A supplementary child allowance for low income families will amount to €400 per child annually for those having up to two children, and an additional €200 for every other child, Social Solidarity Minister Michael Farrugia said.

The allowance will be granted to those families having an annual income of less than €11,000. It will be over and above the children's allowance.

The minister stressed that that the allowance was linked to certain conditions. The children had to be sent to school for 95 per cent of the school days and they had to receive all vaccination according to the National Vaccination Programme.

The minister said such conditions were needed to prevent people from becoming dependant on social benefits, and to fight illiteracy. The special allowance will cost the government €9m a year.

Dr Farrugia also announced that as was the case last year, the children's allowance for all families woudl be issued this month to help families in school-related purchases.

The minister also announced that in order to discourage truancy, parents who did not send their children to school would need to produce a medical certificate from the first day, not after three days, as had been the case so far.

He said attendance at government schools was at 87 per cent compared to 96 per cent in Church and private schools.