until retirement and insisted that compensation for loss of
career was inappropriate. Despite these assurances, HMG felt
obliged to take unilateral action and stepped in with a full
compensation scheme and an offer to pay pensions for any
officer taking early retirement. Hong Kong's case is similar
to Brunei's as the local government cannot fund these
benefits: Hong Kong has a unified civil service and the
Executive and Legislative Councils would not permit the use of Hong Kong funds for the exclusive benefit of expatriate
officers.
The Secretary of State's proposal
The Secretary of State has proposed a compensation scheme
which is along traditional lines ie use of full compensation factors with a cap of £120,000 (which will affect many more officers than in previous cases). As regards the pension
safeguard, the FCO, the Treasury and HMOCS officers would like
a scheme agreed now rather than near the date of the end of
British sovereignty, as was the case for other DTs. Thus, the scheme cannot exactly follow previous cases. The HMOCS Association may argue that their pensions should be protected
at the current exchange rate (HK$11.8:£1), but the Secretary of State has proposed that in view of the high average salaries enjoyed by Hong Kong HMOCs officers, the rate should
be set at HK$16:£1. This represents a discount of some 35% on
current rates (and has some objective basis in that it was the fixed rate between the HK$ and sterling up to 1967).
hmg.oblg.ADM
SLM
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