Transitional Retirement Benefit

Between 1 April 1994 and 31 March 2004, a Transitional Retirement Benefit was available to people who:

• were retired or had low incomes
• had not yet reached the qualifying age for New Zealand Superannuation.

Transitional Retirement Benefits were introduced to provide financial assistance to people who were:

• retired or approaching retirement
• affected by the increase in the age of eligibility for New Zealand Superannuation from 60 years to 61 on 1 April 1992, which was followed by incremental increases in the age of eligibility for New Zealand Superannuation between 1 April 1993 and 1 April 2001.

The age of eligibility for a Transitional Retirement Benefit was raised concurrently with the age of eligibility for New Zealand Superannuation, rising three months every six months. The phasing-out of Transitional Retirement Benefits was completed on 1 April 2004, when the eligibility age for these benefits reached 65 years. Since that date, no-one has received or been granted a Transitional Retirement Benefit.

For more information about eligibility for, and the use of, Transitional Retirement Benefits, see the Statistical Report for the Year Ending June 2004.