Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala government has sanctioned bonus, special festival allowance and Onam advance for the 2025-26 financial year for government employees, teachers, employees of aided educational institutions, full-time contingent employees, employees in other categories and pensioners.

Government employees eligible for the bonus will receive Rs 4,500. Those who are not eligible for the bonus will receive a special festival allowance of Rs 3,000. The special festival allowance for service pensioners is Rs 1,250. The amounts will be disbursed from August 17.

Teachers in single-teacher and itinerant schools, ayahs and noon-meal workers in schools will receive a festival allowance of Rs 1,550. Daily-wage workers appointed through employment exchanges will receive Rs 1,460, while balawadi/anganwadi helpers, ayahs and palliative care nurses will receive Rs 1,450.

All government employees, as well as the personal staff of ministers, Leader of Opposition, Deputy Speaker and Chief Whip, will receive an Onam advance of Rs 20,000. The amount will have to be repaid in five equal instalments through salary deductions beginning in October.

An Onam advance of Rs 6,000 has also been sanctioned for:

1. Part-time contingent employees;

2. NMR, CLR and seasonal workers in all departments, and permanent workers in agricultural farms;

3. Permanent workers in government departments;

4. Workers in regional workshops under the Public Works Department and workers at the Dredger and Dry Dock in Alappuzha;

5. Family planning volunteers and workers;

6. Anganwadi workers and helpers;

7. Non-permanent workers in the Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Dairy Development departments, as well as coconut-spraying workers engaged by the concerned local bodies and Agriculture Department;

8. Grass cutters in the Mounted Police Wing.

Bonus

A bonus of Rs 4,500 has been sanctioned for state government employees, including the personal staff of ministers, the Speaker, Deputy Speaker, Leader of the Opposition and Chief Whip, employees of aided educational institutions and employees of local self-government institutions, whose total salary as on March 31, 2026, was up to Rs 49,275 under the existing 11th Pay Revision salary scales, or up to Rs 44,462 under the 10th Pay Revision scales.

Eligible employees falling within the specified salary limits will receive whichever is lower — one month's salary or Rs 4,500 — as the bonus.

Employees who are not eligible for the special bonus will instead be entitled to a special festival allowance at different rates.