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How much pocket money to give, by age (UK)

The UK averages, why they mislead for a primary-age child, and an official per-age benchmark almost nobody cites.

Last updated 9 September 2026

Two numbers get quoted whenever this comes up in the UK, and both are worse than they look for a parent of a primary-age child.

The numbers everyone quotes

GoHenry publishes an average from its own users: £9.90 a week in 2026 for ages 7-18, up 1.2% on the year before, with a regional spread from £12.88 in the south east to £8.57 in the east of England.

NatWest Rooster Money publishes a Pocket Money Index, now in its tenth year, drawn from over half a million children.

Both are real data and both have the same problem: they are averages across 7 to 18, and a sixteen-year-old's allowance is not in the same universe as a seven-year-old's. Quoting £9.90 to a parent of a seven-year-old overstates it, probably by double.

They also share a selection bias worth naming. These are figures from families who signed up for a children's debit card, which is not a random sample of British households. It skews towards families already spending money on managing their child's money.

The benchmark nobody cites

There is a second UK source, and it is public, official and per-age.

Local authorities publish pocket money rates for children in foster care. They are set by councils, reviewed regularly, and intended to be adequate rather than generous. As guidance for a primary-age child they are far more useful than a card company's average:

That gives a defensible range for a primary-age child of roughly £4 to £5.50 a week, from a source with nothing to sell.

A rule of thumb, and why the common one is wrong

The rule most often repeated is £1 per year of age - £7 a week for a seven-year-old.

It is easy to remember and it is high at the younger end. It also has a built-in problem: it rises automatically every birthday whether or not anything about the child's responsibilities changed, which quietly teaches that money arrives with time rather than with anything they did.

A more defensible starting point for ages 6 to 10:

AgeA reasonable weekly starting point
6£2.00 - £3.00
7£3.00 - £4.00
8£4.00 - £5.00
9£5.00 - £6.00
10£6.00 - £7.50

These sit below the headline averages on purpose. They are figures for a primary-age child who is not yet buying their own lunch, and they leave room to rise for a reason rather than automatically.

Our pocket money calculator works from these and shows its reasoning rather than just producing a number.

Three things that matter more than the amount

Consistency beats size. £3 that arrives every Saturday teaches more than £6 that arrives when somebody remembers. A child cannot plan against money that is unpredictable, and planning is the whole point.

Say what it is for. Pocket money with no boundary becomes "the money I ask for on top of what you buy me anyway". Pocket money that covers a named category

Decide the chore link deliberately, before the child asks. Tying money to chores is a real choice with consequences in both directions: should you pay children for chores.

Sources