The Children’s Allowance will be increased by €90 per child, Finance Minister Clyde Caruana said.

Over the course of this legislature, the increase will be of €450. This measure will affect 41,000 families with 62,000 children, and will cost the government €5.6 million.

Parents who adopt a child that they would have been fostering will continue to receive part of the Foster Care Allowance, he said. Until now, this used to be stopped immediately. As from 2023, this will gradually be reduced over a four-year period or until the child reaches 21 years of age, whichever comes first.

In this way, in the first year of adoption, parents will receive 80% of the allowance, then 60% in the second year, 40% in the third and 20% in the fourth.

Parents adopting children will also receive a refund of up to €1,000 to cover adoption costs.

Government will continue to address past injustices in 2023, making up for anomalies that took place in the past.

The government has paid up overtime to police officers which had not been paid for by the previous Nationalist administration, and had also taken care of settling the situation for employees of the Malta Electricity Board. The port workers will have received all their dues by the end of the year.

As for 2023, the government will be spending €8 million to pay workers who had been employed with government corps. The payments would be concluded by the end of next year.

The government will also be looking into the situation of the former workers of the Gas Board, the MEB and Telemalta.

Another €2 million will be spent on other anomalies, and for this reason, the Cabinet has approved the appointment of a committee that will oversee the process.

Between 2017 and 2023, the government would have given €83.5 million to address injustices committed by previous administrations, Caruana said.

People who are coeliacs will have their grant increased by €20 per month.

The government will be giving €10,000 to each school in order to ensure that students’ basic needs are met. Apart from this, a team of multi-disciplinary professionals will be drawing up programmes so as to address these challenges.

Caruana said that in the past years some 9,000 people who used to live on social assistance are now receiving an income via employment. The government had introduced a tapering system which is now being extended. This means that in the first year of employment, these persons will receive 75% of the social benefit, 55% in the second year and 35% in the third year.

In 2021, the government had introduced financial assistance to parents who stop working in order to take care of an adult child with severe disabilities. In the first year this amounted to €300, which was increased to €500 in 2022. As from 2023, this will go up to €4,500 and will be paid every three months.

Also, as from next year, €4.2 million will be invested on the concept of personal assistance and independent community living so as to enable disabled people to express their potential.

The government will also be giving a €200 tax credit to parents on expenses related to therapy for disabled children.

People buying a Drive from Wheelchair vehicle will be getting a maximum of 20% subsidy on their purchase.

Single persons who used to receive social assistance, and who go to live with a relative so as to take care of them, will continue to receive the full benefit as from 2023.