to incentivise many large-scale events to go ahead and continue organising events from late 2021 until January 2023. The ETSP is now closed.
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The ETSP scheme has now closed, but will continue accepting applications and claims until 28 February 2023 for eligible events that were scheduled to begin on or before 31 January 2023.
Eligibility Criteria
For events scheduled to begin between 17 December 2021 and 3 April 2022, applicants must meet all the following criteria
- Events with in-person paid ticketed or paid registered attendees of over 5,000 in-person attendees.
- Event date must be scheduled to begin between 17 December 2021 and 3 April 2022.
- 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).
- Event must be public-facing (i.e. open to the public and in New Zealand).
- Event must be organised by a New Zealand registered organisation (e.g. an entity registered with the Companies Office or a charitable organisation).
- 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).
- 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.
- Event must require the use of COVID-19 vaccination certificates.
- Event organisers can only apply once for cancellation and once for postponement for an event.
Further information for events scheduled to begin between 17 December 2021 and 3 April 2022
- 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 5,000 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 on 9 November 2021 are not eligible.
- Events that cancel due to unavailability of MIQ spaces are not eligible.
For events scheduled to begin between 4 April 2022 and 31 January 2023, applicants must meet all the following criteria
Read the business event eligibility criteria
- Events with in-person paid ticketed or paid registered attendees of over 5,000 in-person attendees. Touring events at multiple venues on multiple dates are eligible on the basis that the cumulative total of attendees is over 5,000 and they meet all other criteria.
- Event date must be scheduled to begin between 4 April 2022 and 31 January 2023.
- 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) prior to 23 January 2022; or
- be a recurring event that can demonstrate a history of previous iterations over the last three years; or
- be a touring event held at multiple venues or on multiple dates that can demonstrate a financial commitment to the event dates at least four months prior to the event dates.
- Event must be public-facing (i.e. open to the public and in New Zealand).
- Event must be organised by a New Zealand registered organisation (e.g., an entity registered with the Companies Office or a charitable organisation).
- 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).
- 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.
- Event organisers can only apply once for cancellation and once for postponement for an event.
Further information for events scheduled to begin between 4 April 2022 and 31 January 2023
- 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 5,000
- Touring events, multi-day events, or events with multiple performances, would be eligible where the cumulative number of attendees meets the minimum threshold across the whole of the event
- Events that have been cancelled prior to the ETSP announcement on 12 February 2022 are not eligible.
- Events that cancel due to unavailability of MIQ spaces are not eligible.
Unrecoverable costs
The ETSP only covers 90% of unrecoverable costs. Unrecoverable costs are:
- expenses that are directly associated with the event – e.g., without the event, they wouldn’t be a part of regular business expenses and
- expenses that event organisers (as the claimant) are obliged to pay to event suppliers, vendors, performers, artists, or other companies associated with putting on the event.
Profits and revenue, for example, are not eligible.
If an event organiser is not obliged to pay the cost, then it should not form a part of an ETSP claim. An example of a cost that should not be included under a claim is where a supplier contract has a clause stating that the event organiser doesn’t have to pay the supplier if the event is cancelled. Claims are assessed by Aon on a case-by-case basis.
Under the ETSP Terms and Conditions MBIE has the right to audit any claims being made under the ETSP. If you are making a claim, please ensure that you have evidence that the costs being claimed are eligible unrecoverable costs.
Refer to the full terms and conditions
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)
Triggers for payment
For events scheduled to begin between 17 December 2021 and 3 April 2022
All payment triggers have been removed. Claims can now be made immediately by eligible events scheduled to begin on or before 3 April 2022, that have cancelled or postponed since the Government’s announcement regarding moving to the Red Protection Framework Setting (23 January 2022), or by other eligible events that still wish to do so.
For events scheduled to begin between 4 April 2022 and 31 January 2023
Triggers for payments are when an event must be cancelled or postponed due to 1 of the following:
- the event is in an area that is operating under COVID-19 Protection Framework restrictions, which explicitly prohibit the event from occurring; or
- the event is in an area that is operating under COVID-19 Protection Framework restrictions which explicitly prohibit the event from occurring at any point within the six-week period prior to the start of the event and there has been no explicit announcement yet regarding the settings for the specific date/s of the event; or
- the lead artist/subject is required by the Ministry of Health to self-isolate over the period of the event and there is no available alternative artist.
COVID Protection Framework update
As of 11:59pm on 12 September 2022, the COVID-19 Protection Framework is no longer active.
Eligible events will continue to be able to claim an ETSP if the lead artist/subject is required by the Ministry of Health to self-isolate over the period of the event and there is no available alternative artist.
Application process
If your event needs to be postponed or cancelled, you will need to complete the 2-step application process.
Step 1
For events scheduled to begin between 17 December 2021 and 3 April 2022
Download and complete this ETSP eligibility form:
For events scheduled to begin between 4 April 2022 and 31 January 2023
Download and complete this ETSP eligibility form:
For business events scheduled to begin between 4 April 2022 and 31 January 2023
Download and complete this ETSP eligibility form:
Events Transition Support Payment (ETSP) – Eligibility form (Business events) [PDF, 388 KB]
Once completed, email your form to our provider, Aon at: nz.eventsupport@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 28 February 2023.
Step 2
For events scheduled to begin between 17 December 2021 and 3 April 2022
If your eligible event has been cancelled or postponed, advise Aon of the cancellation or postponement by emailing: nz.eventsupport@aon.com
Aon will provide you with the claim form to complete and return to them along with your supporting evidence (invoices, agreements).
For events scheduled to begin between 4 April 2022 and 31 January 2023
If your event is eligible, and you have to cancel or postpone it because one of the payment triggers has been activated, advise Aon of the cancellation or postponement by emailing nz.eventsupport@aon.com.
General claim information
Please ensure that in making your claim, you only include invoices for eligible unrecoverable costs (see above). Indicative quotes for costs will not be accepted.
In order to help the claims process run smoothly, your invoices should be ordered and numbered so that they can be reconciled easily by the claims assessor. The more organised your information is, the faster Aon can process your claim.
Aon will review your invoices to ensure that the costs being claimed are eligible unrecoverable costs. Aon may need to come back to you for further information, and may require proof that costs are unrecoverable, such as contractual commitments for payment.
Aon will make a determination of the final claim amount, at 90% of eligible unrecoverable costs and will make a recommendation to MBIE. If the claim is approved by MBIE you will be asked to provide an invoice to MBIE for payment of the claim and you will be required to sign a discharge form acknowledging that the payment is the full and final settlement against the claim.
Claims for events scheduled to begin up until 3 April 2022 that meet the required criteria will only be accepted if eligibility was granted before 30 April 2022. Claims for events scheduled to begin between 4 April 2022 and 31 January 2023 that meet the required criteria will be accepted up until 28 February 2023.
Find out more
Find out more about the ETSP, including, triggers for payment, the application process, terms and conditions and ETSP recipients.
Additional information for applicants
Contact us
If you have any questions about the Events Transition Support Payment scheme, please contact eventsupport@mbie.govt.nz.
For questions about a claim, please contact Aon at nz.eventsupport@aon.com.