Kiwisaver Hardship Withdrawals

These documents appear frequently at our service desks. Increasingly applications to withdraw Kiwisaver due to financial hardship can be completed online. 

It is recommended that the whole application be printed and the statutory declaration be administered in the usual way, including initials on each numbered page, except the signing page.

However some providers (eg AMP) email clients, requiring them to “print the final page and take it to a JP”

JPs are then presented with a one page Statutory Declaration where the client declares a number of statements are true, including

“the information provided by me in or with this form is complete, true and correct.”

The problem is the absence of a connection between the declaration and the ‘form’ to which it refers. The client may not be able/can’t afford to print the whole application.

They feel obliged to follow the instructions from the Kiwisaver provider in order to have the application considered.

Suggested JP response to this situation: 

Gently explain to the client the risk due to the separation of the form and the declaration.

Ask to view the email from the Kiwisaver provider.

Administer the Statutory Declaration. Number the Statutory Declaration page clearly “p 1 of 1”

Make a note in your log book that only one page was presented to you.