Scheme in para 2(1) in order to bring other officers within the scope of the Scheme. The Compensation Scheme will not become operative until 30 June 1996 at the earliest. We do, however, wish to include the Judiciary so we should refer to them as being members of HMOJ, an accepted and well understood term.
7. One final point on entitlement under this Scheme should be borne in mind, particularly during our discussions with the HMOCS Association. Not all former HMOCS officers are eligible for SPOS! In these cases the Scheme will top-up the basic Hong Kong pension and pension increases only.
8. The definition of pension should in Our view include gratuities, whether on not the lump sums are paid to the officer through the commutation of his own pension or a death gratutity payable to his legal representative. The top-up would not, of course, apply to a lump sum in respect of a return of WOP/WCP contributions with or without interest. Such a definition would bring the definition of the Hong Kong basic pension (and gratuity) in our Scheme more into line with that in the Pensions Increase Act 1971.
9. Retirement benefits falling within the Scheme. Para 3(1) of our Scheme precludes the payment of the topping-up to certain dependants pensions deriving from the recent changes to the Hong Kong pensions laws and administrative directions, ie the Hong Kong Civil Service Branch Circular No.4/93 of 1 February 1993; the Pensions Modification Ordance, No. 3 of 1993 and the Pensions Ordinance and Requlations (Miscellaneous Amendments) Ordinance, No of 1993. We fully understand the point that Paul is making in his minute of 22 April but after consulting Hong Kong on the likely numbers involved and bearing in mind that the current SPOS Regs allow for the payment of supplement on these pensions, we feel there is no point in excluding
in excluding them from the top-up. Needless to say if we had known about these changes long before the put into effect we would have amended the SPOS Regs to preclude the payment of supplement on these pensions because there is no comparable provisions in the UK Superannuation Schemes. We would therefore be grateful for some advance notice of any other changes which Hong Kong plan to make in the run up 1997 which may impact on the SPOS arrangements, and indeed this Scheme. But we will obviously want to keep an eye on changes post hand over.
10. Paul has asked if the Scheme should provide some level of protection for those Hong Kong pensions paid locally and has cited past practice of protecting only those pensions paid outside the territory. This is true; but we are now in the business of maintaining a bench mark pension which takes account of SPOS in order to determine the level of the top-up. SPOS, as you know, is payable without regard to the country of payment and we feel that we should employ the same rules for the top-up. In any case the numbers likely to be affected are small. About 90 pensionere out of our current Hong Kong pensioner population of 1,600 are paid locally. We doubt whether this ratio is likely to increase dramatically in the future.
11.
We can discuss the other matters which Paul has raised in
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