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Premature retirement of senior civil servants
Following is a question by Dr the Hon Lam Kui-chun and a written reply by the acting Secretary for the Civil Service, Mr Chris Jackson, in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):
Question:
According to the information provided by the Civil Service Branch, 70% of the civil servants who retired prematurely in 1994/95, did so for reason of emigration. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether it has information to show that the monthly pension received by a senior civil servant at the assistant directorate level who retires with a service period of between 20 to 25 years is higher than the monthly remuneration of comparable senior civil servants in the major destinations of the territory's emigrants (such as United States, Australia and Canada), resulting in more senior civil servants opting for premature retirement?
Reply:
Mr President,
A senior civil servant at the assistant director level who retires prematurely under the Old Pension Scheme after 20 or 25 years of service, could receive a commuted pension gratuity of $1.7m or $2.1m and a monthly pension of $30,000 or $37,000 respectively if he decided to commute the maximum 25% allowable.
We do not have comparative rank and salary equivalent statistics for civil servants in the USA, Canada and Australia and we are therefore unable to provide any comparison between Hong Kong Civil Service pensions and salaries in the countries requested.
We do not believe that there is any correlation between the pensions of retired senior Hong Kong civil servants and the pay of senior civil servants in these countries nor that this is a factor influencing premature retirements from Hong Kong. In 1994- 95 only five directorate officers' premature retirement was approved on migration/family separation grounds.
End/Wednesday, July 26, 1995