British children’s pocket money falls to 7-year low

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 shows.

Halifax, part of Lloyds Banking Group, said average pocket money fell to 5,89 pounds ($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% 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% compared to 12% between men and women in full-time work.

Halifax based its data on a survey of 1204 children aged between 8 and 15 conducted from Aug. 26 to Sept. 2.