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of premature retirement resulting from constitutional change, they
will receive compensation from the government of the territory
concerned".
6.
The 1960 White Paper stated that the terms of future compensation schemes should remain a matter to be settled in the
light or circumstances prevailing in each territory, but set out the
broad principles that members of HMOCS should be entitled to retire
with compensation for the loss of a career under the protection of
the Secreary of State, and that compensation schemes should provide
an inducement to officers to continue to serve so long as their
services were required. It also announced a scheme of financial
assistance, including help with the cost of compensation, for dependent territories. Hong Kong, along with the Bahamas, Bermuda
and Brunei, was excluded from the scheme of financial assistance "at
least for the present". The relevant extracts are attached.
7.
Compensation schemes were normally introduced in two stages: a
limited scheme, to cover compulsory retirement to faciliate the localisation of posts before independence; and a general scheme, offering HMOCS officials the option to retire at independence or later with immediate payment of pensions. Compensation for loss of
career and other factors was given on an actuarial basis. The compensation was available to all HMOCS officers, irrespective of
whether they stayed on or not. It was normally paid in several
annual instalments and contained an inducement to stay on in that if
the officer stayed on in employment, the compensation could be
adjusted upwards.
8.
The circumstances of Hong Kong are of course different from
previous cases because the territory will not become independent. Furthermore the Joint Declaration on Hong Kong guarantees a continuing career for serving officers on no worse terms than those prevailing before. But Ministers have consistently stated since the signature of the Joint Declaration on Hong Kong that the transfer of
sovereignty in 1997 raises issues regarding HMOCS comparable to
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