Fees and charges

Description of service

This service relates to the provision of an IFSR. A certifier must forward plans and specifications to FRNSW when they relate to an application for a construction certificate for relevant building work, as required under section 27 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment (Development Certification and Fire Safety) Regulation 2021 (EP&A(DCFS) Reg.).

This service also relates to any proposed modification of a construction certificate involving relevant building work, including changed plans and specifications, as required under section 24 of the EP&A(DCFS) Reg.

Charges prescribed for this service are:

Assessment of application for an IFSR — $1,000

• This charge applies to any application for an IFSR. FRNSW will assess forwarded plans and specifications to determine if an IFSR will be provided or not.
• This charge will apply to every complete application received, irrespective of whether the IFSR is provided or not.
• This charge will apply by way of upfront payment,¹ made prior to or when submitting the application.

Provision of an IFSR — $192 per hour [of labour]

• This charge applies to any IFSR provided by FRNSW within 25 business days.²
• This charge is calculated as the cumulative number of labour hours spent (i.e. time spent for each hour, or part of an hour, by each fire brigade member).
• This charge will apply by way of an invoice sent to the payee or remitter.³

Description of service

This service relates to providing advisory, assessment or consultancy service on any fire safety matter in the built environment not otherwise prescribed. Examples or where FRNSW may provide a written report include, but are not limited to:

1. State significant infrastructure (within the meaning of section 5.12 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (EP&A Act))
2. Crown building work (within the meaning of section 6.28 of the EP&A Act)
3. Hazardous or offensive development (within the meaning of Chapter 3 of the State Environmental Planning Policy (Resilience and Hazards) 2021)
4. Development subject to an Environmental Planning Instrument (within the meaning of Part 3 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979)
5. A condition imposed by a consent or regulatory authority (e.g. condition upon certifier or owner made under Part 2 Division 3 of the Building and Development Certifiers Act 2018)
6. A fire safety exemption under section 111 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment (Development Certification and Fire Safety) Regulation 2021
7. A contractual agreement or other prescribed obligation is being imposed by a relevant stakeholder in the matter.
8. A non-mandatory service (i.e. voluntary) such as a combustible cladding review, water supply assessment.

This service relates to any advice, assessment or consultation provided whether being required (e.g. a condition) or being sought voluntarily.

This service, if provided on-site at the premises concerned, does not include any inspection or other visual assessment being undertaken at the premises.

Charges prescribed for this service are:

Assessment of application for advisory, assessment or consultancy service — $373

• This charge applies to any application for an FRNSW written report. FRNSW will assess the application to determine if a report will be provided or not.
• This charge will apply to every complete application received, irrespective of whether the FRNSW written report is provided or not.
• This charge will apply by way of upfront payment,¹ made prior to or when submitting the application.

Provision of advisory, assessment or consultancy service — $192 per hour [of labour]

• This charge applies to any advice, assessment or consultation provided by FRNSW in a written report.
• This charge is calculated as the cumulative number of labour hours spent (i.e. time spent for each hour, or part of an hour, by each fire brigade member).
• This charge will apply by way of an invoice sent to the payee or remitter.³

Description of service

This service relates to the provision of a FFSR. The certifier must request a FFSR from FRNSW after receiving an application for an occupation certificate, as required under section 50 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment (Development Certification and Fire Safety) Regulation 2021.

This service relates to development that is subject to a construction certificate and involves a performance solution for a fire safety requirement in any class 2 to 9 building.

Charges prescribed for this service are:

Assessment of application for a FFSR — $1,000

• This charge applies to any application for a FFSR. FRNSW will assess application to determine if a FFSR will be provided or not.
• This charge will apply to every complete application received, irrespective of whether the FFSR is provided or not.
• This charge will apply to the applicant by way of upfront payment,¹ made prior to or when submitting the application.

Provision of a FFSR — $2,429

• This charge applies to any FFSR provided by FRNSW within 10 business days.²
• This charge is inclusive of up to 2 hours of travel time.⁴
• This charge will apply by way of an invoice sent to the payee or remitter.³

Description of service

This service relates to providing consultation on a PBDB, where a request for consultation with the Fire Commissioner is required under section 26 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment (Development Certification and Fire Safety) Regulation 2021.

This service also relates to providing consultation on any other PBDB as a relevant stakeholder (e.g. per clause A2G2(4)(a) of the Building Code of Australia, Volume One).

Note: Under section 137 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Regulation 2021 the certifier may determine FRNSW are a relevant stakeholder for a relevant application for a complying development certificate.

Charges prescribed for this service are:

Assessment of application for PBDB consultation — $1,000

• This charge applies to any application for PBDB consultation. FRNSW will assess the application to determine if consultation will be provided on the PBDB or not.
• This charge will apply to every complete application received, irrespective of whether consultation on the PBDB is provided or not.
• This charge will apply to every PBDB version on which a request for consultation with FRNSW is being made (i.e. successive version of PBDB).
• This charge will apply to the applicant by way of upfront payment,¹ made prior to or when submitting the application.

Provision of PBDB consultation — $1,395

• This charge applies to any PBDB consultation provided by FRNSW within 20 business days² (as applicable).
• This charge will apply to every instance of consultation provided, typically in the form of written responses on the ‘PBDB Consultation’ document. This includes on successive versions of the PBDB where consultation is provided.
• This charge will apply by way of an invoice sent to the payee or remitter.³

Description of service

This service relates to the provision of a FSSR. The certifier must request a FSSR from FRNSW after receiving an application for an occupation certificate, as required under section 51 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment (Development Certification and Fire Safety) Regulation 2021.

The service relates to development that involved installing, extending or modifying a relevant fire safety system in a Class 2 or 3 building.

Charges prescribed for this service are:

Assessment of application for a FSSR — $1,000

• This charge applies to any application for a FSSR. FRNSW will assess application to determine if a FSSR will be provided or not.
• This charge will apply to every complete application received, irrespective of whether the FSSR is provided or not.
• This charge will apply to the applicant by way of upfront payment,¹ made prior to or when submitting the application.

Provision of a FSSR — $2,429

• This charge applies to any FSSR provided by FRNSW within 10 business days.²
• This charge is inclusive of up to 2 hours of travel time.⁴
• This charge will apply by way of an invoice sent to the payee or remitter.³

Description of service

This service relates to FRNSW attendance at a fire safety meeting.

This service relates to providing verbal advice on a fire safety related matter through either a face-to-face (up to 2 hours travel time) or an online meeting.

This service does not include any formal (i.e. written) advice, assessment or consultation being provided for the meeting.

Charges prescribed for this service are:

Assessment of request to attend meeting — $373

• This charge applies to any application to attend a fire safety meeting. FRNSW will assess application to determine if FRNSW will attend or not.
• This charge will apply to every complete application received, irrespective of whether the fire safety meeting is attended or not.
• This charge will apply to the applicant by way of upfront payment,¹ made prior to or when submitting the application.

Attendance at fire safety meeting — $1,990

• This charge applies to any fire safety meeting attended by FRNSW.
• This charge is inclusive of up to 2 hours of travel time.⁴
• This charge will apply by way of an invoice sent to the payee or remitter.³

Description of service

This service relates to the provision of a written report containing advice or recommendations on an emergency plan.

This service constitutes FRNSW consultation that may be required in preparing, developing, reviewing or revising an emergency plan and associated documents (e.g. emergency services information package).

All EPs lodged with FRNSW constitutes a request to prepare an emergency plan report in the first instance. It is at the discretion of FRNSW whether an emergency plan report is prepared.

Charges prescribed for this service are:

Assessment of request to prepare emergency plans report — $122

• This charge applies to every request to prepare an emergency plans report made with FRNSW. FRNSW will assess the request and determine if FRNSW will provide a written report or not.
• This charge will not apply to any revised or reviewed emergency plan lodged with FRNSW that incorporates all FRNSW written recommendations from the emergency plans report.
• This charge will apply to the applicant by way of upfront payment,¹ made prior to or when submitting the request.

Provision of written report on emergency plan — $407

• This charge applies to any written emergency plans report provided by FRNSW after the assessment of the applicants' emergency plan and associated documents.
• The provision of an emergency plans report is at the sole discretion of FRNSW.
• This charge will apply by way of an invoice sent to the payee or remitter.³

Description of service

This service relates to assessing notifications of radiation gauges. Under Section 3.1 of the Code of practice and Safety Guide – Safe Use of Fixed Radiation Gauges, the responsible person is required to notify FRNSW of all radiation sources.

Charges prescribed for this service are:

Assessment of radiation gauges — $122

• This charge applies to any notification of radiation gauges. FRNSW will assess the location of all radiation sources and the radiation gauges being used.
• This charge will apply to the applicant by way of upfront payment,¹ made prior to or when submitting the notification.

Description of service

This service relates to providing an on-site fire safety inspection or visual assessment of any fire safety matter relating to the premises, where not otherwise prescribed within schedule 2 of the Fire and Rescue NSW Regulation 2023.

This service relates to any written report or correspondence provided, whether being required (e.g. a condition) or being sought voluntarily.

Charges prescribed for this service are:

General fire safety inspection or assessment not otherwise provided for in this schedule — $172 per hour [of labour]

• This charge applies to the time taken by fire brigade members to undertake a fire safety inspection or visual assessment.
• This charge also applies to the time taken by fire brigade members to produce a written report or correspondence, if required.
• This charge is calculated as the cumulative number of labour hours spent (i.e. time spent for each hour, or part of an hour, by each fire brigade member).
• This charge will apply by way of an invoice sent to the payee or remitter.³

Travel time to provide fire safety inspection or assessment not otherwise provided for in this schedule — $172 per hour [of labour]

• This charge applies to the time taken by fire brigade members travelling to and from the premises concerned in order to undertake the fire safety inspection or visual assessment.
• This charge is not inclusive of any complimentary travel time.⁵
• This charge is calculated as the cumulative number of labour hours spent (i.e. time spent for each hour, or part of an hour, by each fire brigade member).
• This charge will apply by way of an invoice sent to the payee or remitter.³

¹ An application or request for other service requires a payee to make upfront payment of the prescribed assessment charge via the Payment Portal, as managed by Department Customer Service. FRNSW will not process the application/request unless the assessment charge receipt number and the payee's SAP customer number is provided on the submitted form.

If the submitted application or request for other service is incomplete (e.g. all necessary information or documentation has not been provided), the upfront payment to FRNSW is not refundable. The payment will be held for the application/request to be completed.

Note: The Payment Portal will accept various payment methods including by card (credit or debit), BPAY, PayID, and Google/Apple Pay. Please note that payment  by bank transfer is not available.

² Where a legislated timeframe applies to the provision of the service; the applicant may apply to have the prescribed ‘service provision charge’ waived (e.g. charge for provision of a report) if the actual time taken by FRNSW in providing the agreed service is undue.

³ An invoice will be sent to the payee or remitter after completion of the service (e.g. report furnished) and must be paid as per the terms outlined on the invoice received (i.e. immediate). The applicant/requestor is solely responsible for either paying the service invoice or obtaining permission from the remitter (i.e. client) who agrees to pay the service invoice.

⁴ Some services include up to 2 hours complimentary travel time within the provision of the service. This is time spent travelling to and from the premises (i.e. 1 hour each way), calculated from the nearest regional office (i.e. Greenacre, Coffs Harbour, Dubbo or Queanbeyan). Any excess travel time will be charged at the hourly labour rate applicable for travel time required to provide the fire safety inspection or assessment.

⁵ Where a service does not include any complimentary travel time, the travel time will be charged as the time spent travelling to and from the premises as calculated from the nearest regional office (i.e. Greenacre, Coffs Harbour, Dubbo or Queanbeyan).

All charges prescribed in schedule 2 of the Fire and Rescue NSW Regulation 2023 are provided being exclusive of goods and services tax (i.e. ex-GST). GST will be added where required.

The charge applicable for each service provision is detailed on the corresponding service page as well as on each respective application or request form. Each form includes an agreement whereby the applicant/requestor makes a declaration to either pay all charges or that they have obtained permission from a client to pay all charges.

Local government authorities and consent authorities may be exempt from charges on certain services (e.g. compliance and enforcement functions under Part 9 of the EP&A Act). The service type page will indicate if no charge is applicable to authorities.

FRNSW accepts the following methods of payment for all service invoices:

Note: Card payments will incur a surcharge fee of 0.40%.

Failure by the applicant to pay the issued invoice by the time the final reminder notice is due will result in FRNSW pursuing debt recovery action. Additional costs may be imposed when debt recovery action is required to be undertaken.

The charges will be adjusted on 1 July of each year in accordance with the variation of the Public Sector Wage Price Index per March quarter, as prescribed by section 47A of the Fire and Rescue Regulation NSW 2023, applying a pre-determined formula then rounded to the nearest $5.

FRNSW will publish the adjusted charges prior to 1 July of each year on the FRNSW website, with no less than six weeks’ notice being given before the new charges apply.

The new adjusted charges will apply to all new applications or requests made on or after 1 July. Services in progress or otherwise received and being assessed by FRNSW will remain being charged at the existing rate until the service is completed.

Section 43 of the Fire and Rescue NSW Act 1989 allows the applicant for any service to seek a waiver or reduction of the prescribed charge/s.

Applications are to be made in writing to the FRNSW Commissioner detailing the service and reasons why a waiver or reduction of charge should be considered, including any previous payments made on related services for the given matter.

The request to waive or reduce the charges can only be made after the relevant charge has been applied (i.e. the invoice has been received). The decision to waive or reduce any applicable charges is solely at the discretion of the FRNSW Commissioner.