Budget fact sheets 2005 - Retirement Commissioner increased funding

The Government is investing an additional $1.4 million over the next four years to increase the funding baseline of New Zealand’s Retirement Commissioner.

The increased funding will allow the Retirement Commissioner to continue to provide education programmes to improve the personal financial knowledge of New Zealanders so they are making well-informed decisions about their future financial security.

This funding is to maintain the existing level of activity which over recent years has been funded from the Retirement Commissioner’s accumulated funds.

The Retirement Commission’s ‘sorted’ website has steadily grown in popularity with more than 1.4 million hits on the site since its establishment in 2001 seeking information and calculations to improve their finances.

The increased funding will also allow the Retirement Commissioner to implement service and monitoring recommendations made by the Government in response to the Periodic Report Group.

The Retirement Commissioner’s monitoring role will be increased to respond to the requirement to produce a report on retirement income policies in 2007 and thereafter report on these polices at three yearly intervals.

The new funding will also allow the Commissioner to undertaken a pilot telephone-based financial information service.