Workers

• 58c weekly rise in wage due to cost-of-living adjustment.

• Income tax rate cut to 25 per cent for those who earn between €20,000 and €60,000 a year (not including income from dividends).

• €35 bonus for those on low income and full-timers who do not benefit from the tax reduction. Part-timers will receive the bonus pro-rata.

• COLA will be taken into consideration for minimum wage earners, so they will not be taxed.

• Skills of construction workers to be certified and recognised.

• Contractors’ workers on government jobs will be paid the same basic rate as government employees.

Mothers

• Special fund to finance maternity leave to make private sector employment more “gender-neutral”.

• Higher maternity leave benefit from 15th to 18th weeks, equivalent to minimum wage. For self-employed mothers, maternity leave benefit equivalent to minimum wage for 14 weeks.

• New parental leave for those who adopt.

Free childcare remains, worth up to €4,000 per child.

Single parents

• Benefits to be tapered if entering employment: 65 per cent of social assistance in first year, 45 per cent in second and 25 per cent in third.

• The in-work benefit (see workers) will also apply to single parents in employment on low or medium income.

Drivers

• Price of unleaded petrol will go down by 2c and diesel by 1c from January 1.

• Opening of bus lanes to cars with three or more passengers.

• New tax on cranes and scaffolding, to avoid lengthy road closures.

• Messages on screens will guide drivers to avoid traffic holdups.

• White Paper on transport of children and school opening hours, aimed to reduce congestion.

• Part of Valletta ditch to be used as a parking area.

• Refunds on tax for those who registered a vehicle between May 1 and December 31, 2004.

• Removal of registration tax on motorcycles classified as vintage.

• Registration tax on ATVs or quad bikes to be reduced by 50 per cent.

• Scrappage scheme to continue.

Disabled people

• Companies that fail to meet the legally mandated quota of having disabled people make up two per cent of their labour force will have to pay €2,400 for every disabled person they fail to employ. The money will go into a fund that will help train disabled people.

• Fiscal incentives for employers employing disabled people.

• Easier to get full disability pension.

• Exemption of capital gains tax and stamp duty on transfer of residence to trust or foundation for disabled people.

• Start of development of 10 residential homes in the community.

Pensioners

• €300 for those over 75 years of age.

• Income tax exemption for those whose pension is not over the minimum wage.

• Payback of contributions so as to qualify for minimum pension, for those born 1950-56.

• Lump sum payments of €100-€200 to those born 1941-53 and who did not pay enough contributions to qualify for minimum pension.

• Further reduction of anomalies in pensions, including those with service pensions and dock workers.

• Improved home for the elderly in Gozo.

Young people

• Young people under 23 years old will accept to enter the Youth Guarantee scheme that provides training or employment or lose benefits. Existing claimants will have four months to do so.

• 700 traineeships and 200 work trials will be financed.

Students

• A bonus over and above the pro-rata COLA increase in stipends.

• Student grant system will continue to improve.

• Maintenance grants to be tax exempt.

• Reduced VAT rate on e-books.

• Work will start on two new schools in Dingli and Kirkop

• Pilot project of five vocational subjects in SEC.

Newly weds

• People on benefits who get married or enter a civil union with someone in employment will not lose social benefits straight away but gradually over three years.

Businesses

• Elimination of eco-contribution on electronic and white goods by September 2015.

• Tax credits equivalent to investment made in start-ups, up to €250,000 per year.

• Incentives to facilitate the transfer of business between members of the same family.

• Employers will be able to access the European Social Fund when they employ disadvantaged people or provide training for their employees.

• Employers will pay 25 per cent of the benefit for newly employed single parents for the first three years.

• Social security exemption and tax deduction on profits equivalent to disabled employee’s wage.

• Reduction in utility rates for industry.

• Energy audits to be extended to SMEs.

• More incentives for the use of photovoltaic panels and solar water heaters.

• Tax deduction on 50 per cent of donations to Community Chest Fund higher than €2,000.

Cyclists

• Bicycle tracks around Valletta.

• 15.5 per cent grant on cost of pedelec bicycles.

Unemployed

• Help to re-enter the labour market for long-term unemployed, from the private sector working in partnership with the ETC.

• Individual skills and aptitudes, and not just preferences, will start to be taken into consideration when matching employers with the unemployed.

Property buyers and sellers

• Capital Gain Tax to be overhauled with new final withholding tax of between five and eight per cent.

• Extension of stamp duty concession on the first €150,000 for first-time buyers to June 30, 2015.

Sportsmen and women

• Tax rebate for water polo players.

• Call for investors in motorsport racetrack.

• Development of international standard shooting range.

Patients

• Cospicua health centre to be modernised with investment from private sector.

• Substantial reduction in orthopaedic operations waiting list.

• Cervical cancer screening.

• New free medicines for treatment of diabetes.

• Review of entitlement criteria for various medicines.

• Disability pension for those suffering from Neuro Myelitis Optica.

• Shorter waiting list for organ transplants.

Parents

• To “make work pay”, an “in-work benefit” of up to €1,200 a year for each child will be paid to low-to-medium income couples who both work and earn up to €20,000 and single parents who earn less than €15,000 and have dependent children up to 23.

• €400 supplement for each of first and second child, and €200 for third child onwards, to families with household income of less than €11,900, tied to school attendance, regular medical check-ups and participation in sports and culture.

• Tax credit on children’s Church or private school transport charges, up to €150.

• New play equipment and garden furniture at Kennedy Grove.

Mobile phone owners

• Extension of free Wi-Fi hot spots.

Beach-goers, divers, ramblers...

• Enlargement of sandy beaches, better access to rocky shores, scuttling of vessels, work on country walksin public-private partnerships.

Yacht owners

• Possibility of building a breakwater between Valletta and Sliema, facilitating the development of yacht marinas.

• 250 new berths to be added at the Sa Maison Marina.

Non-EU residents

• Refund of VAT before leaving the country.

Shops

• Revision of opening hours.

• Shop owners in Valletta will be able to apply for the title of ground rent instead of a lease.

Hawkers

• Valletta monti to be relocated to a ‘more suitable setting’.

Bus users

• New public transport system in January, with more routes and improvement in the overall service promised. Fares will remain the same, possibly for next three years and frequent traveller schemes will be set up with use of EU funds.

Farmers

• National Agricultural Policy is to be drawn up.

Fishermen

• A new fish market

• Improvements to ports

• Campaign promoting consumption of fish.

Animal lovers

• Animal cemetery to be opened.

• National fund set up for animal protection.

• More shelters for karozzini horses.

Gozitans

• Embellishment works in Marsalforn, Xlendi and various village squares.

• Plan for new public bays.