Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1300699
8 maltatoday | TUESDAY • 20 OCTOBER 2020 BUDGET2021 FAMILIES NICOLE MEILAK AS promised, the government will be placing more money in household bank accounts by means of revisions to numer- ous social benefit schemes. The tax refund scheme will enter its fourth year in 2021, and those eligible for childcare allowances will be happy to see an increase in the yearly benefit. With inflation taking a dip, employees will be seeing a €1.75 weekly increase through the COLA – a far cry from last year's €3.49 per week. This compensation will be grant- ed to workers, pensioners, students and those on social benefits. Government will be continuing the tax refund pledge for those earning under €60,000. The highest receivable refund will stand at €95, with the lowest at €45 – the higher your salary, the lower the re- fund. The tax refund scheme alone is expected take up €16 million of government's total expenditure for the year. The children's allowance scheme will also see some changes. Families receiving the children's allowance will ben- efit from an additional sup- plement paid for each child in the family. For families falling below the €25,318 yearly in- come threshold and receiving the means-tested children's al- lowance, a €70 supplement per child will be offered on a yearly basis. For families whose yearly income exceeds the stipulated threshold and thus earning the flat-rate children's allowance, the supplement will be granted at €50 per child. A bold finan- cial measure, this scheme will cost government over €3 mil- lion. The Foster Care Allowance will once again see an increase of €520 a year for a total of €5,720. Couples choosing to adopt locally will also be receiv- ing €1,000 to help recover from expenses incurred throughout the adoption process. A higher threshold will be set for the in-work benefits scheme, seeing 4,500 new families eligi- ble to receive this benefit. For working couples the threshold will be increasing from €26,000 to €35,000 and the limit for sin- gle parents will be set at €23,000 from €18,200. For couples where only one parent is work- ing, the threshold will rise to €26,000 from €22,000. New realities created by the pandemic involved the closure of schools and wider education- al institutions to help inhibit virus spread, making very clear the importance of internet and online access for students. In response to this, government will be offering a year's worth of free internet access to all stu- dents furthering their education beyond the age of 16. The supplementary assistance mechanism will be updated, with aid calculated according to income and marital status. This will see the supplementa- ry allowance increase between €70 and €108 a year. Persons aged 65 and above who sit on the at-risk-of-poverty line have until now be receiving an ad- ditional supplement of €150. This will be extended for those aged 65 and above who qualify for supplementary assistance regardless of their poverty sta- tus – further benefitting 29,000 people. These adjustments will cost around €2 million per year. Malta has already seen a ma- jor increase in unemployment levels, and schools are in a pre- carious position with respect to virus transmission. Albeit costly, these fami- ly-centred measures will pro- vide more households with the cash and social support needed to withstand the devastating effects of the pandemic on the real economy. Bolstered welfare schemes through increased allowances and tax rebates