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HMOCS HMocs ale.
Mr Fifop Legal Advisers separats minuto
HONG KONG:
PFI
COMPENSATION SCHEME FOR MEMBERS OF HER MAJESTY'S OVERSEAS CIVIL SERVICE (HMOCS)
1.
I would like to seek your views on a number of matters relating to HMOCS members
2.
We have now agreed with Hong Kong the details of a compensation scheme designed to keep people in Hong Kong. Essentially we propose to pay 10% of the compensation they would have received under a normal General Compensation Scheme in 1997 and also to pay 25% of annual salary in 1997 and for eight years thereafter, as an inducement to stay. We have also considered how to deal with the Chinese and how to promulgate the scheme in Hong Kong. I attach a draft submission which sets out the proposals (I have not done the ODA paper yet).
3. My questions are:
(a) What is your opinion, both legal and in terms of precedent, of our decision not to offer the right to retire in 1997 with compensation and pension. As I understand it, in previous colonies, HMOCS members have always been given the option to retire at independence. Para 17(a) of CMND 1193 sets this out. Could it be argued that we are obliged to offer retirement as an option?
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(b) I have noted that in the past strong stress has been placed on the need to consult the staff involved para 17(a) of CMND 1193 attached. Clearly the staff are highly unlikely to accept our scheme: they will hold out for retirement. Do you see any significance in our proceding against their wishes?
(c)
If HMOCS members are not to be allowed to remain as such after 1997 - and it is highly unlikely that the Chinese would accept such a position - how could we offer a sufficient guarantee to honour our obligations to them as if they were still HMOCS members? See para 6(3) of Colonial MIST 520. If we are unable or unwilling to make such guarantees, does this have an impact on my question (a) above?
(a) When the question of whether HMG should accept any responsibility for inflation proofing of pensions earned in the service of the SARG after 1997 was raised in 1985, it was decided that this was not something that could be tackled yet. HMG has not accepted that they have a responsibility for such service in the past but in the past such service was voluntary. If HMG is not prepared to accept this commitment, at the same time as the HK
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9 APR 1990