Youngsters see a drop of £1.08 in their pocket money

Children in the North East have seen the biggest rise being given an average of £7.12 a week, just behind London children who receive the most at £7.34 – although children in the capital have seen a 29p drop in a year.

Children in the East Midlands have seen the largest drop, from £5.62 last year to £4.44 this.

And girls received an average of 37p a week less than boys.

The proportion of children receiving weekly pocket money has dropped from 83 per cent to 77 per cent over the past 12 months.

However, today’s children seem to be better off than 25 years ago in that they are able to buy an average of ten bars of Cadbury’s Twirl with their pocket money compared with five in 1987, when they cost 22p.

The shift, revealed in the findings of Halifax’s 25th anniversary pocket money survey, which included 1,132 children aged eight to 15, in July, is blamed on the strain on family finances which many parents are currently facing.

The survey also shows that many children are learning the value of saving with 67 per cent saving at least a quarter of their pocket money and 40 per cent keeping their pocket money in a bank or building society account.

Head of Halifax savings Richard Fearon said: “Pocket money is often the first opportunity children have to manage money and it gives them valuable insight into the benefits of both short and long term saving.”