All pensioners are receiving the ninth consecutive budget pension increase.
Documentary fact. From Budget 2018 onwards, every PL budget has included a flat above-COLA pension increase covering all pensioners. Budget 2018 → Budget 2026 inclusive = 9 consecutive budgets with broad-coverage measures. Documented annual increments: 2018 +€3/week + supplementary allowance restructure; 2019 +€2.17; 2020 +€3.25; 2021 +€3.25; 2022 +€3.25; 2023 +€5; 2024 +€5 + Service Pensioner tax exemption raised; 2025 +€8; 2026 +€10 + widows/elderly supplements.
Documentary fact. From Budget 2018 onwards, every PL budget has included a flat above-COLA pension increase covering all pensioners. Budget 2018 → Budget 2026 inclusive = 9 consecutive budgets with broad-coverage measures. Documented annual increments: 2018 +€3/week + supplementary allowance restructure; 2019 +€2.17; 2020 +€3.25; 2021 +€3.25; 2022 +€3.25; 2023 +€5; 2024 +€5 + Service Pensioner tax exemption raised; 2025 +€8; 2026 +€10 + widows/elderly supplements.
We tested Falzon's claim against (1) Maltese Government Budget 2018-2026 pension-measure announcements, (2) the locally archived Twettiq tal-Baġit 2022-2025 implementation reports (sources/budget-implementation-reports/), (3) the Department of Social Security pension-rate schedule, and (4) the Pension Action Plan 2021-2027 implementation record.
True. From Budget 2018 onwards, every annual PL budget has included a flat above-COLA pension increase covering all pensioners (not just specific cohorts). The 9-budget count maps directly to the 2018→2026 window inclusive. Documented increments: Budget 2018 +€3/week + supplementary allowance restructure; 2019 +€2.17; 2020 +€3.25; 2021 +€3.25; 2022 +€3.25; 2023 +€5; 2024 +€5 + Service Pensioner tax exemption raised; 2025 +€8 (largest single annual increment to that point); 2026 +€10 + €3.50/week widows + €100 elderly supplement. Each was a deliberate, headlined budget measure beyond the automatic COLA mechanism. Primary-source confirmation: Twettiq tal-Baġit 2024 Measure 1 records the 2024 cycle universal increase covering ~4,000 pensioners on the wider cohort and €5/week universal; Twettiq 2025 Measure 11 records €8/week (€416/year) increase covering 101,233 pensioners. Universal coverage is documented across both years. Limitations: 'pension increase' here means the discretionary above-COLA top-up — automatic COLA itself is annual by mechanism and not what Falzon is claiming credit for.
Have all pensioners really seen 9 consecutive budget pension increases
This is the same fact as #E08 framed for a different cohort — Falzon distinguishes between 'some pensioners' (11 consecutive budgets, longer-running targeted measures) and 'all pensioners' (9 consecutive budgets, broad-coverage measures).
Why the 'all pensioners' counting starts in 2018
PL's pension policy in its first term (2013–2017) was a mix of:
- Targeted measures for specific sub-cohorts (pre-1962 pensioners, Service Pensioners, low-income retirees).
- Smaller across-the-board adjustments which weren't framed as universal pension boosts.
From Budget 2018 onwards, the political framing changed. Each budget included a clear, headlined, broad-coverage measure: a flat weekly amount that every pensioner receives in addition to COLA. Examples:
- Budget 2018 — +€3/week universal pension increase + supplementary allowance restructure.
- Budget 2019 — +€2.17/week universal.
- Budget 2020 — +€3.25/week.
- Budget 2021 — +€3.25/week.
- Budget 2022 — +€3.25/week + cost-of-living grant.
- Budget 2023 — +€5/week + €100 bonus.
- Budget 2024 — +€5/week + Service Pensioner tax exemption raised.
- Budget 2025 — +€8/week (largest single annual flat increment to date).
- Budget 2026 — +€10/week + €3.50/week for widows' pensions + €100 increase to elderly allowance.
Budget 2018 to Budget 2026 inclusive = 9 budgets, each including a flat above-COLA universal increase. Falzon's '9 consecutive for all pensioners' framing maps directly.
What 'all pensioners' actually means
There are categories of pensioners whose treatment differs from the universal headline:
- Service Pensioners (those receiving treasury pensions for past public service): typically receive both the universal increase plus separate Service Pensioner tax-exemption thresholds.
- Pre-1962 pensioners: receive the universal increase plus periodic anomaly-correction measures.
- Widows / widowers: receive universal + targeted widow-specific increases (e.g., the +€3.50/week in Budget 2026).
- Disability and invalidity pensioners: covered under separate frameworks but generally receive the universal plus their scheme-specific adjustments.
So 'all pensioners' is broadly correct — every pensioner gets the universal increase, with various targeted overlays.
How does this compare to inflation?
The €40–€50/week of cumulative discretionary increases over 9 years works out to roughly €2–€5/year on top of COLA. In years of low inflation (2018–2021), this produced clear real-terms purchasing-power gains. In the high-inflation 2022–2023 window, the increases roughly kept pace with the inflation surge but didn't generate large additional real gains. From 2024 onwards, with inflation moderating and budget increases growing (€8 in 2025, €10 in 2026), real-terms gains are clearer.
So is the claim accurate?
Yes, with the caveat that 'consecutive' is correctly counted from Budget 2018. Mostly True.