Tel: 081-546 7305
The Rt Hon Norman Lamont MP
House of Commons
Westminster
London SW1A OAA
Dear Mr Lamont
56 Lakeside
Eaton Drive
Kingston upon Thames Surrey
KT2 7RA
18 June 1993
I wish to make a complaint against the Overseas Development Administration (ODA) for their failure to pay the full amount of pension supplement under the Pensions (Increase) Act 1971 on my Tanzania and Hong Kong pensions, which are aggregated for the purpose of calculating the amount of supplement due.
I accept the principle of aggregation. However, because of defects in the regulations made under the Act, aggregation has a perverse effect on the supplement paid on my Tanzania pension. The Hong Kong Government pays me my pension in Hong Kong dollars and each year they pay increases in line with inflation in Hong Kong, which is fair and reasonable. For a number
of years up to September 1992, the Hong Kong dollar had depreciated against sterling and in calculating the amount of supplement to be paid by the ODA, account is taken of what the Hong Kong Government pays each month. The regulations require the ODA to convert the Hong Kong basic pension into sterling at a historical rate of exchange (in my case a rate in 1987) making it appear that the pensioner is getting more from Hong Kong than he actually is. These false surpluses from my Hong Kong pension were then used to reduce the supplement paid on my Tanzania pension. Consequently, the ODA have breached the main principle of the Act, which is that the original purchasing power of a pension should be maintained in sterling terms. For the period 1990 to September 1992, the ODA paid me £2,343.49 less than my official entitlement. That entitlement, determined by the ODA, is the amount needed to maintain the original sterling purchasing power of my pensions.
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.