Savings on hand as Kiwisaver turns five

17,500 people are now able to access their KiwiSaver retirement nest eggs.

It’s exactly five years today since the savings scheme started and it means anyone over the age of 65, who has been with KiwiSaver since its beginning, can withdraw what they have saved.

Inland Revenue will be advising employers to check that they have sent through all contributions, and if necessary, make additional payments as soon as possible.

Since it began back in 2007 just under two million people have joined and $11.8 billion has been saved.

The Employers and Manufacturers Association spokesman David Lowe said it had been a successful policy, Newstalk ZB reported.

Employers were generally over its inevitable teething issues and politicians needed to do their bit by not fiddling with it, he said.

Labour’s finance spokesman David Parker said the time had come to transform KiwiSaver into a universal workplace savings scheme to help strengthen the economy and reduce the nation’s debt.

‘‘KiwiSaver has been a huge success in the five years since it was launched. That’s despite National’s repeated fiddling at a time when our international debt is growing and our economy needs more savings not less,’’ Mr Parker said in a statement. — APNZ