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7. On the other hand, the officers concerned would object
strongly on the basis that past practice gave them a reasonable expectation that bought-back service would count. Those who had waited until we had published our compensation and incentive scheme in April last before opting for pensionable terms, could well complain that we had misled them to their disadvantage if this particular restriction on
counting back service as pensionable service were to be
introduced at this stage for the first time. They would do their best to press their case, possibly to the extent of
seeking judicial review, and their dissatisfaction could undermine our chances of securing acceptance of any revised compensation arrangements.
8.
The arguments are finely balanced. But I recommend that
on balance we should allow any bought back service to count,
subject to the recommendation in paragraph 12 below. The cost to HMG will be a small fraction of the total compensation
bill; and we do not need another bone of contention with HMOCS
members.
DEADLINE TO APPLY FOR HMOCS
9. Although the arrangements made by HKG and our own
decisions preclude any more Hong Kong officers from being
eligible to apply for HMOCS, we have not yet set a deadline
for them actually to apply (except for members of the Hong
Kong Judiciary). I recommend that we set 28 February 1993 as
the date by which all officers must have submitted their
applications for HMOCS membership.
TIME GRANTED TO BUY BACK SERVICE
10. If Ministers agree the above we also need to consider
whether any time limits should be set by which officers in
this position must have made a commitment to buy back their
buy.back.ADM
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service and have completed buying back their service for it to count for compensation purposes. The HKG policy is: Officers switching to pensionable service after 26 July 1991 have 12
months in which to commence buying back service. Pre 26 July
1991 there is no deadline-they may buy back service at any time up to retirement.
11. What we do will not affect the officers' ability to buy back pensionable service. But we need to be able to quantify
soon the costs of the compensation scheme. We must also take
care to avoid a situation where an officer receives
compensation from HMG and subsequently defaults on buying back
his service.
12. I recommend that we set a deadline of 30 April 1993 for
officers to make a commitment to buy back service; and that
officers be required to have bought back their service before
the appointed day for HMG's compensation scheme.
DEADLINE FOR TRANSFER TO PENSIONABLE TERMS
13. When HKG permits an officer to transfer to pensionable
terms, the officer himself has the choice of transferring
either when he is found medically fit or at a date before the
expiry of his contract. In practice, since contracts are normally two and a half years, this means there could be a
long time to run before the officer actually becomes
pensionable and eligible to become a member of HMOCS.
14. I recommend that we inform this category that whatever
HKG's policy may be, if they want to benefit from any scheme
HMG promulgates, they should transfer to pensionable terms by
30 April 1993. This will give them at least two months
following their applications for membership of HMOCS · see paragraph 9 above
-
made contingently on their being accepted
buy.back.ADM
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for transfer to the pensionable establishment.
Only when they
have been admitted to the pensionable establishment will they become eligible for membership of HMOCS.
Than
J C Morris
buy.back.ADM
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