Pocket money falls to £6.20 a week

Wages may be rising as the economy picks up but parents are still putting the squeeze on pocket money as figures show it has fallen by 2.4% in the last year.

The current weekly sum paid to eight to 15-year-olds has fallen to £6.20 compared with £6.35 in 2014, during a period when pay climbed by an average of 2%, according to an annual survey from lender Halifax.

However the figures indicate that over previous years children have seen much more generous increases in their allowances.

Weekly pocket money has climbed from £1.13 in 1987, a rise of 448% over a period when their parents' income would have climbed by 193%, meaning increases for children have outpaced those for adults by 255%.

Giles Martin, head of Halifax Savings, said: "Most parents are clearly very generous when it comes to how much pocket money they give their children."

Past figures showed pocket money saw its biggest hike in 2003 when it doubled to £5.79, and it reached a peak of £8.37 in 2005 before turning lower. It fell back to £5.89 in 2010, in the wake of the financial crisis.

The latest Halifax data, from a survey of 1,200 children, also showed the number expected to work for their pocket money by doing household chores had fallen to 59% from 65% last year.

Bedroom tidying remains the most common task, followed by washing up, cleaning, and vacuuming.