[WATCH] €35 COLA compensation to be cashed in this week

€35 COLA compensation to be cashed in this week • Video by Ray Attard

A €35 bonus for all persons in receipt of social security benefits, pensioners, students receiving a stipend and all those income tax payers working full-time not benefiting from the 2015 income tax reductions will be distributed this week.

Part-time workers will receive the ex-gratia bonus pro rata. The one-time payment, to make up for the miserly €0.58 cost of living adjustment increase and which will not be shouldered by employers, was included in Budget 2015.

Facing widespread dissatisfaction, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat had admitted that a 58c COLA was not enough and the Budget would include measure to better compensate those most in need.

Addressing a media briefing, Social Solidarity Minister Michael Farrugia explained that the ex-gratia bonus will be handed out to students today (as their stipend is deposited in their bank accounts), workers will receive theirs on Friday in the form a cheque while pensioners and persons in receipt of social security benefits will receive theirs on Saturday in the usual way they receive their benefits or pension.

The bonus will be paid to those who were entitled to it on 3 January, 2015, Farrugia said. The tax department used the latest information at hand to determine who was eligible by referring to the tax return form based on 2013.