And finally…It’s the economy, infant! – downturn hits kids in the pocket

An annual fall of 2.4 per cent in the last year was recorded by the latest Annual Pocket Money survey from the Halifax.

The lender said the current weekly sum paid to eight to 15-year-olds has fallen to £6.20 compared with £6.35 in 2014, during a period when pay climbed by an average of 2 per cent.

Pocket money reached a high of £8.37 in 2005 but fell back as parents began to feel the effects of the economic recession later in the decade.

However, the latest figures indicate that over the piece, children have seen much more generous increases in their allowances.

Weekly pocket money has climbed from £1.13 in 1987, a rise of 448 per cent over a period when their parents’ income would have climbed by 193 per cent, meaning increases for children have outpaced those for adults by 255 per cent.

Giles Martin, head of Halifax Savings, said: “Most parents are clearly very generous when it comes to how much pocket money they give their children.”

Past figures showed pocket money saw its biggest hike in 2003 when it doubled to £5.79, and it reached a peak of £8.37 in 2005 before turning lower. It fell back to £5.89 in 2010, in the wake of the financial crisis.

The latest Halifax data, from a survey of 1,200 children, also showed the number expected to work for their pocket money by doing household chores had fallen to 59 per cent from 65 per cent last year.

A separate report out earlier this year found that children are getting extra pocket money worth up to four times the “official” amount given to them by their parents due to “top ups” for magazines, outings, new clothes and mobile phone accessories.

The Nationwide study found that under-18s managed to blag an extra £17.56 a month for smartphone costs alone.