The History of
Social Security in Malta

Social Protection in Malta

The development of social security services in Malta could possibly be traced back to the rule of the Order of the Knights of St. John over the Maltese islands. Although by the time the Knights came to Malta in 1530, they had evolved into a military order, as hospitallers they still devoted themselves to the care of the sick and poor. Besides defensive fortifications, they built a large-sized hospital in the new capital city and were engaged in several charitable bodies. They were actively involved in humanitarian activities to assist in cash or assist the poor and other meritorious causes. But it was not before the 19^th century that the first-ever state sponsored social benefit was introduced in Malta. It took the form of a pension scheme launched in 1885 for police officers, and which a few years later, was extended to civil servants.

Legislative Initiatives

The first green shoots of a social policy network appeared in the twenties with the granting of self-rule by the British Government in 1921 in the aftermath of the First World War and the socio-economic hardship that came in its wake. The legislative programme included the granting in 1927 of pensions to widows and orphans of deceased public officers. It was followed two years later by the first-ever social insurance scheme designed to compensate workers who suffered injuries on duty. Benefits were financed through a fund regulated by the Workmen's Compensation Act. Contributions towards the fund were compulsory and equally shared by employers, employees, and the State. Political upheavals and the onset of the Second World War cut short the legislative programme, which, however, resumed in earnest with the restoration of self-government in 1947. The first measure in August 1948 was the Old Age Pensions Act which provided for the payment of pensions to elderly persons who had never been in employment. Unlike the Workmen's Compensation Act, the scheme was not funded through contributions, but claimants had to undergo a financial means test. It was followed a couple of years later with the scheme of financial assistance (colloquially known as Relief) for needy families whereby person responsible for household was unemployed.

Watershed Year

1956 was a watershed year for the social security system with the enactment of two major bills - the National Assistance Act and the National Insurance Act - and the concurrent creation of the Department of Social Security. Social and Medical Assistance were accorded to different categories of vulnerable people without having to pay any contributions. Heads of household - unemployed, in search of employment or unable to work because of ill-health - were granted social assistance. If beneficiaries were residing in a rented house their assistance was augmented by a Rent Allowance. Persons suffering from a chronic disease became entitled to Medical Assistance, irrespective of their family's financial resources. The legislation further introduced free institutional care for the senior citizens, free hospitalisation and treatment in all State-run institutions and hospitals. The Workmen’s Compensation Act was repealed and replaced by a law providing for a comprehensive scheme of social insurance financed through contributions compulsorily paid by employees, employers and the State. The scheme covered a wide range of benefits, allowances, and pensions, besides contingencies covering sickness, employment injuries/diseases, unemployment, widowhood, orphanhood and senior citizens. A year later Government extended the provisions of the Old Age Pensions Act to visually impaired persons aged forty (40) years or over. The qualifying age in 1962 was lowered to fourteen (14) years to align it with the school-leaving age of that time. The National Insurance Act was amended in 1965 to encompass self-employed persons and non-employed persons, thus bringing the scheme applicable to a broader spectrum of the Maltese population. In the same year Invalidity Pension was added to the string of social measures.

The Seventies

A host of innovative social measures were rolled out during the seventies. These comprised of:

• The elimination of the distinction between men and women contributions and benefits. (1971)
• The introduction of the payment of an annual Bonus to all Social Security pensioners and recipients of Social Assistance. (1972)
• The establishment of Children’s Allowances from which thousands of households and children benefitted. (1974)
• A non-contributory Disability Pension was launched in the same year. It also was eligible for persons suffering from a severe mental sub-normality or from cerebral palsy. In the following year the pension was extended to other categories of severely disabled persons.
• Significantly, the Two-Thirds Pension came on stream in 1979, together with a pension scheme for widows calculated on their deceased husband's earnings. The new schemes were supplemented by a reformed contributions system applicable to both employed persons and self-employed persons.
• A National Minimum Pension was concurrently introduced to ensure persons claiming a contributory pension would not fall below the threshold pension rate provided they had a full contribution record to their credit.

The Eighties

The decade was marked by the approval of the Social Security Act by the House of Representatives to comprehensively encompass the provisions of three separate laws governing Old Age Pensions, National Assistance and National Insurance into one legislation. The measures which were rolled out in the eighties included the introduction of maternity benefit for self-employed persons and for unemployed females. The benefit covers the eight (8) weeks prior to confinement and the first five (5) weeks after confinement. Maternity leave benefit is awarded to females opting for maternity leave through their employer and deciding to extend their maternity week by four (4) weeks. The weekly payable rate is at par with the national minimum wage. Social assistance was extended in 1986 to single or widowed females single-handedly taking regular care of an elderly or disabled relative. The Disabled Child Allowance was created in 1988. It is paid to parents of children with a disability.

The Nineties

The decade was fertile with new or enhanced social measures:

• Introduction of a Widower's Pension and an Orphan's Supplementary Allowance. (1991)
• Unmarried or widowed persons taking care of a bed-ridden or wheelchair bound parent were accorded a Carers’ Pension. (1992)
• A Supplementary Allowance started being paid to citizens whose total income fell below a certain level. (1996)
• The Children’s Allowance scheme was reviewed, and entitlement became subject to a means-test of the income derived by members of the household. (1996)
• The meaning of the term 'Service Pension' was fined tuned. As a result, a service pension for social security pension assessment was only considered if the original rate of such pension was over €466 per annum and had not been wholly commuted. If this was the case, the service pension was taken at its original rate, that is, when it was first received by the pensioner or the spouse in the case of a widows' pension. (1997)
• The discrimination hitherto existing between men and women that was provided to Widow’s Pension was eliminated. The amendments established that all contributory benefits applicable to a widow were to apply to widower mutatis mutandis. (1998)
• The amendments further eliminated discrimination in the grant of sickness benefit. A married woman hitherto did not qualify to the Sickness Benefit rate applicable to a married man. With the new measures, both married men and women were put on the same footing if their spouse was not gainfully employed.
• In the same year, after more than four decades, the responsibility for the collection and enforcement of Social Security Contributions passed from the Department of Social Security to the Inland Revenue Department.
• The decade closed with a revision of the Social Security Contribution rate for employees. It was increased from 8.33% to 10%.

Early 21st Century

Since the turn of the century, social protection has been invigorated by the activation of social reforms and benefit enhancements aimed at keeping the social security system abreast of changing social needs and challenges. Furthermore, in 2004 Malta’s accession to the European Union (EU), social benefits became available to all citizens from other EU member states and reciprocally Maltese residents became eligible to benefits from other EU states.

Pensions

Given Malta’s ageing population, priority has been given to measures devised to strengthen the sustainability and adequacy of pensions. The reform got underway in 2006 with the raise of retirement age from sixty-one (61) years for men and sixty (60) years for women to sixty-five (65) years for both genders. Concurrently the contributory period has also been increased to forty (40) years while ten (10) years later it increased by another year for persons born in 1969 and onwards. The contributory period for persons born in 1976 or after, in 2025 was extended by one year to 42 years.  The measure emanated from the Pension Action Plan, drawn up in 2021/2022, and is not intended to change the retirement age of persons born in 1976 or after, It is solely designed to underpin pension sustainability and aims at retaining a fair balance between contributions and benefits across generations. In terms of sustainability, since 2016 adopted measures have been primarily designed to incentivize pensioners to remain active in the labour market beyond statutory retirement age and to ensure that, over time, a fair balance would be kept between contributions and benefits across generations. Employees in the private sector opting to remain in employment, now have the option to defer their retirement pension. In doing so, they stand to gain annual percentage increases in their pension rate, depending on how long they remain in employment (a maximum of 23% if pension is deferred for 4 years). In 2019 the incentive was extended to employees in the public sector as well. In terms of adequacy, manifold measures have been implemented since 2016 to increase pensions across the board, to improve the living standards of senior citizens and ward them off the risk of poverty.

Measures to bridge the pension gap

The 2006 reform engendered a disparity between pensioners born before 1962 and those born afterwards.  Annual increases in the pension rates of pre-1962 pensioners were singularly limited to the annual cost of living, whilst pensioners born after 1962 were guaranteed annual percentage increases determined through a mechanism based on an aggregate of 70% of wage growth and 30% of the inflation growth. The anomaly was addressed in 2024 with the adoption of a uniform basic increase for all pensioners based on the 70% - 30% framework. The same reform created a gap in the maximum pensionable income between the two cohorts, which up to 2023 reached €6,407.   A process has been set in motion to gradually bridge the gap over a number of years, with the first steps taken in 2024. Retirees born before 1962 and whose salary, had they remained in employment, exceeds the maximum pensionable income benefit from yearly additional pension increases which vary in line with the salary scales.

Pension enhancements

As of 2018, pension rates have been yearly increased across board for both contributory and non-contributory pensioners, as below illustrated.

• Pension income of individuals aged 61 years and over is exempt from tax up to a maximum which in 2025 reached 80% . In 2026 the whole pension will be exempt from tax. .
• In 2024 the tax exemption became applicable as well to widows under the age of 61 years.
• A guaranteed national minimum level of pension was introduced in 2016 to provide a minimum level of pension income related to the at-risk-of-poverty level. It is yearly adjusted by cost-of-living increases and additional pension increases.
• Employees are entitled to Child credits to compensate for periods spent raising and caring for their children, thus helping them to improve their pension coverage.
• Study credits are also awarded for periods spent in education. The higher the level of educational attainment the greater the credits awarded.
• Survivors qualifying to a contributory pension are entitled to a pension of the higher between their own pension and the pension of their deceased spouse.
• The gender gap in pensions was addressed in 2017 with females gaining increases in their weekly pension rates.
• On reaching pensionable age persons with a disability are entitled to a pension equivalent to the Non-Contributory Retirement Pension.
• Persons born between 1950 and 1956 in employment and short of Social Security Contributions, have been given the opportunity to pay for a maximum of five (5) years from their missing contributions to qualify for a pension.
• Persons born before 1962 and who were in employment before reaching nineteen (19) years became eligible to a minimum retirement pension if they managed to reach the minimum contribution average through the endorsement of the social contributions paid whilst they were in employment before nineteen (19) years.
• Service pensioners yearly benefit from higher income due to the grant of a €200 waiver in their service pension.
• On reaching seventy-two (72) years of age, as from 2022, service pensioners became eligible to a full abatement of their commuted part of the service pension for the purpose of their social security pension.
• In 2024 the service pension framework was further enhanced with the introduction of a concession in favour of public officers boarded out because of ill-health. In their case full abatement of the commuted part of their pension for the computation of their social security pension becomes effective on the lapse of 12 years from the date of the award of their service pension, and not when they reach 72 years of age.
• Ex-personnel in the uniformed services who have yet to attain retirement age and are not in employment or in receipt of a social service pension as from 2024 became entitled to the payment of a bonus equivalent to the full cost of living increase. Entitlement to the yearly accruing bonus is suspended once they take up a job or become eligible to a pension or a social security benefit, without losing the right to the accumulated bonus.
• Members of the disciplinary services who opt to remain in the service for more than 29 years can benefit from an increase of up to 23% in their pension rate.
• Ex-uniformed personnel who on retirement from service take up another job in 2020 were granted the option to have their pensionable income assessed on the salaries earned when in the disciplined services, if more beneficial, instead of the last 11, 12 or 13 years of their employment as the case may be.
• Through a process started in 2022 the pensions of widows, who in their own right are ineligible to a retirement pension, are being yearly adjusted to gradually reach the same level of pension entitlement as their deceased spouse. The process aims at redressing an anomaly which precludes widows from qualifying to the full pension due to their spouse.
• Another process, launched in 2022, aims at gradually phasing in a uniform cost of living bonus (CLBO) for pensioners who retired after 2008. Current mechanism engenders disparate CLBO rates between retirees in 2008 or earlier, and retirees in subsequent years.  By 2027 one uniform CLBO rate will be applicable to all retirees, irrespective of their year of retirement.
• In 2019 the applicability of pension assessment to employees who benefitted from early retirement schemes was extended to employees who opted to such schemes prior to January 2008. Previously, entitlement was restricted to employees who took up early retirement after January 2008.
• A concession was given in 2019 to persons who worked in Libya after January 1990, and who were adversely affected by changes in the social security bilateral agreement between Malta and Libya. Such persons were given the option to regularize their position by providing documented evidence of payment of contributions in Libya or by paying up to ten (10) years of missing contributions in Malta.
• A typical workers with multiple part-time jobs can opt to pay social security contributions on more than one job up to a weekly maximum of forty (40) hours. The arrangement would enable them to qualify to a higher pension rate on retirement.

Payment of Additional COLA

Low to medium families are awarded an additional cost of living allowance to better cope with inflationary pressures on prices. The allowance is determined through a mechanism which is geared towards households with an income that does not exceed the national median income. The payable rate of the allowance hinges on two factors: how the household’s income compares to the poverty threshold and how many members there are in the household.  The lower the income the higher the allowance rate would be, and additionally, the more persons in the household the more the benefit rate will be. The benefit was introduced in 2021. It is paid in two tranches – December and May of the following year.  Benefit rates accumulate yearly and vary from €100 to €1,500.

Making Work Pay Initiatives

A package of active labour market initiatives was rolled out in 2014 and 2015 to incentivise social beneficiaries and women to enter the labour market. It comprises the In-Work Benefit scheme and the Tapering of Benefits. Both have been a notable success in encouraging persons on social or unemployment assistance, predominately single parents, to find employment. Coupled with the free childcare programme, they have contributed to push up the participation of women in the labour market. The In-Work Benefit scheme is targeted to improve the income  of low-to-medium income households where married couples (both or one of them) or single parents are in employment and have dependent children up to twenty-three (23) years of age. The rates and thresholds have been repeatedly upgraded.  The ceilings are capped at €50,000 for working couples; and €35,000 for one earner households .  The highest rate payable to working couples and single parents is €1,550 per child; while the top rate for couples where only one of the parents is in employment stands at €780 for each child.  Benefit rates are calculated net of national insurance contributions and, as from 2025, also net of income tax paid by household. A new benefit was added to the scheme in 2022 in the form of a yearly payment of €150 applicable to private sector workers,  engaged in atypical jobs and earning less than €20,000 annually. The Tapering of Benefits scheme job is designed to wean off persons from unemployment and social benefits and provide them with greater security when they take up a job. Besides eliminating the risk of persons falling into the dependency trap, the initiative paves the way for a beneficiary to invest in a future contributory pension through the payment of Social Security Contributions. Under the scheme, beneficiaries are allowed to retain part of their social benefits when they take up a job. In the first year of employment, they retain 75% in the first year of employment, 55% in the second year and 35% in the third year.  Over the same period, employers are assigned 25% of the benefit.

Persons with a Disability

• Even persons with a disability have found it easier to find a job. Their employment was facilitated through fiscal incentives offered to employers and through the enforcement of a law enacted in 1969 to reserve 2% of the manpower of companies with more than twenty (20) employees to persons with a disability.
• At the same time, persons with disability in employment and earning more than the minimum wage have been given the right to retain their Disability Pension.
• The Disability Pension has been reformed primarily to assist persons who because of their disability could never be able to be gainfully occupied and have the opportunity to supplement their pension with income from employment. These persons are entitled to the Increased Severe Disability Allowance which is equivalent to the annual net National Minimum Wage.
• The same reform removed the bar to a Disability Pension for persons who, although missing one arm or leg, were not considered eligible at law.
• Besides the Barthel Index, which applies to persons with mobility problems, an Impairment Rating Evaluation was introduced in 2019 to widen the eligibility parameters to other forms of severe disability.
• The eligibility criteria to qualify for Disability Assistance were broadened in 2020 to embrace persons who are medically certified to be permanently deaf or mute.  ,   Beneficiaries of  the Disabled Child Allowance,  qualify to the Disability Assistance on reaching 16 years.
• In 2021  persons certified to be suffering from severe disabilities and intellectual impairment and certified to be unable to take up a job became eligible to the Increased Severe Disability Allowance.
• The means test criteria to qualify for  disability assistance was dropped in 2022.
• Physically disabled persons may be entitled to Severe Disability Assistance, Disability Assistance or Disablement Pension even engaged in a gainful occupation.  On their retirement they qualify to a contributory pension but forfeit their entitlement to the assistance or pension.  As of 2025, they became entitled to a pension top-up to partly compensate for their loss of their disability benefit.  The adjustment will put their pension at par with the national minimum wage, but in no case would such adjustment be lower than 10% of their respective benefit.
• A Carer’s Grant was introduced in 2021 for parents who have to stay at home to take care of a  child with a severe disability over sixteen (16) years of age. The grant was originally set at €300 annually and increased to €500 in 2022.  As from 2023 the grant is pegged to half the annual net National Minimum Wage.
• In 2025, the Carer’s Grant was further extended to parents who have to remain at home to care for children under sixteen (16) years with a severe disability.
• Parents in receipt of the Carers’ Grant are eligible to accreditation of four (4) years of  NI contributions so as to safeguard their right to a pension on reaching retirement age.

Elderly

• A Senior Citizen Grant was introduced in 2012 for elderly persons, aged eighty (80) years and over, residing in their own residence or with relatives. The eligibility age was lowered to seventy-five (75) in the following year and in 2022 the grant was extended to elderly persons in private residential homes.   In 2025 the grant for persons aged between 75 and 79 years was set at €350.  For those aged 80 and over the grant is of €450.
• An annual grant is paid to persons with a deficient record of Social Security contributions. Thousands of persons, mostly married women, have benefitted from the bonus introduced in 2015. Over the years the bonus rates have been gradually upgraded. A fundamental change was introduced in 2015 to make the bonus more representative of the actual number of paid- up contributions.   Variable rates, ranging from €550 to €1,000, are now paid in respect of an individual’s record of contributions.
• To encourage elderly persons to continue living in their own homes and community, a reform was undertaken 2017 and 2018 in the Carer’s Pension and the Carer’s Allowance. The Carer’s Pension was renamed as the Increased Carer’s Allowance and made payable to carers, including spouses, taking care of persons with a high level of dependency. The Carer’s Allowance is awarded to carers of persons with medium level of dependence. In both cases, payable rates have been considerably enhanced. If a married beneficiary of this allowance forfeits the right to entitlement to another social benefit an additional weekly allowance is paid to every other member in the family.
• The conditions were further enhanced in 2019 to exempt applicants for both allowances from undergoing a means test. Married persons living in the same house with an elderly person became eligible to receive the Carer’s Allowance until they reach pensionable age.
• In 2021 the eligibility criteria were widened to allow persons in retirement or in receipt of a pension to qualify for both allowances, subject they undergo a periodical medical examination to assess their physical and mental suitability to impart care. Spouses are, however excluded.
• The Social Security legislation was amended in 2023 to recognize spouses in a civil union or cohabitation who apply for a Carer’s Allowance or an Increased Carer’s Allowance.
• Persons who for a time, quit their jobs to take care of their parents at home, as from 2023 became eligible to an accreditation of four (4) years of social security contributions. Furthermore, as beneficiaries of the carer’s allowances they have  the option to pay up to five (5) years of missing contributions on reaching fifty-nine (59) years of age.Elderly persons, residing at home, are allowed a subsidy to employ carers of their choice on a full-time or part-time basis.  The subsidy, introduced in 2017, was increased by €500 to €8,500 in 2025,
• Elderly persons can opt to engage a helper of their choice for a number of hours on a weekly basis to assist them with household chores and to run errands.   The hourly rate is subsidized.
• The Supplementary Allowance is a means-tested benefit granted to low income single or married households. Weekly rates are determined through an assessment mechanism which takes into account of the household reckonable income. Following enhancement in rates in 2017 and 2022, an overhaul of the assessment mechanism was introduced in 2025 to further step up the payable rates.
• The maximum rates are now €1,289for married couples and €667 for single persons. Furthermore, the eligibility income threshold for married couples has been widened to €18,000 while for single persons it is now €12,493. A yearly additional allowance is paid to beneficiaries aged 65 years and over.
• Supplementary Allowance beneficiaries aged seventy-five (75) years and over are automatically entitled to free medical aid (Pink Card) without the need to undergo a means test.

Widows

• Widows in employment and in receipt of a contributory pension have been extended the right to benefit from Sickness Benefits. (2018)
• Widowed pensioners with children under the age of eighteen (18) years in 2020 became eligible to an increased rate of allowance per child, irrespective of whether they are in employment or not. The weekly allowance was increased by €5.46 to €10.
• The Social Security Act was amended in 2021 to update the interpretation of a widow to validate the right of the surviving spouse in a civil union or cohabitation to be recognized as a widow/widower if it is proven that the civil union or cohabitation could not be contracted and registered because one of the partners passed away between 1st January 2017 and 31st December 2020.
• Gradually, over 6 years, the rate of Widow's Pension is increasing so that it is the same as that of their spouse.

Families and Children

• The Marriage Grant is a long-standing benefit in the social   It was introduced in 1956 and was initially paid out to the bride.  Both spouses became eligible to the grant in 1987 and over the years the payable rate has been annually increased in line with the percentage rise in the national minimum wage.  In 2025 the marriage rate was set at  €500.
• A Child Birth Bonus of €300 was introduced in 2020 for families of new-born babies or adopted children. The bonus was increased to €400 in 2022. In 2024 the bonus for the first-born child in the family was increased to €500 and to €1,000 for any additional birth in the family. The bonus payable for the birth of the third child and over was further increased in 2025 by €500 to €1,500.
• The minimum annual rate of Children’s Allowance was increased in 2013 from €350 to €450 for each child. At the same time, heads of families on minimum wage became eligible to the highest rate of Children’s Allowance.
• The rates of Children’s Allowances payable to means tested families were increased in 2019. Changes were effected in 2025 in the assessment mechanism to determine the payable allowance rates to exempt not only the payment of national insurance contributions, but also the income tax paid by a household.  The change gave households the possibility of earning higher rates of Children’s Allowance.
• The Children’s Allowance scheme was enhanced in 2021 with the introduction of an additional supplement for all children under sixteen (16) Means-tested families received a supplement of €70 per child.  For families above the means test threshold the supplement amounted to €50 per child.  The supplement was further increased in 2023 by €90 for both categories and in 2024 it spiked by €250 to reach €390 and €410 per child. The same increase of €250 was triggered in 2025 bringing the payable rates to €640 and €660 per child.
• The payment of a special yearly allowance was introduced in 2024 for parents of children aged between 16 and 18 years in full-time post-secondary education in public and private institutions.  The yearly allowance of €500  is paid over a span of  three years.
• Parents who are constrained to cease work to care for children suffering from rare ailments qualify up to eight (8) years of credits in their National Insurance contributions. The concession which became effective in 2020 is intended to ward parents off gaps in their contribution record and thus minimize the prospect of having a reduced retirement pension.
• Foster parents and residential homes raising children in their care are annually supported through the payment of a Foster Care Allowance. The allowance has been enhanced over the years and through a further increase in 2025 now stands at €6,240 yearly per child in care.
• Foster care parents who choose to adopt children in their care as from 2023 became eligible to retain the Foster Care Allowance but at a tapered rate over a period of 4 years, or until the child reaches twenty-one (21) years, whichever comes first.  In the first year of adoption the payment rate is reduced to 80% of the allowance.   in the second year it is set  at 60%, followed by 40%  in the third year and 20% in the fourth year.
• Orphan’s Allowance extended to orphans in employment. (2018)
• The Disabled Child Allowance payable to parents of children suffering from some form of physical or mental disability was increased in 2025 for the fourth time since 2014 to reach €35 weekly.
• Adoptive parents are awarded a grant of €10,000 to defray incurred expenses in their quest to adopt children from abroad. (2018).  The grant was extended in 2021 with a maximum capping of €1,000 to couples adopting Maltese children.
• Self-employed women are entitled to i the payment of Maternity Benefit rate at a rate equivalent of the National Minimum Wage.  Maternity Leave entitlement has been extended by a further two (2) weeks to eighteen (18) (2013)
• Maternity Benefit and Maternity Leave Benefit were extended to adoptive parents in 2015, .
• Employed women undergoing IVF treatment are allowed additional leave per IVF cycle. They are allowed up to 60 hours and their husbands or partners are allowed another 40 hours.  As from 2025 the same concession was given to prospective self-employed women undergoing IVF treatment.  They are awarded an IVF Leave Benefit up to a maximum of 60 hours at the national minimum wage hourly rate for every IVF procedure.  If husband or partner is also self-employed, he would be entitled to the payment of up to 40 hours leave at the same rate.
• Fathers or equivalent second parents in employment are entitled to paternity leave of ten (10) working days on the birth or adoption of a child. The right to paternity leave in 2025 has been extended to self-employed fathers or equivalent parents through the provision of a Paternity Leave Benefit.  The benefit will be paid at the same rate of Maternity Leave Benefit, based on the national minimum wage, paid to self-employed mothers.

Social Assistance Benefits

• Higher unemployment benefit rates came into effect in 2024 to ensure a sufficient income replacement for beneficiaries. Flat rates have been replaced by a set of rates tapered and linked to the previous earnings of a beneficiary. The minimum rate is pegged to the national minimum wage, whilst the maximum rate could reach 175% of the national minimum wage.
• Single parents are given the opportunity to concurrently benefit from the payment of Social Assistance and a stipend when they take up post-secondary studies. The payable amount of social assistance and the stipend however cannot exceed the national minimum wage. In 2019 this concession was extended to social assistance beneficiaries over the age of twenty-three (23) who decide to take up studies at the Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology (MCAST) or the University of Malta.
• Drug Addicts Allowance increased in 2016, 2018 and 2024 to help affected persons pursuing a rehabilitation programme for drug or alcohol abuse. It currently stands at €50 weekly.  To further incentivize addicts to successfully rehabilitate themselves and eventually find a job, they have the opportunity to obtain two (2) years of NI credits if they stay clean and hold on to their job.
• In 2019 self-employed persons were historically extended the right to receive unemployment benefits if they ceased their activity and registered for work, putting them on the same footing as employed persons.
• A reform in Social Assistance enacted in 2025 with the creation of a new benefit classes: Social Assistance Medical. It is intended to give more financial support to persons on sickness benefit and medically certified to be unfit for long term employment.  As part of the change, besides the full cost of living increase awarded to the head of household, each member of the household became eligible to a higher additional benefit rate.
• Discrimination between males and females in the award of benefit rates under the Social Security Act was eliminated in 2016.
• The Social Security Act provides for the payment of Medical Assistance to the head of household subject to a means test. An amendment in the legislation in 2019 gave recognition as heads of household to children caring for their parent/s and in receipt of the Increased Carer’s Allowance or the Carer’s Allowance if they applied for medical assistance.
• Also, in 2019 all persons suffering from bipolar, depression by psychosis and terminal illnesses were granted the right to medical assistance if they satisfy the means test criteria.
• Persons medically certified to be suffering from listed conditions and satisfying the eligibility criteria are entitled to Sickness Assistance. The weekly eligibility thresholds for couples and singles were extended in 2025 to enable low-income households to draw the benefit if they satisfy the capital asset and medical eligibility criteria.
• In 2020 ME and Fibromyalgia were added to the list of medical conditions eligible for Sickness Benefit, subject to applicants satisfying a means test and undergoing a medical assessment by a multi-disciplinary board.
• Persons undergoing continual treatment for certain medical conditions, such as cancer, in 2020 became qualified to Sickness Benefit from the first day of their repeat claim for the benefit.
• Disablement pensioners qualify to full entitlement to injury, sickness or unemployment benefits without any deduction being made in their pension. (2022)
• Social assistance beneficiaries as from 2022 became eligible to the full annual COLA increase, instead of two thirds of the increase.
• Sickness Assistance beneficiaries are automatically granted free medical care. Pension increases are not taken into account in the means test assessment of applicants to free medical care.