CONFIDENTIAL
paying pensions, HMG might still be obliged to intervene (by
the terms of the Carr- Robertson assurance, see Annex A,
that HMG would not stand aside in the case of default or if
a pensioner found himself in financial difficulties as a
result of non-payment of pension).
Decision to delay until nearer 1997 (f)
17.
There are precedents for this in other Dependent Territories, where in all cases safeguard schemes were not introduced until just before independence. In Hong Kong we want to persuade HMOCS officers to stay up to and beyond 1997, and therefore to give them the assurance well beforehand that their pensions are safe. HMOCS officers have to decide by June whether to transfer to a new pension scheme (involving the possibility of later retirement and
other changes): they need to know by then what arrangements HMG will be making. By delaying a decision, we would encourage the HMOCS Associations to step up their pressure on HMG to reach a firm decision in their favour, and would
ensure that the uncertainties, and the risk of large numbers of HMOCS deciding to leave, would remain.
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