14 February 2022
Brendon Mills
[email address]
Tēnā koe Brendon Mills
On 3 January 2021
, you emailed the Ministry of Social Development (the
Ministry) requesting, under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act), the
following information:
•
studies done on the possible negative impact that the lifting of the age
of eligibility of NZ Super from 65 to 67 have on those who are between
60 and 66 and are on low incomes with limited or no retirement savings,
with disabilities, unemployed or underemployed, etc.
The Ministry has performed a digital search and could not locate any studies
which are specific to the topic you have requested. As such, I am refusing your
request under section 18(g) of the Official Information Act as the information
you have requested is not held by the Ministry and I have no grounds to believe
that the information is held by another department or Minister of the Crown or
organisation.
In the spirit of being helpful, the following information may be of use to you.
Please note that the information provided below (except the Household
Incomes Report) is not the work or views of the Ministry. The Government
does not have any plan to raise the age of eligibility for New Zealand
Superannuation at this time.
• The Retirement Policy and Research Centre has some information on
inter-generational impacts and the sustainability of New Zealand
Superannuation. The following link contains some information which
pertains to your request:
cdn.auckland.ac.nz/assets/business/
about/our-research/research-institutes-and-centres/RPRC/Other
Papers/ToR%206%20FINAL%20St%20John%20and%20Dale%204%2
0Oct%20revised.pdf
• The Retirement Commission undertakes The Review of Retirement
Income Policies every three years. Some of these reviews contain
information pertaining to age of eligibility for New Zealand
Superannuation.
• The Ministry produces annual Household Incomes Reports which focuses
on the material wellbeing and hardship amongst different age groups
across New Zealand. Please note that the Household Incomes Report is
currently paused while some data issues are worked through with Stats
NZ. The report will be back in 2022. The latest available report from
2019 provides information on the material wellbeing of New Zealanders
as indicated by their household incomes from all sources from 1982 to
2018. This information can be found at the following link:
www.msd.govt.nz/about-msd-and-our-work/publications-resources/
monitoring/index.html
The principles and purposes of the Official Information Act 1982 under which
you made your request are:
• to create greater openness and transparency about the plans, work and
activities of the Government,
• to increase the ability of the public to participate in the making and
administration of our laws and policies and
• to lead to greater accountability in the conduct of public affairs.
If you wish to discuss this response with us, please feel free to contact
[MSD request email].
If you are not satisfied with this response, you have the right to seek an
investigation and review by the Ombudsman. Information about how to make
a complaint is available
at www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or 0800 802 602.
Ngā mihi nui
Harry Fenton
Policy Manager
Seniors
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