Fees and expenses

Report fees

The fixed fee for completing a forensic report is $3,000, excluding GST.

In exceptional circumstances, you can seek the Court Registry’s prior approval for payment of a higher report fee. Exceptional circumstances can include situations where:

  • a report is expected to be more time-consuming due to complex circumstances, or
  • a report is required to be completed in a very short timeframe due to unforeseen circumstances. 

Allowable expenses and travel time

You can claim for some expenses that may be incurred during the report writing process, such as mileage, and for some additional time in certain circumstances (such as travel time). As some expenses must have prior approval, you should discuss what expenses and travel time are likely to be incurred with the Court Registry before finalising the terms of a Service Order.

Most expenses will be agreed at the time the booking is confirmed. Receipts will usually be required, in which case, we will accept both digital and paper receipts.

The following information explains how we’ll reimburse you for different types of expenses. More details about allowable expenses are outlined in the Website Terms.

Travel

You must have prior approval in writing from the Court Registry (who engaged your services) for flights.

For travel by car, if your round trip is over 50km, and you have used your own car (or other similar private vehicle), you can claim mileage at the applicable mileage rate specified by Inland Revenue(external link), plus GST for each km over and above the first 50kms. For example, if your full return journey is 64kms, you can claim mileage for 14kms.

These rates change from time to time. The Ministry will notify report writers as soon as practicable when the mileage rate is changed by Inland Revenue. The current rates can be found at: Kilometre rates for the business use of vehicles for the 2025 income year(external link). For other modes of travel, if prior approval is not sought from the Court Registry, actual and reasonable costs may be payable at the Court Registry’s discretion if GST receipts, and evidence of incurred expenses are provided.

Travel time

If you’re travelling to conduct one or more in-person interviews, you may claim for the additional time at a rate of $150.00 (ex GST) per hour for the following:

  • Travel time that exceeds one hour: This includes various modes of transportation, for example driving or flying. The first hour of travel time is not payable. For example, if your total travel time is 1.5 hours, you can claim 0.5 hours of travel time at $75.00.
  • Visiting prisons: The additional time you spend at a prison for the purpose of conducting one or more interviews (excluding time to conduct the interview(s)) due to, for example, security screening and applying for approval to bring certain equipment into the prison, can be claimed as long as you can show that you scheduled the visit in advance with the prison. We will not pay you for down-time that could have been avoided if you had planned and scheduled your visit in advance.

Accommodation

You must have prior approval in writing from the Court Registry (who engaged your services) to incur accommodation costs.

Remote interviews

Remote interviews (for example, via Zoom, Teams, Skype or similar, or audio-visual link) must only be conducted with prior approval in writing from the Court Registry (who engaged your services).

If there are associated costs that will be incurred to use the applicable technology (excluding purchase of software), you must also agree those in advance via the Service Order.

Defendant non-attendance fixed fee 

You can request a one-off fixed payment when a defendant fails to attend scheduled appointments and/or you have tried, but have been unable to, schedule or re-schedule an appointment with them.

The fixed fee of $300 (excluding GST) is to compensate for your preparation and administration time.  

For the fee to apply:

  • You must have made at least three attempts at scheduling an appointment with the defendant, but have been unable to do so or
  • The defendant has failed to attend a scheduled appointment with you, and you have made at least two further attempts to schedule another appointment.

You can only claim the $300 fixed fee once by per engagement.

In these cases, the $3,000 fixed fee is not payable, but allowable expenses described above incurred by you may be.

Submit a completed invoice

There is no set (prescribed) invoice you must use. You can use your own invoice template if it contains all the required information.

To invoice the Ministry for the work you have done for the courts, you will need to email the completed invoice to:

Email: crownaccounts.payable@justice.govt.nz

Your invoice must:

  • be in New Zealand currency
  • show GST due
  • show the total amount due
  • include taxable supply information
  • include the date 
  • include the Defendant or Offender court reference number (CRI number)
  • include the name of Defendant or Offender, as applicable
  • contain your name and contact details
  • contain an invoice number
  • specify the name of the Court Registry who engaged your services
  • include the legislative provision under which the report was ordered (e.g. section 38(1)(a) CPMIP Act)
  • include the breakdown of hours spent e.g. assessment of person, report writing, travel time, total hours spent
  • ·    if applicable, include details of non-attendance of any scheduled appointments.

You should complete and submit an invoice as soon as practicable after a report is completed.

 
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