The Government plans to change the law to allow people with congenital conditions to access their savings early after a man with down syndrome won access to his KiwiSaver fund.
People are unable to access their hard-earned retirement fund until the age of 65, but because Tim Fairhall has a shorter life expectancy, he decided to take it to parliament to call for a law change.
1 NEWS was there as Mr Fairhall, who works at his local supermarket, called his mum to tell her the good news.
“Hi mum, I'm so happy mum, so excited, I don't believe it,” he told his mum Joan.
"I think they [Tim and his mother] made a good case that there should be a release valve," Consumer Affairs Minister Kris Faafoi told 1 News.
"We wanted to be careful with it, because if you start making it early access for one group, there are dangers in potentially opening it up for others."
The government will work with medical and financial experts to make up a restricted list of congenital diseases that will allow people to be eligible.
Mr Faafoi is looking to allow those who are not expected to reach past the age of 57 to have access to their retirement fund.
Mr Fairhall has close to $10 thousand dollars and plans to travel to Italy and Canada to visit his family.
SHARE ME