7-year recession ends for children

Parents have increased their spending on pocket money despite the ongoing squeeze on household finances, according to survey results.

The amount of money that children receive in pocket money has increased this year by an average of 36p a week, ending seven successive years in which it has fallen, according to Halifax research.

Scottish children benefit from the most generous pocket money in the UK outside London, at 6.89 a week.

More than eight in ten children still get pocket money each week, with the average up 6 per cent this year to 6.25, although the sum remains far below the 2003 high of 8.37 a week.