In the money How much pocket money do parents give their children? Katie Roberts puts the question to Mumsnetters…
THE UK recently dropped into a double dip recession, showing there are further pressures on everyone’s finances and spending power. But are the UK’s kids feeling the pinch in the pocket money stakes? It would seem not. We asked Mumsnetters this month about pocket money, whether they give it to their kids, how much they give, whether their children have to earn their money and what they tend to spend it on.
Every parent we spoke to either gave their children pocket money, or, if they were very young, they planned to give them pocket money at some point in the future. It seems that the average age to start giving pocket
JUNE 2012
money to children is around four or five, when they start school. Cory explains: “We began at the start of year one. 50p per week, rising every
On average, the parents involved in our research give each child £2.88 per week. Over a third of the children (35 per cent) fell into the
On average, the parents involved in our research give each child £2.88 per
week. The majority of kids received £3 or under per week. A lucky 13 per cent are given £6.01 to £7.
year by five to ten pence, to be spent freely.”
Whatevertheweather adds: “We started giving our DD [darling daughter] £1 pocket money each week when she turned five in March.”
£1.01 to £2 bracket, with 17 per cent each in the £0.01 to £1 and the £2.01 to £3, meaning that the majority (69 per cent) of the children received £3 or under per week. A lucky 13 per cent are given £6.01 to
£7, four per cent each get either £3.01 to £4 or £5.01 to £6 and ten per cent receive £4.01 to £5. Feetheart explains how she decides on the amount: “We started giving to our DD when she started in reception as I couldn’t bear the requests to go to the charity shop opposite school every day. She got £1 to start with, which went up 20p on every birthday – she’s now nine so gets £1.80.”
Most of the respondents were fairly liberal with what the children could spend their pocket money on. Providing the purchase is age- appropriate, none of the Mumsnetters we spoke to restricted their children’s purchases, but many encourage their kids to save.