SECRET
FM FCO
TO PRIORITY HONG KONG
TELNO 952
OF 111425Z JUN 92
SECRET
HKA 233/1
INFO PRIORITY PEKING, UKREP JLG HONG KONG
385
111225
MDLOAN 7998
TOP COPY Q DIST?
fr
PERSONAL FOR DEPUTY TO GOVERNOR
PEKING PERSONAL FOR AMBASSADOR
UKREP JLG PERSONAL FOR MR GALSWORTHY
377
YOUR TELNO 1563: HMOCS: EARLY RETIREMENT
1. WE SHOULD BE GRATEFUL FOR YOUR COOPERATION IN LOOKING AT THE POSSIBILITIES, PARTICULARLY SINCE HMG WILL PROBABLY HAVE TO PICK UP THE BILL FOR COMPENSATION AND STERLING SAFEGUARDS. ON THE PRINCIPLES INVOLVED, WE AGREE THAT IT IS DESIRABLE THAT HKG SHOULD TREAT, OR BE SEEN TO TREAT, LOCAL AND OVERSEAS OFFICERS IN THE SAME WAY (AND WE ASSUME THAT THERE WILL ALWAYS BE SOME SCEPTICISM AMONG LOCAL OFFICERS ABOUT THIS). HOWEVER DEPENDENT TERRITORY GOVERNMENTS WHICH EMPLOY HMOCS OFFICERS DO SO IN THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE PROVISIONS OF THE WHITE PAPERS AND PAST PRACTICE. WE ARE NOT AWARE THAT YOU WERE EVER FORMALLY ADVISED AS TO HOW MINISTERS SAW THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE LONG-STANDING COMMITMENTS TO HMOCS, IN PARTICULAR REGARDING THE RIGHT OF EARLY RETIREMENT WITH IMMEDIATE PAYMENT OF PENSION AT THE TIME OF CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGE, AND THE MORE RECENT POLICY OF EQUAL TREATMENT FOR LOCAL AND OVERSEAS OFFICERS.
2. IT WOULD BE HELPFUL TO KNOW HOW IN PRACTICE YOU DEAL WITH APPLICATIONS FOR EARLY RETIREMENT UNDER THE EXISTING LEGISLATION (OUR TELNO 678): IS APPROVAL NORMALLY GIVEN FOR THE EARLY RETIREMENT WITH IMMEDIATE PENSION OF OFFICERS OF 45 OR OVER WHO ARE SUBJECT TO THE OLD PENSIONS ORDINANCE AND FOR THE EARLY RETIREMENT WITH DEFERRED PENSION OF OFFICERS WHO ARE SUBJEECT TO THE NEW PENSIONS ORDINANCE (BOTH SUBJECT TO HAVING TEN YEARS' QUALIFYING SERVICE) ? IF NOT, WHAT FACTORS SHAPE THE DECISION AND ROUGHLY WHAT PERCENTAGE OF APPLICATIONS ARE APPROVED ? ARE THE SPOUSES MENTIONED IN YOUR TELNO 1439 MAINLY ON THE OLD PENSIONS SCHEME OR THE NEW ? ROUGHLY HOW MANY SUCH CASES ARE
THERE ?
HURD