Retirement Commissioner's review of retirement income policies
The Retirement Commissioner is required to review the Government’s retirement income policies every 3 years, under the New Zealand Superannuation and Retirement Income Act 2001.
On this page
2022 review of retirement income policies
The Retirement Commissioner completed the most recent review in November 2022. The Review sets out detailed recommendations for Government, the financial services industry, employers, and Te Ara Ahunga Ora itself in the areas of:
- savings
- KiwiSaver
- New Zealand Superannuation (NZ Super)
- housing.
The Review did not provide detailed recommendations for improving retirement outcomes for Māori. Rather, Te Ara Ahunga Ora will establish a separate advisory group to consider retirement income policy changes that would better support Māori in later life. This advisory group is expected to present policy options to the Government in 2024/2025.
The Government has issued an interim response to the 2022 Review and will provide complete response once the recommendations related to Māori are received. This will enable the Government to consider all the recommendations together in a comprehensive way.
Key documents related to the Government’s interim response to the 2022 Review of Retirement Income Policies are available below.
2022 Review of Retirement Income Policies: Proposed Government Response – Minute of Decision [PDF 121KB]
2019 review of retirement income policies
The Retirement Commissioner completed the most recent review in December 2019. The review contained recommendations relating to:
- New Zealand Superannuation settings
- KiwiSaver settings
- implications of the changing nature of work
- governance and reporting of the Retirement Commissioner.
Retirement Commissioner’s 2019 recommendations(external link)
Due to delays caused by COVID-19, the Government provided its final response to the 2019 review of retirement income policies in December 2021.