No, UK children have not found a hitherto unknown gold mine, but they do have more pocket money, a new report from Halifax shows. The newest Halifax annual pocket money survey shows that children have more pocket money than they did at this time in 2010.
Even with a struggling economy, the survey indicated that at least 8 of 10 children in Britain still receive weekly pocket money which adds up to an average of about £18.72 more a year. This is equivalent to approximately 36p more weekly. It isn’t a ton of money difference, but to children, having pocket money is a real perk.
In 2010 the average amount of pocket money each child received weekly was said to be £5.89 whilst in 2011 that figure rose to £6.25. Perhaps those children won’t actually have more ‘buying power’ because of inflation, but at least their allowances are in keeping with those inflationary prices.
In an odd bit of humour, the report states that life does improve with age as those children in the 15 year old age bracket received more pocket money than those between the ages of 12 and 15 whilst 11 year old children received even less and 8 year old children behind them. Further, girls are found to receive an average of 11p less than boys. Is there still sexual discrimination at this late stage in human history?
Regional differences were also apparent as London children receive the highest pocket money and the lowest pocket money was given in the West Midlands with Wales next in line. Surprisingly, children surveyed by Halifax, for the most part, feel that they are receiving fair amounts of money with only 43% stating they should be getting more. However, since 36% of those children don’t know how much their friends are getting, there may be no grounds to know what is fair and what isn’t.
