MPs' super scheme safe despite KiwiSaver cuts

Bill English
Bill English
While New Zealand workers will have to fork out more for savings under new KiwiSaver plans, MPs' superannuation schemes are to be left untouched.

Prime Minister John Key announced this week that KiwiSaver would be cut back to ensure the scheme was sustainable.

He did not give details of the changes but said the KiwiSaver tax credit, worth about $20 a week, would be reduced and replaced with higher contributions from workers and employers.

Finance Minister Bill English told media yesterday the Government was not looking at changing the MPs' superannuation scheme.

Under the scheme, MPs are entitled to a subsidy of up to 20 percent of their salary, receiving $2.50 for each dollar they save.

MPs who entered Parliament before 1992, when the parliamentary super scheme changed, receive a subsidy equal to 23 percent of their gross salary.

Mr English, who was elected to Parliament in 1990, said he could not recall which scheme was which.

"It's been changing quite a bit, I can't tell you exactly which scheme I'm in," he said.

"I came in in 1990, there was a set of terms and conditions that applied then, as I understand it they still apply."

Mr English said changes to the scheme meant what was available to MPs was similar to what was available to everyone.

"MPs super has been reduced quite significantly over the years, to the point where I think MPs who have come into Parliament in recent elections get pretty much the same deal as everybody else," he said.

"In fact, I think a number of MPs are probably members of KiwiSaver."

 

 

 

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