The Government's being asked to step in to stop millions of dollars of overseas retirement savings being deducted from New Zealand pensions.

The Ministry of Social Development's being accused of using bureaucratic bullying to stop pensioners accessing their overseas retirement savings.

Democrats for Social Credit have written to social development minister Anne Tolley,asking her to investigate the ministry's processes.

It claims most of the 84,000 overseas pensions involved are mostly work-based savings funds, similar to KiwiSaver, that people have contributed to.

Seniors advocate Heather Marion Smith said the ministry is taking away money people have saved and is punishing people for saving for retirement.

"We're not talking about somebody complaining about getting a state pension in one country and expecting another one here."

Smith said the ministry's actions appear to be against the spirit of the law.

Pensioners are having to go through a confusing process of filling out forms to access the money they've saved, she said, and the same approach could be used to stop people accessing their KiwiSaver savings.

"There is a lot of detail in it, but the bureaucracy involved in the present system is most unfair and really is a waste of taxpayer money."