English announces KiwiSaver soft-compulsion plans

He said the Government needed to be mindful of the cost of all programmes so KiwiSaver auto-enrolment would commence "in the same fiscal year in which we return to surplus and start to repay debt."

"As we signaled in the Budget, we believe there is merit in a one-off KiwiSaver auto-enrolment exercise, where people in the workforce not already in the scheme would be signed up with the ability to opt out."

Government estimates that auto-enrolment would attract between 200,000 and 275,000 new members to KiwiSaver at a cost of up to $550 million over four years.

English said the Government had rejected auto-enrolment before 2014/15 as the immediate focus was on returning to budget surplus.