Average weekly pocket money in households with children aged 5 to 18: by household income, 2006/07, UK
The average amount of pocket money given to children aged five to 18 in the UK amounted to £8.68 per household per week, or £4.80 per child. This compared with £7.97 per household and £4.31 per child in 2002/03 (at 2006/07 prices).
The amount of pocket money given to children does not, however, mirror the amount of income each household receives. The highest average amount of pocket money per household (£14.90 per week) was given to children living in the household group with the lowest income level, while the second highest amount of pocket money per household (£11.85 per week) was given to children in the group with the highest level of income. This could be partially due to the higher number of children in families in the lowest income group (an average of 2.28 children per household in the lowest income decile group compared to 1.46 in the highest decile group). Children in the highest income decile group received the highest average amount of pocket money per child (£8.10), however, children living in households in the lowest income group received the second highest average amount of pocket money per child (£6.53).
During 2008 just over three-quarters (76 per cent) of children aged eight to 15 in Great Britain saved at least a part of their pocket money. Among those who saved, around four in ten (42 per cent) kept the savings at home in a money box. Over a third (37 per cent) reported that they held a bank or building society account, a third (33 per cent) kept the money in a wallet or purse and 13 per cent at home in a container. Nearly one in ten (8 per cent) stated that their parents looked after their pocket money.
Children's expenditure on selected items, 2006/07, UK
In 2006/07 the average household expenditure by children aged five to 18 in the UK was £12.88 per week, the average expenditure per child was £7.86. Children spent the largest amount on recreation and culture equivalent to 35 per cent of their weekly spending (£4.56). Restaurants and hotels, and clothing and footwear were the second and third largest categories, equivalent to 23 per cent (£2.96) and about 20 per cent (£2.51) of their weekly expenditure, respectively. Other minor categories of expenditure by children were food and non-alcoholic drinks (5 per cent of weekly expenditure), communication (4 per cent) and transport (3 per cent). Source: Expenditure and Food Survey, Office for National Statistics; Halifax Pocket money Survey 2008, Halifax
Notes: 2006/07 data are based on a sample of 346 households, interviewed for the Expenditure and Food Survey, who stated they gave their children who were aged five to 18, pocket money (22 per cent of the total number of households with children interviewed). The 2002/03 data on pocket money are based on 515 households who stated they gave their children aged five to 18, pocket money (28.6 per cent of the total number of households with children interviewed). Prices are expressed in 2006/07 values, based on the Retail Prices Index.
Income distribution is a ranking of households based on their gross income, in an increasing order (ie from the lowest to the highest income). The deciles of this distribution divide it into a number of equal parts, each of which contains the same number of households. Therefore, households in the first decile are those with the lowest income, up to those in the tenth decile, who have the highest income.
Halifax's Pocket money survey was conducted with Computer Aided Web Interviewing (CAWI) on a weighted sample of 1180 children in Great Britain.
Average expenditure data are based on 1,570 households in EFS sample with children aged five to 18.
Expenditure item 'Restaurant and hotel' reflect the COICOP category, although for children hotel expenditure is negligible.
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