National Headquarters 
Fire and Emergency New Zealand 
National Headquarters 
Spark Central, Level 7 
42-52 Willis Street 
Wellington Central 
Wellington 6011 
  
Phone +64 4 496 3600 
 
 
Ref: 14470 
14 June 2024 
 
 
Alan Thompson 
[FYI request #26847 email]  
 
 
Tēnā koe Alan 
 
Thank you for your request of 16 May 2024, to Fire and Emergency New Zealand, requesting 
information relating to firefighter earnings and remuneration under the Official Information Act 
1982 (OIA). Please find our response below. 
 
1.  What do the earnings totals for Fire Fighters as advised to the G&A Select Committee 
include and exclude? 
 
The 2023 Fire and Emergency New Zealand response for the 2021/22 year (913 total firefighters or 
52 percent) used the same data set for the Select Committee response as the Annual Report. The 
reason for the difference in the two reported numbers is based on what information was included 
and excluded in each response. The select committee responses included the ‘total taxable 
earnings’ of each of the firefighters, whereas the annual report used the ‘total earnings’ of each of 
the firefighters. The following items were excluded from the select committee responses: 
 
•  Non-taxable allowances (permanent and other) 
•  Other non-taxable payments 
•  KiwiSaver/Pension Scheme contributions; and 
•  Car Sacrifice (if any). 
 
Both the Select Committee and Annual Report responses exclude earnings by way of severance, 
gratuity, and ex-gratia payment. 
 
The 2024 Select Committee response was based on annualised base salary for current staff as at 
30 June 2023. It did not include any allowances, overtimes etc over the period under review and 
also excludes any leavers in that year. 
 
2.  What do the remuneration totals as reported in the FENZ Annual Report include and 
exclude? 
 
Remuneration totals in the annual report include the following elements: 
 
 

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•  Base Salary - includes backpay in 2022/23 year from settled remuneration negotiations 
•  Overtime payments 
•  Permanent allowances 
•  Other Allowances 
•  Leave Payments 
•  KiwiSaver/Pension Scheme contributions; and 
•  Car Sacrifice (if any). 
 
Elements specifically excluded: 
 
•  Severance Payments (if any) 
•  Gratuity Payments (if any); and 
•  Ex-gratia payments (if any). 
 
3.  To clarify the confusion in the published numbers, for the 2022/23 year advise the number 
of paid Fire Fighters up to Station Officer who received total earnings (including wages, 
overtime, allowances, bonuses, etc) in each of the following bands: 
 
1.  Less than $80,000 – 113 paid firefighters 
2.  $ 80,000 to $100,000 – 84 paid firefighters 
3.  $100,000 to $120,000 – 198 paid firefighters 
4.  $120,000 to $140,000 – 336 paid firefighters 
5.  $140,000 to $160,000 – 434 paid firefighters 
6.  $160,000 to $200,000 – 422 paid firefighters 
7.  $200,000 to $250,000 – 153 paid firefighters 
8.  $250,000 to $300,000 – 19 paid firefighters 
9.  Over $300,000 – One paid firefighter 
 
Please find our answer above in bold. These numbers include all assigned ranks up to and 
including Senior Station Officer level. The above remuneration bandings align to the 2022/23 
annual report numbers and therefore include and exclude the elements as noted in the response 
to question 2 above. 
 
We trust that the information being provided is of assistance. If you require further information, 
please email [FENZ request email]. 
 
Nāku noa, nā 
 
 
 
 
 
Aidan Saunders  
Manager, Information Requests 
 
 

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