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the case of default or if a pensioner found himself in financial difficulties as a result of non-payment of
pension).
Comment: Departments differ on whether this option should be ruled out as failing to deal with the problem.
(g) Decision to delay until nearer 1997
18.
There are (debatable) precedents for this in other
Dependent Territories. In Hong Kong we want to persuade HMOCS officers to stay up to and beyond 1997, and therefore to give them the assurance well beforehand that their
pensions are safe. HMOCS officers have to decide by June whether to transfer to a new pension scheme (involving the possibility of later retirement and other changes): they need to know by then what arrangements HMG will be making. By delaying a decision, we would encourage the HMOCS Associations to step up their pressure on HMG to reach a firm decision in their favour, and would ensure that the uncertainties, and the risk of large numbers of HMOCS deciding to leave, would remain.
Comment: Departments agree that this option should be ruled out as failing to deal with the problem.
(C) UK PENSION SUPPLEMENT (SPOS)
19.
The final element of the package proposed by FCO/ODA is a change to the way in which we operate the Supplementary Pension for Overseas Service (SPOS) regulations. Under the UK Pensions (Increase) Act (which provides for pensions to rise in line with UK inflation), such UK supplements are payable to certain overseas service pensioners,
ie supplementing their local pension supplements in order to provide parity of treatment with their UK counterparts. Almost all such overseas pensions are guaranteed in sterling terms. But for Hong Kong pensioners, who are paid in a
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