Crunch takes a slice of kids’ pocket money
Last updated 05:32, Friday, 29 August 2008
Children have become the latest victims of the credit crunch with pocket money falling on average by nearly 25 per cent.
The amount children receive has fallen for the third year in a row as financial pressures on parents increase.
The average child aged between eight and 15 currently gets £6.13 pocket money each week, down from £8.01 in 2007 and £8.37 in 2005, according to Halifax.
The group said if children’s spending money had risen in line with inflation over the last three years, it would currently stand at £9.43 – £3.30 a week more than the current level.
But it is not unusual to see annual falls in pocket money – decreases were also recorded in 1994, 1996, 1997, 2006 and 2007.
Around 23 per cent of children receive a pocket money increase once a year, but 17 per cent said they had not been given a rise during the past 12 months.
Among those who had received an increase, 41 per cent saw their money rise on their birthday, while one in 10 said it went up during the summer holidays.
Halifax said pocket money was reverting to its original role of money for minor expenses, with parents buying more expensive items for their children, such as mobile phones and iPods.
Three-quarters of children now own a mobile phone, running up an average bill of £8.38 a month, which is paid by their parents in 70 per cent of cases. Just over two-thirds of children also have an iPod or MP3 player.
Three out of 10 children save between £1 and £5 a week of their pocket money, but 28 per cent never set aside any of their cash.
Around 29 per cent of children said they would save if they wanted something expensive, while 43 per cent would ask for it for a Christmas or birthday present and 17 per cent admitted they would pester their parents until they bought it for them.
Children in London have the most pocket money – an average of £8.47 a week – followed by those in Scotland at £8.20.
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