Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1482478
8 maltatoday | TUESDAY • 25 OCTOBER 2022 BUDGET2023 Call for applications for those interested in becoming a certied Doping Control Ofcer, Chaperone or Blood Collection Ofcer within the Authority of Integrity in Maltese Sport. The Authority for Integrity in Maltese Sport (AIMS) is issuing a call for individuals interested to pursue an employment opportunity on a casual basis and within the Authority as Doping Control Ofcer, Chaperone or Blood Collection Ofcer on successful completion of a training and accreditation course. A three whole day training course is scheduled between the 10th and 12th of November 2022 leading to certication, accreditation, licensing and eventual recruitment as a DCO, Chaperone or Blood Collection Ofcer. Tuition fee of €100 applies to the selected course participants. An application form which can be downloaded from: https://tinyurl.com/3v5ukf42 accompanied by a detailed Curriculum Vitae (with copies of qualications) and a certicate of conduct (issued by the Police not earlier than 1st September 2022), will be received by email on antidoping@gov.mt until noon of 28th October 2022. Successful candidates will be asked for i. signature of a non- disclosure agreement due to the sensitivity and condentiality of the data to be processed, which will extend beyond the contract duration and ii. signature of a Code of Conduct. Late or incomplete applications will not be considered. Please note that only successful candidates will be contacted. WORKERS will be receiving a statutory wage increase of €9.90 per week from January, the highest cost of living increase in more than two decades. The COLA mechanism is linked to inflation and was agreed to by unions, employers and the government back in the 1990s. With inflation running away this year as a result of the dou- ble impact caused by supply chain restrictions in the after- math of the pandemic and Rus- sia's invasion of Ukraine, the COLA mechanism has deliv- ered the highest wage increase in at least 22 years. Public sector top-up The extraordinary circum- stances also prompted the government to award a weekly increase of €3.50 to all public sector workers, over and above their yearly collective agree- ment increment. The Finance Minister said this was a request by unions to avoid heftier requests for pay increases further down the line when the new collective agree- ment is negotiated. In normal circumstances, public sector employees do not receive a COLA increase since the yearly increments are inclu- sive of any adjustment. How- ever, the hefty €9.90 per week increase for next year meant that certain government scales would not be benefitting from the full adjustment. The €3.50 will make up the difference. However, in the lowest scales, the €3.50 increase will still not be enough and workers here will be receiving a cash top-up to make up the difference. Stipends pro-rata increase Student stipends next year will also benefit from a pro-ra- ta COLA increase that will amount to an additional €50 per year. Workers get €9.90 wage increase Pensioners get €12.50 weekly increase New benefit to cushion vulnerable families from inflation will come at Christmas COLA PENSIONS GOVERNMENT has responded to calls from an- ti-poverty groups for an additional cost of living mechanism targeting vulnerable families by intro- ducing a new benefit. With an outlay estimated at between €10 million and €11 million, around 37,000 families, account- ing for 80,000 people, will receive on average a cheque of €300. Finance Minister Clyde Caruana said this benefit will start being paid from this year and families will be receiving their cheque just before Christmas. Poorer families, and those with more children, will receive more. The cheque is over and above the yearly cost of living adjustment and any other benefits the families already receive. The benefit will be paid every year and is tied to inflation. It will be revised upwards whenever the inflation rate surpasses 2% and when inflation in three of five categories – food, housing, utilities, household maintenance and health – is higher than the average of the previous five years. This additional cost of living mechanism will have no impact on companies and businesses and will be paid by government. Caruana insisted that the new benefit will "not distort the 'Making Work Pay Principle'" since it will still pay more to work than rely on benefits. He said this measure would help reduce pover- ty among pensioners by one percentage point and overall by 0.4%. "This measure will deliver the larg- est impact on poverty ever by a single measure," Caruana explained during a pre-budget briefing with journalists. PENSIONS will increase by €12.50 per week from January, more than double the increase they received last year. The increase comes in the wake of runaway inflation that has punished elderly and vulnerable families the most. More than 100,000 pensioners will benefit from this increase, which comes at an additional cost to public coffers of €65 mil- lion. Pensioners will be receiving an additional €650 next year. This will be the eighth consecu- tive increase in pensions over and above the normal cost of living adjustment. Vulnerable pensioners could also benefit from the additional COLA mechanism introduced in the budget that will target the poor. Non-taxable threshold in- creased The non-taxable threshold for pensions will increase to €14,968, while those using a married tax rate will continue to benefit from a tax exemption on any other in- come up to €3,600 per year. Widows pensions Widows pensions will be ad- justed upward once again in line with an electoral pledge to bring these pensions equivalent to that of their deceased spouses by the end of the legislature. Around 9,000 widows will expe- rience an increase of up to €3.54 per week on average. This meas- ure will cost €1.6 million. Bonus increase for elderly who do not receive contributory pension Elderly persons who do not qualify for a contributory pen- sion but had paid a set number of NI contributions in the past will see their yearly one-off bonus in- crease by €50. In 2023, those who paid less than five years of NI contribu- tions will see their one-off pay- ment increase to €450, while those who paid NI contributions for five years but less than 10 years, will get a bonus of €550. This measure benefits 15,000 people, mostly married women, and the increase for next year will cost an additional €800,000. Pensions will increase for the eighth consecutive year Student stipends will benefit from a pro-rata COLA increase that will amount to an additional €50 per year