A very full PIGGY BANK
THE AVERAGE CHILD GETS HUNDREDS OF POUNDS FROM THEIR PARENTS EVERY YEAR
PARENTS are forking out an average of more than £350 a year on pocket money for each of their kids.
A report from the Halifax bank found that in 2017, parents typically dished out £7.00 a week in pocket money for children aged between 5 and 14.
That works out as £364.00 a year.
The ONS family and households data for 2017 shows that there were 806,000 families in the UK with at least three children. It means that each of those larger families, on average, would splash out more than £1,000 a year on pocket money alone.
The report shows that for the first time in a decade, girls are getting more pocket money than boys averaging at £7.09 a week. While just 14p more than the £6.91 that boys receive, it means girls are given nearly £10.00 more across the year. Nearly threequarters of parents (72%) admit that they give their children pocket money without making them do housework or chores.
That is perhaps unsurprising, given that almost a quarter of parents (22%) say they give their child as much pocket money as they can afford.
But more than half (51%) said that they would stop giving pocket money as a way to punish bad behaviour.
Unsurprisingly, kids in London are given the most pocket money each week (£8.18), while those in the South East and East of England see just £6.19.
Parents in Scotland give their children £8.11 a week, ahead of the £7.11 given to children in the North West.
Kids in the East and West Midlands get £7.01, followed by children in Wales and the West of England who receive around £6.75 a week.
Meanwhile, children in the North East and Yorkshire and the Humber get a weekly allowance of £6.36.
Piggy banks are still proving popular, with nearly eight in every 10 children saying they use one to store their pocket money.
Most parents tend to give their children cash in hand, with under a fifth (19%) paying money directly into a bank account.
Giles Martin, head of savings at Halifax, said: “It’s great to see that so many parents still encourage their kids to save, and are using pocket money as a means of helping them learn to manage their finances early on. “With so much new technology at people’s fingertips, it is surprising to find that the humble piggy bank is still such a firm favourite among both parents and children, and as yet only a few early adopters are using the digital tools available to pay their kids pocket money.”