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For the 2026 New Zealand general election: What are the parties' current positions on NZ Super, retirement income and aged care?
2026 New Zealand general election: NZ Super, retirement income and aged care
The key distinction to look for in the parties' policies is that NZ Super, retirement savings and aged care are three different policy questions:
- NZ Super: Who qualifies, at what age, and how much people receive.
- Retirement income: Whether KiwiSaver and other savings should play a larger role, and how retirement poverty is addressed.
- Aged care: Funding for rest homes, home-based support, dementia care, hospital-level care and support for older people who want to remain independent.
It is also important to distinguish a party's established policy from a proposal it has made during the 2026 election campaign. Below is a comparison focused on national policy, rather than individual electorate candidates.
1. NZ Super: eligibility age and entitlement
This is one of the clearest differences between the parties.
| Party | Position on NZ Super |
|---|---|
| National | Retain universal, non-means-tested Super, but gradually increase eligibility from 65 to 67, starting in 2044. |
| Labour | Keep eligibility at 65. Opposes raising the age or means-testing Super. |
| Green Party | Keep eligibility at 65 and retain universal entitlement. Focus on ensuring payments cover living costs. |
| NZ First | Keep eligibility at 65 and oppose changes to existing entitlements. Proposes restricting eligibility to NZ citizens from 2029. |
| ACT | Raise eligibility to 67 by 2035, with an exemption pathway for people with at least 20 years in physically demanding work. |
| The Opportunities Party (TOP) | Replace the existing NZ Super structure with a Citizen's Income and supplementary payments. No immediate change to older people's total entitlement is proposed. |
| Te Pāti Māori | Has previously advocated earlier access to Super for Māori, potentially seven to ten years earlier, but has not provided a comparable formal 2026 policy commitment. |
Sources: Where the parties stand on New Zealand SuperElection 2026: What’s in it for seniors so far?How parties stand on issues affecting older New Zealanders
Important distinctions:
- National's proposed increase would not affect people born before 1979, according to its published timetable.
- ACT proposes a substantially earlier increase, reaching 67 by 2035.
- Labour, Greens and NZ First have made explicit commitments to retain 65.
- TOP's proposal is more fundamental: it changes the structure of retirement income rather than simply changing the age.
2. KiwiSaver and retirement income
This is where the parties have some significant differences, even among those supporting NZ Super at 65.
| Party | KiwiSaver and retirement savings policy |
|---|---|
| National | Make KiwiSaver compulsory from July 2028. Increase employee and employer contributions progressively to 6% each by 2032. Introduce a $1,500 contribution for newborns. Continue employer contributions for working members over 65. |
| Labour | Increase employer contributions to 6% by 2032, even when employees pause their own contributions. Increase the default employee contribution to 4%. Does not propose compulsory employee contributions. |
| Greens | No comprehensive 2026 KiwiSaver contribution or compulsory-enrolment policy identified. Supports retaining universal Super and improving older people's financial security. |
| NZ First | Compulsory KiwiSaver, automatic enrolment at birth and a $1,000 government contribution. Proposes increasing employee and employer contributions to 8%, eventually 10%. |
| ACT | Opposes compulsory KiwiSaver. Proposes removing tax on KiwiSaver investment earnings and removing the government contribution. |
| TOP | Compulsory KiwiSaver 2.0, with employer and employee contributions progressively reaching 6% each. |
| Te Pāti Māori | Opposes National's proposed contribution increases, arguing they would disproportionately affect lower-income workers. Emphasises earlier Super access for Māori. |
Sources: Retirement Policy: Where NZ Parties Stand in 2026Election 2026: What’s in it for seniors so far?Election policy tracker: what the parties are promisingFixing the Basics and Building the Future: National’s plan for retirement
What this means in practice
There are three broad approaches:
- Greater reliance on compulsory private savings: National, NZ First and TOP.
- Strengthening employer contributions while retaining more choice for workers: Labour.
- Less compulsory saving and greater emphasis on individual choice: ACT.
TOP's Citizen's Income proposal is particularly different. It proposes a payment of up to $370 per week for nearly all adults, replacing many existing benefits. Older people would receive a supplementary payment to bring their income into line with current Super rates. Over time, the supplementary amount could be adjusted to reflect other income and accumulated savings. Where the parties stand on New Zealand SuperElection policy tracker: what the parties are promising
3. Aged care, rest homes and support at home
This is an area where the parties have made fewer detailed, directly comparable commitments. Some focus on health services, others on housing, dementia, the aged-care workforce or helping people remain at home.
| Party | Aged-care and older-person support positions |
|---|---|
| National | Proposes a dedicated pipeline of affordable seniors' housing, a free 0800 Seniors helpline, stronger elder-abuse protections and more housing options for older people. Its retirement package does not set out a comprehensive new rest-home funding model. |
| Labour | Focuses on more affordable healthcare, three free GP visits annually through its proposed Medicard, free prescriptions and improved pay for care and support workers. It proposes restoring pay-equity legislation and an immediate $4-per-hour pay increase for care workers. |
| Green Party | Strong emphasis on ageing at home, accessible public housing, community-based healthcare and dementia support. Has committed to fully implementing the national Dementia Mate Wareware Action Plan over five years. |
| NZ First | Identifies aged-care reform as a priority. Supports better coordination between primary healthcare, community healthcare and aged-care providers, alongside a Seniors Housing Plan and more options for ageing in place. |
| ACT | Has fewer detailed, publicly documented aged-care commitments in the material reviewed. Its approach emphasises fiscal restraint, health-system changes and workforce policy. |
| TOP | Proposes a 10-year cross-party health plan, greater investment in primary and preventative healthcare, community-based services and support for family carers, helping older people remain at home for longer. |
| Te Pāti Māori | Emphasises Māori-led health and disability services and culturally appropriate support. Its specific 2026 commitments on residential aged care and home-based care are less clearly documented. |
Sources: How parties stand on issues affecting older New ZealandersFixing the Basics and Building the Future: National’s plan for retirementElection policy tracker: what the parties are promisingElection 2026: Political Parties Policy Analysis
Some particularly important differences
Dementia care
The Greens have a specific commitment to implementing the national Dementia Mate Wareware Action Plan over five years. This is more explicit than the general aged-care commitments identified from the other parties.
Ageing at home
TOP and the Greens particularly emphasise community-based services and enabling older people to remain in their own homes. NZ First also identifies ageing in place as a priority.
Aged-care workforce
Labour has a specific proposed pay increase for care and support workers. The parties responding to Grey Power's questionnaire also supported pay equity for aged-care workers, although they differed in their proposed approaches.
Affordable housing for older people
National has made a specific commitment to reserve at least 20% of Housing Flexible Fund places for seniors' housing. It also proposes expanding granny-flat and tiny-home options.
The Greens propose more accessible public housing and a state-owned, not-for-profit retirement village model. How parties stand on issues affecting older New ZealandersFixing the Basics and Building the Future: National’s plan for retirementElection policy tracker: what the parties are promising
4. Side-by-side summary
The following table captures the main policy distinctions.
| Issue | Parties' positions |
|---|---|
| Keep Super at 65 | Labour, Greens, NZ First |
| Raise Super to 67 | National (2044), ACT (2035) |
| Replace/restructure Super | TOP |
| Keep Super universal | National, Labour, Greens, NZ First |
| Compulsory KiwiSaver | National, NZ First, TOP |
| Compulsory employer contributions | Labour, National, NZ First, TOP |
| Earlier Super access for Māori | Te Pāti Māori has previously advocated this |
| Specific dementia action plan | Greens |
| Stronger ageing-at-home emphasis | Greens, TOP, NZ First |
| Specific seniors' housing programme | National, Greens, NZ First |
| Specific care-worker pay commitment | Labour |
5. What is still missing from the parties' aged-care policies?
For someone examining the future of aged care in New Zealand, I would pay particular attention to these six questions.
Rest-home funding: Will government funding adequately cover the actual cost of residential care, including wages, food, utilities and building maintenance?
Home-based care: Will older people receive enough funded assistance with bathing, dressing, meals, cleaning and mobility to remain at home safely?
Dementia care: Will there be sufficient specialist dementia beds, dementia day programmes and support for family carers?
Care-worker shortages: What concrete commitments will be made on pay, staffing levels, training, retention and working conditions?
Residential care availability: Will there be sufficient aged-care beds, particularly for people needing hospital-level care?
Family contributions: Will families continue to face increasing financial and practical responsibility when government-funded services are insufficient?
These are important because a commitment to protect NZ Super does not automatically mean that residential aged care or home-based support will be adequately funded.
6. Sources and further reading
These are useful sources for checking the parties' actual commitments rather than relying solely on campaign statements.
- Grey Power – How parties stand on issues affecting older New Zealanders (6 September 2026). Particularly useful because it asked parties directly about older people's issues.
- Local Matters – Where the parties stand on New Zealand Super (7 September 2026). A comparison of Super eligibility and retirement savings.
- Lifetime Income – Election 2026: What's in it for seniors? (21 October 2026). A retirement-focused comparison.
- National – Fixing the Basics and Building the Future: National's plan for retirement (22 October 2026).
- Labour – 2026 election policies.
- The Conversation – 2026 election policy tracker. Tracks announcements across the major parties.
Information current to 1 November 2026. The election is scheduled for 7 November 2026. Some parties have not published comprehensive aged-care policies, so the absence of a specific commitment should not be interpreted as opposition to that service.
My suggested next step: a closer examination of aged care
There is an important distinction between protecting older people's retirement income and ensuring they can actually access good-quality care when they become frail or need residential care.
I can put together a more detailed seven-party aged-care policy comparison, concentrating on:
- Rest-home and hospital-level care funding.
- Home and community support services.
- Dementia and Alzheimer's care.
- Aged-care workforce wages and staffing ratios.
- Retirement villages and residential care affordability.
- Support for family and informal carers.
That would help distinguish which parties have specific, costed aged-care commitments and which are making broader promises about older people's wellbeing.
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