This is one of the questions parents ask frequently on parent advice forums and online. Often it's even more specific and parents want to know 'How much pocket money should I give me 6 year old?' etc. So here's where I'd start. Based on the most recent Halifax and RoosterMoney survey data, UK averages currently sit at around:

Age 6 - £4.00 a week

Age 8 - £4.50 a week

Age 10 - £6.00 a week

Age 13 - £13.50 a week.

I want to be honest with you though. These are averages, not rules. Your family's circumstances, your area and what jobs are actually realistic for your child will all shift that number. Use it as a starting point for the conversation, not the final word. For what it's worth the amount of money that my children earn differs quite a lot from week to week and month to month, and I'll explain why below, but as a guesstimate my 6 year old gets well under this average, probably around £2-£3 a week.

The rule that matters more than the number

Before you land on a figure, there's one distinction I'd sort out first, because it does more work than the actual amount does.

Split jobs into two categories. Family jobs are things your child does simply because they're part of the household. Tidying their room, putting their plate away, getting dressed, feeding the pet. I don't pay for these, and I'd encourage you not to either. Paying a child for the basics of contributing to a family teaches them the wrong lesson entirely, that helping out is optional and comes with a price tag attached.

Earning jobs are different. These sit above and beyond what's normally expected, washing the car, weeding the garden, cleaning windows, helping with a big tidy. These I do pay for, at a rate we agree in advance, and I'm not shy about applying a bit of quality control either. If the windows still have streaks on them, that's a conversation, not a payout.

By the time they're seven or so, I'd push this one stage further. Let them start spotting jobs themselves and proposing a rate. You negotiate from there. It sounds like a small thing, but it's genuinely the first taste of understanding that work and value are connected, rather than money simply appearing because it's a Saturday.

Why I'd steer you away from a single piggy bank

A lot of parents give their child somewhere to put pocket money, a jar, a pot, sometimes just their wallet, and leave it there. I'd avoid that. The problem isn't the container, it's what it teaches, which is really only one thing. How to put money somewhere. The child never has to stop and think about what that money is actually for. It goes in, and it comes back out again for whatever catches their eye that week.

The earlier you can get your child used to the idea that the moment money arrives, they have a decision to make about it, the better. That's a skill plenty of adults still haven't properly learned, myself included at times if I'm honest. Building it in as a habit while they're young, rather than hoping it turns up on its own later, is really the whole point of what follows.

What actually happens once it's earned

The rate is the easy part. What your child does with the money afterwards is where the real learning sits, and it's the bit most pocket money advice skips entirely.

I use four jars with my own two boys. save, spend, give and invest. Every bit of money that comes in gets split across those four rather than landing in one pile to be spent on whatever catches their eye that week. My son has made his own labels and decorated his. He wanted to call his 'give' jar the 'be kind' jar, it's fine to adjust it like this if it helps your child take ownership and understand the jars.

One of my boys is naturally good at this. He genuinely enjoys watching a savings pot grow. Even he loosens up around the summer holidays and tips more into his spend jar than usual, and I let him, because that's a reasonable adjustment rather than a failure of the system. What I really like watching is how he tracks his own effort against what he's earned. If he gets to the end of the month and hasn't got much in his pocket, he'll come and ask if there are any jobs going so he can top it up himself. I always say yes, because that's exactly the instinct I want him to keep, that more money means going and doing something for it, not simply asking for it.

The fourth jar is one a lot of people miss out, but for me, it is one of the most important, and it's important not to blur it with the save jar. The save jar is for a goal your child will actually reach and spend, a new game, a day out, something tangible. The investing side is money that isn't touched, doesn't get spent, and grows quietly in the background while they get on with being a child. Running both at once, a short term save jar and a long term investment they mostly forget about, is honestly the whole point. For my son the investment side either means he gives me the money to place in my own investment ISA which he can then watch, it's never much more than a few pound, but it's enough for him to see how money can increase or decrease, when invested in stocks. He's chosen companies he knows to invest in to make it real for him, think phone brands, delivery companies, TV manufacturers etc - he even asked to invest in gold, so we did, just before it went down in value. That in itself was one of the best lessons he's learned from this system as he now holds through a dip. As well as this short term investment for learning he can also ask to put his money in his JISA which he won't touch until he's 18. If the Invest jar sounds too much for you right now, then start with the 3 jars Spend, Save, Give. When you're ready you can always reconsider the Invest jar.

Stepping back and letting them get it wrong

This next bit is the hardest part for most parents, myself included. Once the money is theirs and split across the jars, you need to actually step back and let them make the decisions, mistakes and all. Let your child overspend on something silly with a small amount of pocket money now, because that same mistake with a much bigger amount of money in ten years time is a far more expensive lesson.

I won't pretend this is easy to watch. Seeing your child take months to save for something because they keep dipping into it, or spend the lot in a shop the second they've got it, is genuinely hard to sit through when you can see exactly what they should do. Hold back anyway. That instinct to step in is the thing to fight, not the child's spending.

Where I would step in is if you notice the same mistake happening again and again. Pick a quiet moment, not while they're stood in a shop or sorting their jars, and talk to them about what you've noticed. Name the pattern rather than the mistake itself. Something like, I can see you're saving for x but it's taking a long time, why do you think that's happening, works far better than telling them what they've done wrong.

Ask a few open questions like that first and let them do the talking. Then ask if they'd like you to share what you'd do to reach the goal faster. Advice offered this way, after they've asked for it, tends to actually land, in a way it rarely does when it's given in the moment they're mid mistake. You can always give them a gentle reminder of that conversation just before handing over their next pocket money, but keep it at that. A nudge, not a takeover.

Where to start

If you're setting this up for the first time, don't overthink the opening rate. Some parents like to have a base rate to ensure their child has something every week and top it up with earning jobs, others like myself start at £0 and the children only get what they've earned. Pick something close to the averages above, explain the family jobs and earning jobs split clearly, and let the first month be a bit rough around the edges. Ours certainly was. The conversation you have while adjusting it afterwards is genuinely half the lesson. Our system really got going once my son wrote a list in his bedroom of the jobs he can do to earn money and the corresponding prices. 50p for mowing the lawn with me, £2 for helping wash the car, 50p per item to organise to sell on vinted etc etc. Do what works for your family and of course the jobs can get more challenging and independent as they get older. He still doesn't get paid for tidying the table or brushing his teeth though!

If you'd like this broken down, then you can download the FREE MSK Pocket Money Guide below. Just pop in your e-mail address and I'll send it over. It breaks down this system even more and includes suggested earning jobs and corresponding prices you could pay your child.