Budget 2026 | Pensioners to receive additional €10 weekly including COLA

Some 100,000 pensioners will receive an additional €10 every week, including the cost-of-living increase. 

Finance Minister Clyde Caruana detailed the various Budget 2026 incentives aimed at pensioners in parliament during his yearly budget speech. 

Caruana announced that pensioners aged between 75 and 79-years-old will have their pensions increased from €350 per month to €425. Meanwhile, those aged 80 and above will have their monthly pensions raised from €450 to €525.  

He further announced that widowed pensioners will be granted an additional €3.50 per week in their pensions, a measure expected to benefit around 7,000 individuals. 

Married pensioners receiving reduced rates due to their spouse also drawing a pension will benefit from an increase of between €2 and €14 per week. This is expected to impact around 5,000 people. 

The finance minister also said that those who don’t qualify for pensions will see a €50 annual increase. The bonus varies from €600 for those who contributed one year of NI tax to €1,050 for those who contributed nine years.   

The annual carer’s grant, which supports those caring for a loved one, has been raised by €500 to a total of €9,000 per year. 

Furthermore, Caruana announced an adjustment measure will be made available for approximately 20,000 pensioners, including widows, who were born before 1962, to reduce the gap that resulted from the 2006 reform in the Maximum Pensionable Income. 

For those elderly individuals living at home or paying for private care, the grant they receive will increase by €75, reaching €425 for those aged 75–79 and €525 for those aged 80 and over. 

For service pensioners, the commuted pension amount calculated with the social security pension will increase by €200, raising the maximum amount to €3,866.  

Approximately 7,000 service pensioners who reach the age of 72 will have the entire amount calculated from their service pension disregarded for calculations.