Rodrigo Antunes / LUSA
The Minister of State and Finance, Joaquim Miranda Sarmento
The increase is part of the new Multi-Annual Agreement for the Valorization of Public Administration Workers, which provides for an increase in the food allowance to 6.60 euros in 2029.
This Wednesday, the Government presented a proposal to Public Service unions to increase the meal allowance for State workers, with effect from January 2026.
The measure provides for a initial increase of 15 cents per dayraising the current value from six euros to 6.15 euros dailyin a process of progressive updating that will extend until 2029, says .
According to the proposal, confirmed by the Ministry of Finance after meetings with union leaders, the meal allowance will increase annually: in 2027 it will rise to 6.30 euros, in 2028 to 6.45 euros and, in 2029, it will reach 6.60 euros. In total, the accumulated increase will be 10% over four years.
The value of the meal subsidy in the Public Administration also has a direct impact on the private sector, since serves as a reference for the IRS exempt limit. With this proposal, the private gain is 26 cents, reaching a maximum value free of 10.46 euros per daywhen paid by card.
According to the Government, the increase in the meal allowance is part of the proposal for a new Multi-Annual Agreement for the Valorization of Public Administration Workers for the period 2026–2029.
Unions reacted cautiously positively. Rosa Sousa, president of the State Technical Staff Union (STE), considered the increase “short”but valued the fact that the subsidy will be updated in 2026 and that the value will grow in every year of the agreement. He also highlighted the integration of career review and the evaluation system into the negotiation process as positive.
On the part of FESAP, José Abraão highlighted that the unions had been demanding an immediate increase, since the last one occurred in 2023. According to the director, the Government recognized this demand by bringing forward the update to next year.
The budgetary impact of the measure is estimated at around 29 million euros in 2026 and a total of 110 million by 2029.
