PM/85/18
PRIME MINISTER
CONFIDENTIAL
Mr Footman
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Ctz +/3
HK.K
4K 256/2
837
SJH
Treatment of members of Her Majesty's Overseas Civil Service
(HMOCS) in Hong Kong
1. On 12 September 1984 OD(K) considered my minute to you
on Hong Kong public service pensions. The minute noted that "HMG has long accepted a general political obligation in respect of members of Her Majesty's Overseas Civil Service to protect their pensions after constitutional change and in extremis to take over the payment of them if the successor government defaults". It posed the question whether HMG should, quite apart from the question of HMOCS, accept a contingent liability in the event of default by the SAR government for the whole body of Hong Kong Civil Service pensions, including those
of local civil servants.
2.
OD(K) concluded that no such general contingent liability should be accepted, and that HMG's responsibilities were to ensure that adequate arrangements for Hong Kong pensions were made in the agreement with the Chinese.
3. We now need to consider if and how the main body of doctrine on HMOCS should be applied to HMOCS officers in Hong Kong. The subject is complex, and the details have therefore been set out in the attached Memorandum, prepared in conjunction with the ODA Pensions Department. Policy on these matters should be settled soon both to help maintain the morale of the Overseas Civil Service in Hong Kong, and because we are under pressure from the Pensioners' Association and in Parliament to give commitments in respect of the treatment of such officers in Hong Kong.
/4.
CONFIDENTIAL
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