Prior to 23 August 2023, employees had the option of joining as category B members, usually because their employer was already contributing or required to contribute to the Government Superannuation Fund or another superannuation scheme on their behalf. Category B members are generally not eligible for employer contributions. The exception is category B members who are members of the locked section who may qualify for compulsory KiwiSaver employer contributions of 3% of salary if their employer isn't already contributing to a KiwiSaver scheme on their behalf.

Contribution options

Here are the contribution options for category B members.

Permanent employees

  • You can contribute any multiple of 0.5% of your salary with a minimum of 4%. There is no upper limit. 
  • Your employer won’t contribute to your savings unless you join the locked section.
  • If you also choose to join the locked section also:
    • you must direct at least 3% of your salary to your member locked account (in multiples of 0.5%), with the balance (if any) paid to your member standard account 
    • your employer is required to contribute 3% to your employer locked account unless they are already contributing to a KiwiSaver scheme for you
    • your minimum contribution decreases to 3% if your employer is making compulsory contributions of 3% to your UniSaver employer locked account.
  • You can choose to join the locked section only. If you do, all your contributions and your employer contributions will be paid to your locked accounts.

Fixed-term employees

  • You can contribute any multiple of 0.5% of your salary with a minimum of 4%. There is no upper limit. 
  • All your contributions will be paid to your member locked account. 
  • Your employer is required to contribute 3% of your salary to your employer locked account unless they are already contributing to a KiwiSaver scheme for you. 
  • Your minimum contribution decreases to 3% if your employer is making compulsory contributions of 3% to your employer locked account.

For the purposes of UniSaver, salary is your remuneration from your employer, excluding overtime, bonuses, penal payments or other allowances.

Changing your contributions

You can change your regular contributions from your salary at any time subject to the minimum contribution rates set out here. To change your contributions, complete form 3 change contributions. Send it to your HR/payroll representative. If you are a permanent employee contributing to UniSaver’s standard section only, you can also use this form to join the locked section.

Suspending contributions

If you are a category B member and stop all contributions to UniSaver, you will become a non-contributing member of the general membership of UniSaver. If you resume contributions at a later date, your entitlement to employer contributions will resume on the same basis as immediately before you ceased contributing. You will not be able to revert to category B membership.