Kid`s pocket money falls to 7-year low

London: British children`s weekly pocket money has fallen to a seven-year low, in a sign parents are still cutting back on non-essential spending even as the country emerges from recession, a survey showed Monday. Halifax, part of Lloyds Banking Group, said average pocket money fell to 5.89 pounds (USD 9.23) a week in 2010 from 6.24 pounds in 2009. The new figure is the lowest weekly sum since 2003 when parents paid an average of 5.79 pounds.

Children`s pocket money has fallen despite a small rise in their parents` wages over the past year. Average weekly pay in Britain in the three months to July was 431 pounds excluding bonuses, 1.8 percent more than a year earlier. Parents paid daughters less pocket money than sons, in a parallel to the gender gap in the earnings of grownups. Girls received an average 5.70 pounds a month, compared to 6.08 pounds a month for boys, a difference of around 6 percent compared to 12 percent between men and women in full-time work. Halifax based its data on a survey of 1,204 children aged between 8 and 15 conducted from August 26 to September 2. Bureau Report