RESTRICTED
HONG KONG PENSIONS : ESSENTIAL FACTS
SECURITY OF LOCAL CIVIL SERVANTS PENSION RIGHTS
1.
There are about 100,000 local (Chinese) pensionable civil
servants in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong Government has reported
that some of them have recently expressed some anxiety about the security of their pension rights. This subject has been raised by the Police Association and by staff in the Education
Department and there have been some references to it in the
press.
2.
Pensions and gratuities of local civil servants are paid out of general revenue of Hong Kong Government. It has not
been normal practice to fund the pensions of officers in
Dependent Territories. Obviously concern over the future will
continue to cause worry about pensions but funding would in itself be taken as a sign of lack of confidence by the Hong Kong
Government.
PENSIONS OF OVERSEAS OFFICERS IN HONG KONG
3.
There are at present about 1,100 pensionable overseas civil servants in Hong Kong. HMG's usual policy, when dependencies become independent, is to try to persuade the new Government to take on the liability for payment of pensions and compensation for members of Her Majesty's Overseas Civil Service
who have served there. However, the pensions of certain overseas officers of former dependencies are paid by HMG. HMG would hope that, whatever arrangements were made for the future administration of Hong Kong, the liability for payment of pensions would not fall to HMG. This would have to be
considered in the light of circumstances at the time.
RESTRICTED
/4.