How much does income protection cost in New Zealand? What sets the price, and why this snapshot has no table
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.
Income protection cost in New Zealand is not one number: it depends on the waiting period and benefit period you choose, your occupation class, and whether the policy pays on an Agreed Value, Indemnity or Loss of Earnings basis. QuoteHub does not currently publish a priced income protection table in the QuoteHub Premium Index: the figures that were here were withdrawn on 9 September 2026 because they priced the wrong benefit. This page explains what actually drives the cost, using each insurer's own published wording, and what happens next.
Correction, 9 September 2026
The income protection figures previously published on this page, on The QuoteHub Premium Index, on The QuoteHub Premium Index 2026 and in the downloadable CSV were wrong and have been withdrawn. The batch that produced them was set up to price a different Quotemonster (QPR) benefit to the one it was labelled as: every one of the 32 rows was actually a small TPD lump-sum benefit, not a monthly income protection payment at all, so the figures shown were far too low to mean anything as an income protection price. Life, trauma and TPD cover elsewhere in the QuoteHub Premium Index were not affected; only income protection was withdrawn. See the methodology page's Corrections section and the Premium Index study for the same notice. QuoteHub would rather show nothing than a wrong figure, which is why this page now explains what drives the cost instead of restating a number that cannot be trusted.
What income protection actually pays for
Income protection replaces part of your income, paid monthly, for as long as you cannot work under the policy's disability definition, after a waiting period has passed. It is not a lump sum: unlike life, trauma or TPD cover, which each pay once, income protection keeps paying a monthly benefit for as long as the benefit period runs and you remain unable to work.
How much does income protection cost in New Zealand?
There is no single published figure, and any page that gives you one flat number without naming a waiting period, a benefit period and an occupation class is oversimplifying. The same person's price moves materially with each of those three choices, plus whether the policy calculates the payout as Agreed Value, Indemnity or Loss of Earnings. QuoteHub's own priced comparison across these variables is not available this quarter (see the correction above); until it returns, the income protection calculator will size the monthly benefit you would actually need, which is the number to take to a licensed adviser for a real quote.
What is a waiting period, and how does it change the price?
The waiting period is the time between becoming unable to work and your first monthly payment. AIA's own published range runs from 2 to 104 weeks (AIA: Income Protection Insurance, retrieved 8 September 2026). A longer wait generally lowers the premium, because the insurer is on risk for fewer weeks of any claim, which is why the wait you choose should match how long your sick leave and savings would actually bridge. See our waiting and benefit periods guide for the trade-off in full.
What is a benefit period, and how does it change the price?
The benefit period is how long payments continue once a claim is accepted. AIA's published options are 1, 2 or 5 years, or to age 65 (age 70 for selected occupations) (AIA: Income Protection Insurance, retrieved 8 September 2026). A shorter benefit period lowers the premium but caps how long you are covered if you cannot return to work. Our waiting and benefit periods guide sets out the practical trade-offs.
Why does occupation class affect the price of income protection?
Insurers group jobs into risk classes and price income protection accordingly, because the product insures your ability to work in your specific job, more so than trauma or TPD cover do. The standard, lowest-risk office-based or professional class is typically the cheapest; a tradesperson or a higher-risk occupation is priced materially higher for the same benefit and wait. See our TPD insurance cost page for how occupation class is defined for the products QuoteHub does currently price.
What is the difference between Agreed Value and Indemnity income protection?
Agreed Value cover fixes your insured monthly benefit when you take the policy out, so a later drop in income does not reduce what you are paid on claim. Indemnity cover recalculates your benefit against your actual income at claim time, which can pay less if your income has fallen since you took the cover out, but is typically cheaper. AIA offers both, alongside a third option, Loss of Earnings (AIA: Income Protection Insurance, retrieved 8 September 2026). See our Agreed Value versus Indemnity guide for the full comparison.
Is income protection priced as a stepped or level premium?
Most New Zealand income protection is sold as a stepped premium, which increases each year as you get older, the same convention QuoteHub uses across life, trauma and TPD cover in the Premium Index. A level premium stays flat for a fixed calculation period instead, which the stepped versus level premiums guide explains, including why QuoteHub does not yet publish a level comparison for any product.
Is income protection tax deductible in NZ?
If you are self-employed, income protection premiums are generally tax deductible because they relate directly to protecting assessable income, and the monthly benefit is then taxable when paid; a PAYE employee's personally paid premiums are generally not deductible. See our income protection tax guide for the full rules, including employer-paid cover, which is a different tax result again.
Where income protection fits against TPD and trauma cover
Do I need income protection if I have TPD or trauma cover?
They answer different questions. TPD and trauma cover pay a lump sum on a specific trigger, permanent disability or a listed diagnosis, while income protection pays an ongoing monthly benefit for as long as you cannot work under the policy's definition, regardless of the cause, once the waiting period passes. See our do I need income protection guide and income protection versus trauma insurance for how the three typically combine, and TPD insurance cost and trauma insurance cost for the lump-sum pricing QuoteHub does currently publish.
Can I claim income protection and TPD cover at the same time?
Yes, if you hold both and each policy's own claim conditions are met: a TPD claim assesses permanent inability to work and pays once, while an income protection claim assesses ongoing disability and pays monthly, so a single serious event can trigger both, though some policies offset one benefit against the other. The exact offset rules differ by insurer and policy, so check your own policy wording or ask a licensed adviser before assuming both pay in full together.
When will QuoteHub price income protection again?
At the next quarterly restatement of the QuoteHub Premium Index. The account behind the Index allows 999 Quotemonster lookups a month, which is enough to price the full panel once but not to re-run a product mid-quarter, so income protection will be re-crunched on the correct benefit and published alongside the rest of the panel at that point, not before. See the methodology page for the cadence and the cap in full.
Which insurers sell income protection in New Zealand
The six insurers in the QuoteHub Premium Index panel are set out on the methodology page; not every one of them has a described income protection product on QuoteHub yet. Two do:
| Insurer | Product, as published | Cover options and waiting periods | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| AIA | Income Protection Insurance, part of AIA's Living range | Agreed Value, Indemnity or Loss of Earnings; waiting periods of 2, 4, 8, 13, 26, 52 or 104 weeks; benefit periods of 1, 2 or 5 years or to age 65 (age 70 for selected occupations) | AIA: Income Protection Insurance, retrieved 8 September 2026 |
| Chubb Life | Income Cover, under Assurance Extra | Pays a monthly amount if disabled by illness or injury; a Partial Disability Benefit applies once you can earn less than 75% of your income on return to work; an Increasing Income Benefit allows the sum insured to rise up to 10% a year on top of inflation | Chubb: Income Cover, retrieved 8 September 2026 |
Each insurer's own company page, linked from AIA New Zealand and Chubb Life, carries its wider product range and financial strength detail.
How to size the cover you need
How do I work out how much income protection cover I need?
Most policies cap the monthly benefit at a share of your income, commonly up to 75%, so the starting point is your take-home pay, not a round number. The income protection calculator works out a monthly shortfall figure from your income and expenses, then a licensed adviser can match that figure against a waiting period and benefit period that fit your savings and sick leave. See our income protection hub for the fuller buying guide.
About this page
This page is general information, not personalised financial advice, and carries no income protection premium figure while the QuoteHub Premium Index withdrawal above is in effect. 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. For advice on which income protection cover suits your situation, use the income protection calculator to estimate a benefit amount, then see our income protection hub for the full buying guide, or the QuoteHub Premium Index methodology for how and when pricing returns.
Adviser's view
QuoteHub's read is that a wrong number is worse than no number, which is why this page carries no income protection figure this quarter rather than a corrected guess. What actually moves the cost, wait period, benefit period, occupation class and Agreed Value versus Indemnity, is set out honestly below, sourced to each insurer's own published wording, and real pricing returns at the next quarterly snapshot.
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Cite this page QuoteHub NZ (2026). Income Protection Cost NZ: What Sets the Price. www.quotehub.co.nz/quotes/income-protection. Updated 2026-09-09.
References
Explore related pages: Income Protection, ACC, Life Insurance, Health Insurance, Referral.