TNAG-2269-FCO40-3268-Hong-Kong-Her-Majesty-s-Overseas-Civil-Service-(HMOCS)-poli-1991 — Page 111

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CONFIDENTIAL

HONG KONG : HER MAJESTY'S OVERSEAS CIVIL SERVICE (HMOCS)

HMG'S SPECIAL RESPONSIBILITIES FOR HMOCS

1.

under

Senior colonial service appointements

the

officers.

have always been filled

patronage of the Secretary of State, mostly by British The process of decolonisation obliged HMG to consider what special responsibilities it had for such "overseas officers". In a 1954 White Paper HMG announced the reconstitution of overseas -fficers into a unified body known as Her Majesty's Overseas Civil Service (HMOCS). This White Paper also pledged that HMG would seek certain safeguards for these officers from the governments of territories proceeding to self-government. protective measures have since been added to give the following package:

Overseas

Other

(a)

Conditions of service after constitutional change are protected by a 'no detriment' provision;

(b)

(c)

officers may retire voluntarily at constitutional change, with compensation for loss of career;

pensions are protected

against an erosion of their sterling value by an exchange rate safeguard; against inflation by coverage under British public sector pension increase arrangements (these operate before as

as after constitutional change); and against default by undertakings that HMG would step in with loan advances in lieu of pensions.

well

2. In

In practice the pension protection in (c) has generally been sub sumed by HMG's decision in 1970 to take over the pensions of overseas officers, bearing the cost of pre-independence service itself and recouping the cost of post-independence service from the overseas Government. This followed defaults by Tanganyika and Aden and the threat of default by Kenya. The policy was based partly on a sense of obligation to the officers concerned and partly on aid grounds. The then dependencies were excluded. Hong Kong was regarded as a special case among the dependencies because its future

CONFIDENTIAL