The ORC says, in its annual report to Parliament, that increasing savings levels is not its job.

"An expectation gap arises when some commentators suggest that the role of the Commissioner is to increase the level of household savings in New Zealand."

It says its objective is to provide relevant education and information to the public. The success of this goal is measured by the number of people who access that information and use it to develop their own financial plan.

"On that basis of measurement, our programmes have been meeting and often exceeding our expectations."

The office uses its booklet Your Retirement Action Planner to illustrate its success.

Anticipated demand for the book was about 100,000 copies, however actual distribution in the past financial year was more than 230,000.

Likewise about 100 people a week are using the online interactive Action Planner on the ORC's website.

Independent research shows that 63 per cent of people who called an ORC 0800 number to get the booklet have put in place some action to prepare for retirement as a result of receiving the planner:

This weekend (January 9) the ORC will launch the latest stage in its education campaign.

The theme of the next stage is to get people to work out how much income they will want in retirement and if possible encourage them to get started now.

The ORC says education and information alone will not lead to a significant increase in savings or household debt reduction.

"A wide range of economic, social and market factors determine savings behaviour and the extent to which it may change over time," it says in a briefing paper to the incoming Government.