Review too ‘jokey’

The ‘‘jokey’’ approach taken by the Retirement Commissioner in her review of retirement income policy last year has been criticised in a new report.

Among Diane Maxwell’s recommendations were a call to increase the minimum KiwiSaver contribution, raise the pension age and require people to live in New Zealand for longer before they could claim state super.

Michael Chamberlain, cofounder of KiwiSaver provider Superlife, and Michael Littlewood, co-founder of the Retirement Policy and Research Centre, said she had missed an opportunity.

‘‘The findings were cloaked in a jokey, cartoon-like presentation on the website of the Commission for Financial Capability and amounted to 34 recommendations and observations with little to no supporting evidence for nearly all of them.’’

They said Maxwell seemed set on strengthening KiwiSaver, but had not asked if it was working.

‘‘Treasury reports before KiwiSaver started suggested that New Zealanders were probably slightly over-saving for retirement. Subsequent Treasury reports suggest that KiwiSaver hasn’t made much difference to households’ financial behaviour so why do taxpayers continue to spend large sums subsidising KiwiSaver?’’

They said that citing the number of members did not prove KiwiSaver was working.

Maxwell defended her review and the way it was conducted.

‘‘The review had never been done this way before and there were stakeholders who initially struggled to understand what we were doing ... Some resistance to the approach stemmed from the view that if the public became more informed it would undermine the role and status of those working in this space.’’

Engagement with thousands of New Zealanders as part of the process provided a far deeper understanding of the issues, she said.

‘‘We know we have an ageing population. It is possible, and even advisable, to prepare for the future. We ask it of our households and we need to do it as a country.’’