Written by Henry Smith · Reviewed by Smiths Insurance & KiwiSaver — licensed Financial Advice Provider (FSP712931) · Last updated 2026-09-08

Income Protection Insurance Comparison NZ: Six Insurers Side by Side

Six insurers sell individual income protection cover in New Zealand: Chubb Life, AIA New Zealand, nib, Fidelity Life, Asteron Life and Partners Life. On the wordings checked on 8 September 2026, the five settings that decide a claim are the waiting period, the benefit period, agreed value availability, what other income is offset, and the disability test. Chubb Life, AIA and Fidelity Life price around an own occupation test; nib applies a harder any occupation test.

In short

• Waiting periods run from nib's single 30 consecutive days to Fidelity Life's seven options between 2 weeks and 2 years, with Chubb Life offering 4, 8, 13, 26, 52 or 104 weeks (Chubb Life, Income Cover brochure, retrieved 8 September 2026).
• Offsets change what actually reaches you: Chubb Life and AIA both carve out welfare or Work and Income payments, while nib deducts a government benefit you are entitled to even if you have not claimed it.
• The benefit period moves the price more than the choice of insurer, with cover to age 65 costing roughly 60% to 100% more than a two-year benefit period across six insurers (Policywise, retrieved 19 August 2026).

Six insurers sell individual income protection cover in New Zealand, and the differences that decide a claim are not on any price list. They are the waiting periods each insurer offers, how long it will keep paying, whether you can fix the benefit at application, what other income is deducted, and whether the policy tests you against your own occupation or any occupation you could reasonably do. The table below sets those five settings side by side, taken from each insurer's own published wording or brochure and checked on 8 September 2026.

Sources, all retrieved 8 September 2026: Chubb Life, Assurance Extra Income Cover brochure; AIA Living Income Protection Benefit, Agreed Value appendix and Indemnity appendix (1108 AL-IP version 3, effective 23 July 2021); nib Life and Living Insurance cover wording (July 2025); Fidelity Life, Income protection cover factsheet with the Platinum Plus agreed value and indemnity value wordings; Asteron Life, Income Protection brochure RP327 05/25. We could not find a current public Partners Life income cover wording on 8 September 2026, so its row says not verified rather than guessing.

Read the last two columns first. The offsets column decides how much of the monthly benefit actually reaches you once ACC, sick leave or another insurer is paying, and the insurers treat those differently: Chubb and AIA both carve out welfare or WINZ payments, while nib deducts a government benefit you are entitled to even if you have not claimed it. The disability test decides whether you qualify at all. Chubb, AIA and Fidelity Life price around an own occupation test, while nib's Income Protection Illness cover asks whether you could work in any occupation you are reasonably suited to, which is a materially harder bar. nib also covers illness only, and treats an injury as an illness solely where ACC will not pay for it.

Two settings, the waiting period and the benefit period, are yours to choose, and both move the price more than the choice of insurer does. Size the monthly benefit first with our income protection calculator, then hold the wait and the benefit period constant while you compare.

ACC is the reason the product exists. It replaces income after accidents and pays nothing for illness, so cancer, a heart attack or a serious mental health condition that stops you working attracts no ACC income replacement at all. If you want a ranked verdict rather than a matrix, our best income protection insurance nz page ranks four insurers on the claims-payout rates they publish. The full price picture by age, occupation and insurer sits in our income protection cost analysis.

What Income Protection Insurance Actually Does

Income protection pays a regular monthly benefit, typically up to 75% of pre-disability income, if illness, injury or accident stops you working. Chubb Life's Assurance Extra Income Cover, to take one published example, insures up to 75% of income to a maximum of $30,000 a month, with a waiting period chosen from 4, 8, 13, 26, 52 or 104 weeks and a payment term of 2 years, 5 years, to age 65 or to age 70 (Chubb Life, Income Cover brochure, retrieved 8 September 2026).

The payment structure is designed to replace normal cashflow. Unlike life insurance, which pays a one-off lump sum, or trauma insurance, which pays a lump sum on diagnosis, income protection pays monthly for as long as you remain unable to work, up to the limit of the benefit period you bought.

A claim runs in four steps. You become unable to work for a covered reason. You wait out the waiting period you chose. The insurer starts paying the monthly benefit. Payments continue until you recover, return to work, or reach the end of the benefit period. Both the waiting period and the benefit period are your choices at application, and both move the premium substantially.

The ACC Gap: Why Private Cover Matters

ACC replaces income after accidents at up to 80% of pre-injury earnings (ACC, weekly compensation, retrieved 14 August 2026), capped at a maximum gross payment of $2,466.20 a week from 1 July 2026 (ACC Newsroom, changes to client payments from 1 July 2026, retrieved 14 August 2026). What it does not do is cover illness. ACC covers personal injury by accident, not sickness or conditions related to ageing (ACC, injuries we do not cover, retrieved 14 August 2026).

That is the gap, and it is a large one. If you are diagnosed with cancer, have a heart attack, develop a serious mental health condition, or experience any non-accident medical event that stops you working, ACC pays nothing at all. Income protection is the only product that fills it.

What Income Protection Costs in New Zealand

Two things dominate the price: the benefit period and the occupation class. Everything else, including which of the six insurers you pick, moves the number by less than either of them. The published tables below show both effects on real quoted figures.

Price by benefit period, across six insurers

Fortnightly premiums for a 35-year-old non-smoker, employed, with a $6,000 monthly benefit and a 13-week waiting period, as published by Policywise from quotes across six insurers (retrieved 19 August 2026). On those figures Partners Life is the lowest for a female on a two-year benefit period at $23.27 a fortnight and on cover to age 65 at $38.09, while nib is the highest to age 65 at $54.14. Published illustration only, not a quote.

Fortnightly premiums for a male on the identical profile, from the same Policywise comparison (retrieved 19 August 2026). On those figures Fidelity Life is lowest of the six on a two-year benefit period at $16.41 a fortnight, Partners Life is lowest on cover to age 65 at $26.28, and Asteron Life is highest to age 65 at $36.64. Published illustration only, not a quote.

Read the male table down the columns and the point about "cheapest" makes itself. QuoteHub compared the six on identical settings so the only thing changing between the rows is the setting itself. Fidelity Life is the lowest-priced of the six on a two-year benefit period at $16.41 a fortnight, and fourth of six on cover running to age 65, where Partners Life is lowest at $26.28. The insurer did not change. The setting did, and so did the answer.

Note also that cover to age 65 costs between roughly 60% and 100% more than a two-year benefit period on these figures, depending on the insurer, and that only AIA and Partners Life offer a one-year benefit period at all (Policywise, retrieved 19 August 2026). On those figures a short benefit period is the lowest-priced way to hold this cover, and the least useful one against the conditions that keep people off work longest.

Price by occupation

Occupation class is the other large lever, and it is not a small adjustment. MoneyHub obtained quotes from five insurers for a 35-year-old non-smoking male with a $100,000 salary, a $6,250 monthly benefit and a four-week wait, on two different profiles: a company-employed accountant or office worker, and a self-employed builder, carpenter or plumber.

Annual premiums for a $6,250 monthly benefit with a four-week wait, as published by MoneyHub NZ (updated 11 June 2026, retrieved 19 August 2026). The left pair is a company-employed office worker, the right pair a self-employed tradesperson, so the two differ by employment status as well as occupation class. Published illustration only, not a quote.

Source for all four columns: MoneyHub NZ income protection comparison, updated 11 June 2026 and retrieved 19 August 2026. MoneyHub states its quotes for AIA, Asteron, Chubb, Fidelity and Partners Life were supplied by LifeDirect.

With the same insurer, the same benefit and the same waiting period, the tradesperson pays between roughly 65% and 105% more than the office worker, depending on the insurer, on both the two-year benefit and cover to age 65. If you work with your hands, that gap, not the difference between insurers, is the number to plan around.

A published direct-channel price

Direct insurers sometimes publish a from-price with the assumptions attached, which is useful for orientation. AA Life advertises income protection from $16.52 a week, based on a $5,000 monthly benefit for a 40-year-old female AA member who is a non-smoker and a professional office worker, with a 90-day waiting period and a two-year benefit period (AA Life, Income Protection Cover, retrieved 19 August 2026). AA Life policies are underwritten by Asteron Life Limited, which the same page discloses.

These are stepped rates, recalculated as you age. Level structures start higher and hold, which usually wins over a long holding period. Ask for the projection over the full period you expect to hold the cover rather than the first-year figure.

How to Choose the Three Settings You Control

Price is the last thing to compare. The waiting period, the benefit period and the benefit basis are yours to set at application, and together they decide whether a claim is paid, when it starts and how much of your income it replaces. Two policies at the same premium can behave completely differently.

Waiting period

The waiting period is the gap between stopping work and the first payment. Published ranges are wide: Chubb Life offers 4, 8, 13, 26, 52 or 104 weeks on Assurance Extra Income Cover (Chubb Life, Income Cover brochure, retrieved 8 September 2026). A longer wait lowers the premium and pushes more of the risk onto your own savings.

Match the wait to your actual buffer rather than to the cheapest option. If you have four weeks of sick leave, a four-week wait is coherent. If you have three months of savings you are genuinely willing to spend, a 13-week wait lowers the price and still catches you when the buffer runs out. The published price tables on this page both use a fixed wait, which is exactly how you should compare: hold it constant across every insurer.

Some policies let you shorten the wait later without new health evidence. Chubb Life's Optional Reduction in Waiting Period does this in defined circumstances if you originally chose longer than four weeks (Chubb Life, Income Cover brochure, retrieved 8 September 2026).

Benefit period

The benefit period is how long payments can continue, and it is the largest single price lever in the tables above. A two-year benefit protects against a broken leg and a manageable illness. It does not protect against the conditions that keep people out of work for a decade, which is the risk most households actually cannot absorb.

If the budget forces a choice, most advisers would rather lengthen the waiting period than shorten the benefit period. A longer wait costs you money you can plan for. A short benefit period costs you the payments in years three onward, which is precisely when a household runs out of alternatives.

Agreed value or indemnity

This decides how much you receive, and it is settled at application rather than at claim. Under an agreed value structure, the monthly sum insured is fixed when the cover starts and no income evidence is required at claim time. Under indemnity, you must evidence income at claim and the benefit is calculated on the lesser of the monthly sum insured or 75% of pre-disability income, less offsets (Chubb Life, Income Cover brochure, retrieved 8 September 2026).

For someone self-employed with variable income, or anyone whose earnings might dip in the year before a claim, that difference is the whole product. For a salaried employee on a stable and rising income, indemnity is usually the more efficient buy.

What Else Separates the Six

Beyond the five settings in the table at the top, the differences that matter show up at claim time rather than in a brochure headline. Three are worth checking by name before you sign anything.

Partial disability. Most claims end with a return to reduced duties rather than a clean recovery, which makes the partial benefit the part of the policy you are most likely to use. Chubb Life pays a partial benefit where illness or injury leaves you unable to earn more than 75% of pre-disability income in your pre-disability occupation, once the waiting period ends (Chubb Life, Income Cover brochure, retrieved 8 September 2026). AIA publishes a Partial Disability Income Benefit, a Partial Disability Bridging Benefit and an Enhanced Partial Disability Income Benefit in both its agreed value and indemnity appendices (AIA Living Income Protection Benefit, Agreed Value appendix, retrieved 8 September 2026). Asteron Life's income protection brochure sets out an Income bonus for returning to work but does not describe a partial disability benefit, so we do not state one either way (Asteron Life, Income Protection brochure RP327 05/25, retrieved 8 September 2026).

Mental health terms. Mental health disorders caused 10% of Partners Life Income Cover claims assessed between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025, so this is not an edge case. Asteron Life publishes an optional mental health discount that cuts the premium by 10% in exchange for capping any mental health claim at a two-year benefit period (Asteron Life brochure, retrieved 8 September 2026), and AIA publishes an Optional Mental Health Limitation in the same way (AIA agreed value appendix, retrieved 8 September 2026). A discount that shortens the benefit period on one in ten claims is a trade, not a saving.

Redundancy cover. Three of the six will still attach a redundancy benefit to a new policy: Chubb Life to Income Cover or Mortgage Repayment Cover, AIA to Mortgage, Income or Rent Cover, and nib to Income Protection Illness cover. Fidelity Life states that "new applications for Redundancy/Bankruptcy Cover Benefit are no longer available" (Fidelity Life, Term Cover brochure, retrieved 8 September 2026), and Asteron Life's redundancy option is "currently only available to customers who already have cover under it". Every one of those benefits stops after six months. Our redundancy insurance guide sets out the qualifying periods and the exclusions.

Product wordings change without notice, so treat everything above as a list of questions to ask rather than a substitute for the policy document.

Self-employed and contractors

Self-employed New Zealanders carry the same illness risk with none of the buffers, and two settings on the table at the top change meaning entirely once there is no employer behind you.

There is no sick leave. Eligible employees are entitled to 10 days of paid sick leave a year (Employment New Zealand, retrieved 8 September 2026), and a sole trader has none of it. The waiting period is funded from working capital at the same moment the business stops earning, which is why the short wait is both most valuable and most expensive for this group.

Proving income at claim time is the second problem, and it is what the agreed value column is for. Under an indemnity structure the benefit is calculated on the lesser of the monthly sum insured or 75% of pre-disability income, less offsets, so a lean year immediately before a claim cuts the benefit (Chubb Life, Income Cover brochure, retrieved 8 September 2026). An agreed value structure fixes the monthly sum insured at application and requires no income evidence at claim. Asteron Life's Loss of Earnings Plus works to the same end from the other direction, agreeing a maximum benefit and then paying the greater of that benefit less other income, or 75% of actual loss (Asteron Life brochure, retrieved 8 September 2026).

ACC treats you differently too. A self-employed person who has opted out of ACC loses cover under nib's Income Protection Illness wording for any injury, which states there is "no cover for an injury if the person insured is self-employed and has chosen to opt out of ACC" (nib cover wording, July 2025, retrieved 8 September 2026). Read your ACC arrangement and your income protection wording together rather than one at a time.

The tax treatment also differs. Inland Revenue lists "the cost of income protection insurance if the insurance payout would be taxable" among the expenses an individual can claim (Inland Revenue, non-business expenses, last updated 29 October 2025, retrieved 8 September 2026), and separately states that an income protection payout "is to replace lost income" and so "it's generally taxable" (Inland Revenue, insurance payouts, retrieved 8 September 2026). The deduction and the tax on the benefit travel together. Our income protection tax guide works through employee, sole trader and company structures, and the arithmetic is a question for your accountant.

One caution on pricing. Occupation class and employment status both move the number, and on the published grid further down this page a self-employed tradesperson pays between roughly 65% and 105% more than an employed office worker of the same age for the same benefit.

Claims Performance: The Numbers That Matter Most

How often an insurer pays is the single most important metric for comparing providers. Asteron Life published 97% of trauma, life and income protection claims received in the year to 30 June 2024 (Asteron Life media release, 11 December 2024); Partners Life 95% of all assessed claims for the year to 31 March 2025 (This is Partners Life 2025 claims brochure); AIA 92% of all claims received in calendar 2024 (Chatswood summary of AIA's Claims Compass, 13 May 2025); and Fidelity Life 93% of all claims received in the year to 30 June 2025 (Claims we've paid brochure). All retrieved 18 August 2026. The periods and denominators differ between insurers, so the percentages are not directly comparable.

Sources: insurers' own published claims disclosures, all retrieved 18 August 2026. Reporting periods differ between insurers, so the rates in this table are not like-for-like.

Where a claim is not paid, the reasons are broadly the same across insurers. Partners Life lists them as recovery before the waiting period ends, the condition not meeting the policy definition, non-disclosure at application, treatment that was not medically necessary, and policy exclusions (This is Partners Life 2025 claims brochure, claims assessed 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025, retrieved 18 August 2026). Accurate and complete disclosure at application is the single most effective thing you can do to protect your ability to claim, and it costs nothing.

What Actually Causes an Income Protection Claim

The reason people claim is not the reason most articles assume, and it changes how you weigh the settings. Partners Life publishes the causes behind its own claims, and for Income Cover assessed between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025 the largest single cause was accident and injury at 42% of claims, followed by cancer at 15%, heart conditions at 11%, mental health disorders at 10% and musculoskeletal conditions at 7% (This is Partners Life 2025 claims brochure, retrieved 18 August 2026).

Two things follow. Accident and injury is the single biggest driver of income protection claims even though ACC exists, which tells you how much of an accident's income impact ACC does not carry, and it is a reason to check how a policy treats ACC offsets rather than assuming ACC handles the accident half. And mental health at 10% is large enough that the presence or absence of a mental health benefit is a real comparison point rather than a footnote.

The same brochure shows a different picture for lump-sum cover over the same period: cancer accounted for 49% of Life Cover claims and 60% of Trauma Cover claims, against 13% and 9% respectively for accident and injury (This is Partners Life 2025 claims brochure). Illness dominates the lump-sum products; income protection is the one where accidents lead. These lists cover the largest reported causes rather than every claim, so the percentages within each product do not sum to 100.

How to Compare Effectively

Comparing on premium alone is the most common and most expensive mistake. Four steps fix it.

Hold the assumptions constant. Same benefit amount, same waiting period, same benefit period, same occupation details, at every insurer. A two-year benefit from one insurer against a to-age-65 benefit from another is not a comparison.

Read the definitions. In QuoteHub's experience of placing this cover, total disability, partial disability and the offsets clause decide whether your situation triggers a valid claim and how much of it survives. The own occupation and any occupation split in TPD insurance does the same work on the lump-sum side.

Look at published claims data. Insurers who publish acceptance rates give you something to weigh. Those who do not leave you guessing.

Check the premium trajectory. A stepped premium starts lower and rises every year. Over 20 years the running total can overtake a level premium that started higher and never moved. Ask for the numbers over the full period you expect to hold the cover, then get advice: a licensed financial adviser can compare across the insurers on our panel using your own details. That panel is listed on our disclosure page, and it is not the whole market.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does income protection cost in NZ?

Published quotes for a 35-year-old non-smoking office worker on $100,000 with a four-week wait run $669.71 to $918.09 a year for a two-year benefit period, and $1,346.61 to $1,698.38 a year for cover to age 65, across five insurers (MoneyHub NZ, updated 11 June 2026, retrieved 19 August 2026). A self-employed tradesperson on the same benefit pays between roughly 65% and 105% more on the same table, depending on the insurer. Your own figure is only fixed once an insurer has underwritten you.

Which insurer is cheapest for income protection?

There is no stable answer, and we cannot give you one. In the Policywise comparison, Fidelity Life is the lowest-priced of six insurers on a two-year benefit period for a 35-year-old employed male, while Partners Life is lowest on cover to age 65 for the same person (Policywise, retrieved 19 August 2026). Change the benefit period and the ranking changes with it.

Is income protection insurance worth it in NZ?

For most working New Zealanders with a mortgage, dependants or limited savings, it is one of the most valuable covers available. Your ability to earn is usually your largest financial asset, since a 35-year-old still has three decades of earnings ahead of them, and ACC does not cover the illness half of the risk at all.

Does ACC cover illness?

No. ACC covers personal injury by accident, not sickness or conditions related to ageing (ACC, retrieved 14 August 2026). If cancer, heart disease or a mental health condition stops you working, ACC provides no income replacement.

What is the difference between agreed value and indemnity?

Agreed value fixes the monthly sum insured at application and requires no income evidence at claim time. Indemnity requires income evidence and pays the lesser of the sum insured or 75% of pre-disability income, less offsets (Chubb Life, Income Cover brochure, retrieved 8 September 2026). Agreed value suits variable income; indemnity usually suits a stable salary.

What waiting period should I choose?

Match it to the buffer you actually have and are willing to spend. Chubb Life offers 4, 8, 13, 26, 52 or 104 weeks (Chubb Life brochure, retrieved 8 September 2026), and a longer wait lowers the premium in exchange for carrying more of the early risk yourself.

Can I get income protection if I am self-employed?

Yes, and every insurer on this page quotes self-employed applicants. You will need evidence of income, usually tax returns or financial statements, which is why agreed value structures suit variable earnings. The self-employed and contractors section above sets out the sick leave gap, the ACC opt-out trap in nib's wording and the tax treatment.

References

• Chubb Life, Assurance Extra Income Cover brochure CIG0007 V5 (retrieved 8 September 2026) - waiting periods, payment terms, cover types, offsets and the total disability definition
• AIA New Zealand, AIA Living Income Protection Benefit Agreed Value appendix and Indemnity appendix (1108 AL-IP version 3, effective 23 July 2021, retrieved 8 September 2026)
• nib New Zealand, Life and Living Insurance cover wording (July 2025, retrieved 8 September 2026) - Income Protection Illness cover and Redundancy cover
• Fidelity Life, Income protection cover factsheet, Platinum Plus income protection agreed value wording and indemnity value wording (retrieved 8 September 2026)
• Asteron Life, Income Protection brochure RP327 05/25 (retrieved 8 September 2026)
• Fidelity Life, Term Cover brochure AL TC-2 06-25 (retrieved 8 September 2026) - redundancy benefit closed to new applications
• MoneyHub NZ, Compare Income Protection Insurance (updated 11 June 2026, retrieved 19 August 2026)
• Policywise, Best income protection insurance and comparison quotes (retrieved 19 August 2026)
• AA Life, Income Protection Cover (retrieved 19 August 2026)
• ACC, weekly compensation (retrieved 14 August 2026)
• ACC Newsroom, changes to client payments from 1 July 2026 (retrieved 14 August 2026)
• ACC, what we cover (retrieved 14 August 2026)
• Employment New Zealand, sick leave (retrieved 8 September 2026)
• Inland Revenue, non-business expenses (last updated 29 October 2025, retrieved 8 September 2026) and insurance payouts (retrieved 8 September 2026)
• Partners Life, This is Partners Life 2025 claims brochure (claims assessed 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025, retrieved 18 August 2026)
• Fidelity Life, Claims we've paid customer brochure (1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025, retrieved 18 August 2026)
• Asteron Life, Life Insurer of the Year reports 97% claims payout rate (11 December 2024, retrieved 18 August 2026)
• AIA NZ pays $829.6m in total claims in 2024 and the Chatswood summary of AIA's Claims Compass, 13 May 2025 (retrieved 18 August 2026)
• Reserve Bank of New Zealand, register of licensed insurers (retrieved 18 August 2026)
• Financial Markets Authority, insurance guidance
• Sorted.org.nz, income protection insurance

Disclaimer: This article is general information only and does not constitute personalised financial advice. Every premium figure on this page is reproduced from the named third-party publication beside it, is scoped to that publisher's stated profile, frequency and date, and is not a quote from QuoteHub or from any insurer. Your actual premium depends on your age, health, occupation and policy configuration, and insurance is subject to underwriting, with terms, conditions, exclusions and stand-down periods applying. Financial advice is provided by Craig Smith Business Services Limited, trading as Smiths Insurance & KiwiSaver, a licensed Financial Advice Provider (FSP712931). QuoteHub is a trading name. Henry Smith is a Financial Adviser (FSP1010699).

Read the full insurance guides

Compare your cover with a licensed NZ adviser · free, no obligation.

Explore related pages: Life Insurance, Income Protection, Health Insurance, Trauma Insurance, How It Works.