Have you been impacted by the recent flooding or Cyclone Gabrielle?

If you've had essential household items significantly damaged in the recent flooding or by Cyclone Gabrielle you may be able to withdraw up to $5,000 of your KiwiSaver funds to help you replace these items.

KiwiSaver Significant Financial Hardship applications are normally subject to strict rules or criteria according to government regulations, and require extensive proof that you can't afford your normal weekly expenses.

However, given the severity of the recent weather events, and acknowledging that some people don't have access to the documents required to make a KiwiSaver financial hardship withdrawal during this time, we are working with our independent scheme Supervisor at Public Trust to streamline the withdrawal process.

During this time, we are able to allow for a reduced threshold of evidence solely for applications up to $5,000 and which are related to the impacts of Cyclone Gabrielle and the recent North Island flooding. All normal financial hardship applications must go through the standard process.

We know that many KiwiSaver members are under extreme stress and pressure right now due to events outside of your control, and we want to make the application process as straightforward as we can. We are working with Debtfix who like Simplicity are owned by a charitable organisation. The Debtfix team are experts in the financial hardship process and they work with you to get the information we need to process your application.

If you would like to be referred to Debtfix for assistance please contact info@simplicity.kiwi. Debtfix can also guide you through other options that may be available to you during this difficult time.