Pocket money in 2026: children are increasingly earning it
The average payment is £3.94 a week, while a child's weekly income is £9.74. Where the difference comes from, which chores pay most, and what children save for.
There is no universal answer to “how much pocket money should a child get”: the amount depends on their age, on what the family can afford, and on what you expect them to pay for themselves. There is, however, data on how other families settle it.
NatWest Rooster Money publishes its Pocket Money Index every year — a look at how children receive, earn, save and spend money. The 2026 edition draws on data from more than half a million children aged 6 to 17, collected between 1 March 2025 and 28 February 2026.1
£3.94 in pocket money and £9.74 in income
The average regular payment is £3.94 a week. Add money earned from chores, gifts and one-off rewards, and average weekly income rises to £9.74. Over a year that comes to £506.48.
The gap between the two figures widens with age.
| Age | Regular pocket money | Total weekly income* |
|---|---|---|
| 6 | £2.69 | £4.58 |
| 7 | £2.79 | £4.77 |
| 8 | £2.88 | £5.10 |
| 9 | £3.07 | £5.52 |
| 10 | £3.27 | £6.08 |
| 11 | £3.56 | £7.30 |
| 12 | £4.01 | £9.15 |
| 13 | £4.50 | £11.50 |
| 14 | £5.10 | £13.97 |
| 15 | £5.66 | £16.34 |
| 16 | £6.68 | £21.26 |
| 17 | £7.95 | £22.56 |
* Total income includes regular pocket money, chore payments and other additional income.
For a ten-year-old, extra income nearly doubles the allowance: £3.27 becomes £6.08. For a sixteen-year-old, £6.68 becomes £21.26 — more than three times over.
A fixed sum handed over every Saturday has stopped describing what happens to children's money. A large share of it now arrives through extra tasks and one-off rewards.
Which chores pay the most
Mowing the lawn came top again, at an average of £3.52 a time. Washing the car pays £3.36, cleaning windows £1.65, gardening £1.38. Making the bed is worth £0.28.
A twelvefold spread repeats the shape of the adult economy: a short daily duty is worth little, while rare and demanding work is worth considerably more.
A rule for the household system follows from that. Daily duties such as clearing up after yourself or putting clothes away can stay unpaid. Washing the car, helping in the garden, clearing out the storage cupboard are worth pricing separately, and pricing well above the routine.
The child then sees the whole chain: effort, result, money, and a choice about what to do with it.
Children save for more than games
In 2026, holidays and travel took first place among savings goals for the first time, pushing gaming aside. “Saving for the future” came second, and gaming dropped to third.
One more figure from the same report: 56% of the money children put aside is moved into named savings goals.
It follows that a child should see more than a balance — they should also see the answer to “what am I saving for”.
An abstract 300,000 UZS is easy to spend. “300,000 of 800,000 UZS towards new headphones” reads differently: the distance covered and the distance left are both visible.
What parents can take from this
The British amounts do not transfer to another country as they are: yours will be tenge, som, manat or another currency, at a different price level. What transfers is the arrangement.
A small regular allowance; a way to earn beyond it through extra jobs; a goal of the child's own to save towards. The three parts work together, and that combination is where pocket money turns from a parental expense into practice for financial decisions.
PocketPal puts the three in one place: priced chores, a record of what has been earned, and a goal with progress on it. How long the first goal will take is what the calculator works out, and how long a child can hold on to a goal at all is covered separately.