Government workers and MPs employed before 2016 are the only employees governed under any superannuation scheme

Government workers and members of parliament employed before 2016 are the only employees in Niue governed under any superannuation scheme.

The growing number of employees in the private sector do not contribute or are part of any superannuation scheme.

The Niue government in September 2019 decided to seek the assistance of the Asian Development Bank or through the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) to conduct a feasibility study on establishing a National superannuation fund.

Currently Niue contributes about NZ$1 million per annum through the Niuean public servants and the Niue Government employer contributions, to the GSF and ASB super funds.

The former Sir Toke Talagi government had explored options with Kiwibank, which offers its own Kiwibank superannuation scheme for their own employee.

BCN News obtained a copy of the proposal put to Cabinet in 2019 which suggested that the most logical method of establishing a national superannuation or provident fund would be through the Niue Trust Fund directly or established and maintained through an annual allocation from the Niue Trust fund that would be set aside specifically for superannuation.

The Niue Trust Fund which is currently over NZ$60M which may have an annual draw down of up to 40% of interest derived over the previous year.

The major issue of contention for any superannuation fund service for Niue would be the number of contributors which is relatively small given the population of less than two thousand.

The proposal highlighted the benefit of Niue establishing its own superannuation fund is that Niueans will have a direct opportunity to contribute to the country’s development through their contributions.

However, given that the number of contributors to a national superannuation scheme would be relatively low in at the initial phase, the proposal noted it would be at least 20 – 30 years before there would be a draw own of contributor’s funds. Since the last ASB Super Trust scheme ceased in 2016, there are more than 100 public servants without superannuation cover and even more employees in the private sector.