Post-retirement appointments

OffBeat received a letter from retired Sergeant Kwok Yu-lok who had queries on retired officers taking up outside appointments. Here is Personnel Wing's reply.

Suspension of pension while undertaking outside work after retirement

A guideline will be issued by the Civil Service Bureau to civil servants about to retire, reminding that they will be subject to a suspension of pension if they are appointed to service in any subvented organisation which is determined to be public service (see editor's note below). Also, according to the CSB, all retired civil servants are required to report to the Director of Accounting Services on their employment in Hong Kong within two years after retirement. A review of the policy of suspending pensions is being conducted.

The time limit of seeking approval to undertake outside work after retirement

To provide sufficient time for the approving authority to process applications, the CSB proposed that, most appropriately, the applications should be submitted at least one month before the date they engage in the business or undertake the work, otherwise their applications may not be processed or dealt with in time.

It is comprehensible that some applicants may not be able to submit their applications one month before they undertake the work, thus each case will be approved and dealt with on its own merit and considered flexibly.

Mandatory Provident Fund

People exempted under sub-section (1) Section 4 of the MPF Schemes Ordinance (Cap. 485) include those to which Pensions Ordinance (Cap. 89) or Pension Benefits Ordinance (Cap. 99) apply. Exemption, however, only applies to relevant income derived from employment subject to the provisions of the ordinances. Since income derived from re-employment or outside work after retirement is not subject to Cap. 89 or Cap. 99, they are not exempt from the provisions of the MPF Schemes Ordinance. Besides, the MPF Scheme Authority has clearly stated civil servants who are re-employed after retirement would not be exempted from the ordinance.

Chiu Sim-hung
Superintendent

(Editor's note - The 16 organisations are: The Hospital Authority; City, Baptist, Science and Technology, Polytechnic, Lingnan, Chinese, and Hong Kong Universities; Vocational Training Council; Housing Authority; Monetary Authority; Institute of Education; Legislative Council Commission; Office of the Ombudsman; Equal Opportunities Commission; and, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data.)