BRIEF FOR JUDICIAL REVIEW.
THE CASE OF MR RONALD B. BLANCHE M.B.E. AGAINST THE OVERSEAS DEVELOPMENT ADMINISTRATION FOR THE UNDERPAYMENT OF PENSION SUPPLEMENT.
72wle
(page number references are made in this brief to de Smith's
Judicial Review of Administrative Action', Fourth Edition by J.M. Evans.)
Background
& Roward ete
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& 1.
I joined the Overseas Civil Service in 1958 and served in Tanganyika (later part of the United Republic of Tanzania) and retired in 1968 on a reduced pension of £188.19 p.a. after having commuted the maximum amount. At independence in 1961, the Tanganyika Government accepted the Public Officers' Agreement requirement to guarantee the sterling value of the basic pension (in my case £188.19). In 1976 the British Government took over responsibility for paying Tanzanian pensions under the Public Officers' Pensions (Tanzania) Agreement 1976 and I continued to receive the £188.19 p.a. until 1987 when, at the age of 55, I became entitled to a pension supplement (SPOS).
2.
The
In 1974 I rejoined the Overseas Civil Service after being appointed to the Hong Kong Civil Service. I retired in 1987 on a full pension, which was not commuted, of HK$122,304.00 p.a. (£9,839.02) although I did not start receiving it until August 1989 when I stopped working for the Hong Kong Government. Hong Kong Government is not subject to a Public Officers' Agreement and is under no obligation to guarantee the sterling value of the basic pension. It does, however, pay pension supplements each year in HK dollars in accordance with cost of living increases in Hong Kong.
Responsibility of the British Government for SPOS
3. Until 1971, various ad hoc arrangements existed for supplementing pensions but, with the passing of the Pensions (Increase) Act 1971, these arrangements were consolidated and the concept of entitlement replaced that of relief of hardship. Both the home and overseas public service pensions, including Hong Kong's, were covered by the Act and it is clear that it was intended to treat both groups equally in so far as it was practicable. The Ministry of Overseas Development Guide to the Pensions (Increase) Act 1971 states that "The Government's policy on paying supplements to overseas pensioners was, and still is, to ensure that they should receive topping-up' sums from British funds of the amounts necessary to bring their pensions up to the levels of their British Counterparts." The Act's main principle "is that the original purchasing power of pensions should be restored and then maintained at that level through the award of increases in the cost of living in Britain".
4. Section 11 of the Act empowers the Secretary of State to make regulations for the payment of pension supplements to overseas pensioners and the current regulations are the Overseas Service (Pensions Supplement) Regulations 1977 and 1979. The regulations require that pensioners with more than one pension should have their pensions aggregated for the purpose of calculating SPOS. Accordingly, my Tanzanian and Hong Kong pensions, even though they are distinctly separate pensions, are aggregated for this purpose, The Overseas Development Administration (ODA) explained the reason for this in their letter to me dated 13 June 1991: "The intention is that overseas pensioners are, as far as is practicable, treated in the same way as