{"id":106482,"date":"2025-10-29T05:05:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-29T05:05:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/106482\/"},"modified":"2025-10-29T05:05:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T05:05:13","slug":"pensioners-among-the-main-beneficiaries-of-budget-2026-minister-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/106482\/","title":{"rendered":"Pensioners among the main beneficiaries of Budget 2026, minister says"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>            &#13;<br \/>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/ads.independent.com.mt\/www\/delivery\/ck.php?n=afef72b0&amp;cb=205\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1761714313_726_avw\" border=\"0\" alt=\"\"\/><\/a>&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<\/p>\n<p>The government has announced the eleventh increase in pensions, along with additional measures aimed at providing greater support for the elderly, a government statement read.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Around 100,000 pensioners are set to benefit from an increase of at least \u20ac10 per week, which is more than double the cost-of-living adjustment (COLA). Furthermore, none of this increase will be taxable, a policy that has become standard under this government. This approach was described as one that provides security and peace of mind to all pensioners and elderly citizens.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Minister for Social Policy and Children&#8217;s Rights Michael Falzon and Parliamentary Secretary for Active Ageing Malcolm Paul Agius Galea addressed a press conference.<\/p>\n<p>Minister Falzon said this latest increase builds on those introduced in previous years, which together have seen pensioners&#8217; weekly income rise by more than \u20ac70. He stressed that this year&#8217;s pension increase is not an individual measure, but comes alongside several other initiatives designed to further improve the lives of pensioners.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We firmly believe in our pensioners. Year after year, we have stood by them to continue strengthening their quality of life. Pensioners are the heart and soul of this country&#8217;s social fabric. For this reason, we have continued to support widows, reintroduce tax exemptions for pensioners, and improve pensions for married couples and service pensioners,&#8221; Minister Falzon said.<\/p>\n<p>Parliamentary Secretary Malcolm Paul Agius Galea underlined that the government&#8217;s message is clear and consistent: the elderly deserve not only respect and dignity, but also tangible investment at every stage of their lives.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"&#13; &#13; &#13; The government has announced the eleventh increase in pensions, along with additional measures aimed at&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":106483,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[138,246,111,139,69,244,245],"class_list":{"0":"post-106482","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-finance","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-newzealand","12":"tag-nz","13":"tag-personal-finance","14":"tag-personalfinance"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106482"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106482\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/106483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}