Government largesse to compensate public sector workers for decades-old injustices will continue next year, with €9 million allocated to such compensation in Budget 2021.

Finance Minister Edward Scicluna said an estimated 5,500 former workers, or their heirs, would be eligible for compensation budgeted for the upcoming year. This year, around 8,000 people were given compensation.  

They include former police force members as well as former dock workers and Malta Gas Board employees who were amalgamated into Enemalta in the 1970s and a small number of Malta Electricity Board members who were moved to Enemalta.

The Finance Ministry has also budgeted for compensation to be doled out to former dry dock workers who were exposed to asbestos during their careers. Asbestos is a natural mineral and carcinogen which was often used as a building material in the past.

In his budget speech, Scicluna did not say how much money the government was willing to fork out to workers affected by the dangerous mineral. Instead, he said that "the government is waiting to have all facts at hand" before deciding how much compensation these workers - or their heirs - would receive.