TNAG-0205-FCO40-241-Pensions-policy-1970 — Page 79

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Luben

Mr. O'Brien

CONIN

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Pension Policy

In your minute of 5 November you asked for comments on the three O.D.M. papers which were attached thereto.

2. So far as West Indian Department is concerned I would agree that paragraphs 31 and 32 of the first of the three papers are acceptable in defining the field of H.M.G.'s proposed responsibility. I have, however, further comments on this paper (see below).

3. As regards the second paper - although you do not specifically ask for comments - I must say again. what I have already said at the meeting at 0.D.M. under Mr. Martin's chairmanship which I attended, and that is that it seems to me very arguable that it is way to limit the take over of responsibility to the "pre-independence" portion of any pension plus the "OSAS" element of the post-independence portion, thus leaving the overseas government still responsible for paying the "basic" element of the post-independence portion of the pension. What happens,in a year or two's time, some overseas governments refuse to continue paying this latter portion? Admittedly, in most cases it will not be very large (and thus the suffering for individual officers would not be extreme) but is it not probable that in such circumstances we should have to go through a similar exercise to the present one all over again and eventually decide that H.M.G. would pick up what overseas governments had dropped? And if this is so, is it not arguable that just because the proportion of the total pension for which, as spelled out in the second paper, we would propose to ask the overseas governments to retain responsibility, is small) it would make good sense to decide now to take this proportion on board too and so settle the matter once and for all? I should make plain that in suggesting this I am not suggesting we should accept any responsibility for the pensions of expatriate officers who were recruited after indepen- dence but only for those who soldiered on through independence on pensionable terms and for this reason for a period of post-independence pensionable service. In support of the line I advocate on this point, I would simply remark that if we take the other, line, as now proposed in the second paper, and are subsequently let down by some overseas governments, the pensioners are certain to come and ask us to pick

up what has been dropped and, when they do so, point to the fact that in the case of many territories the compensation schemes were specifically designed to encourage overseas officers to carry on serving on pensionable terms in the new independent countries which they had formerly served in the

they could thus argue that H.M.G.

W

colonial era;

V

/cannot