How much pocket money?

[Greenbanana7]

16 year old DS, just left school, started college. Empties the dishwasher on a rota with his siblings and gets £4 a week. We buy him clothes and other stuff he needs. What would be a reasonable amount to give him per week? We have 3 children below him in age so need to be mindful about how much it will cost when they all turn 16! Thanks

DD is the same age. We’ve just increased from £40 a month to £60 a month as we used to put money on her account for school dinners, but she’s now at college. We pay her train fare to college, her gym membership & her phone. Expect her to pay for everything else, but if she’s out in the shops with me I will pay for toiletries she needs, & if I see something in the charity shop for her I will get it…

DD, 17, gets currently £50/month. So far she has to cover paying for sweets/Costa, cinema, gift for friends, make up, fandom merch, spontanous purchases when out with friends.

We pay for meals when she out over lunch, school lunch (only 2x a week, the other days she is home for lunch and eats here), phone, all clothes and all hobbies.
Busses are free in London and her Oyster card is linked to my card for train/tube.

As she will be off to uni next year, we will change it to a larger allowance but that then has to cover all meals, all non-school clothes (her 6th form has a strict business clothes dress code) and I will remove the link to my card for her transport.
No idea yet how much, we need to set a budget.

She is not able to have a job though.

At this age we moved to an allowance to include buying clothes- about £100 pcm a few years ago, plus lunches and travel covered. Wasn't really enough, I wanted to encourage work but that didn't happen!

Same age dc, ds1 is 16 and just started A Levels at college. Due to bus times he's out from 8.30-5.30 every day.

He gets £25 a week transferred to his account- but that includes him buying lunch IF he chooses to buy it. There's always packed lunch stuff here so he can choose whether he 'wastes' his £25 on food or makes himself a lunch each day.

We pay for his sport, his Xbox subs and his phone. Plus his clothes and all college stuff, toiletries, essential bus fares.

So far he's vowing to make himself lunch each day then failing and spending his money in college on food 😂 but hopefully getting to every Friday skint is going to start wearing thin soon, we'll see.

My 14yo gets £14 a month (from his Gran!) but has access to a bank card of mine that has a few quid on it to allow him to go to the shop for a drink/sweets etc.
I pay for all clothes, gym, phone, clubs, give him money for cinema trips etc.
Tbh if I gave him a set £10 a week he'd waste it on shit. With the card, I can see what he's spending and keep some kind of limit on it.
I can't afford £40/£50 to give to him when he has a sibling who'd want the same, that's loads!

Mine got £30 a week at 16.

At 16 I'd also pay for his bus to college (or bus pass) and give him a few quid for lunch. Those lunches add up though!

I give £23 a week, which is to cover lunch at college and work. Its the cost of a meal deal at our supermarket. He is welcome to take a packed lunch and keep the money though.

I also buy his main clothes and pay for the monthly phone bill.

He has a job since 16 so pays for his own entertainment.

So I suppose he doesn't actually get pocket money at all now I think on it. I just buy food and clothes which is a parents job! I feel a bit mean now.

I think I'd maybe consider upping household responsibilities as this is as important as budgeting. All the cinema trips, meals, clothes etc add up pretty fast so it's not just £4 pw. I gave an allowance to my son at that age, he had to help around the house, got more money for bigger tasks that he chose to do and he got a part time job and absolutely loved earning his own money! I think if I'd have given him a higher allowance he wouldn't have felt the need to get a job and wouldn't have afforded half the things he can do now

DD 17 gets £25 a week for any incidental spending and food out of the home. We pay travel and phone and I would pay for things like new shoes. She usually takes a packed lunch and supplements with a drink/snack from the canteen at college.
She's very frugal and saves a fair amount from that which she can use on presents/outings/clothes

Dts are 13 and we've just moved them onto an allowance. They weee getting £15 / month, but then asking for money for lunches at their activity at the weekends (£40 / month), random money for going out with friends to Primark or whatever it was costing us more.

They now get £50 month and that's it. I pay their phones, essential toiletries, clothes etc.

It doesn't go very far to be fair.

Oh they get £20 / per week on their lunch cards, if they decide to spend it on bloody Radnor fizz they can bring food from home. Weee in London to travel is free. We pay a fair whack on their hobby too.

DD's just left sixth form and she had £50 a week (which also had to cover her phone costs). The idea was that it was enough for basic socialising etc but if she wanted any more she had to get a part time job. Which she did.

I'd also suggest your 16 year old should be doing more household chores than just emptying the dishwasher on a rota. Not linked to money, but because people who live in a house support the smooth running of the household.

My teens get £60 a month, plus lunch money. I buy necessities such as deodorant, underwear etc and I pay for their phones but anything else they pay for themselves.

I'd also suggest your 16 year old should be doing more household chores than just emptying the dishwasher on a rota. Not linked to money, but because people who live in a house support the smooth running of the household

Agree with this.
Ds (16) has to empty and pack the dishwasher and wipe down all the counters once every day. Plus keep his own room clean (daily so it doesn't build up) and has to walk the dog for a couple of hours every Saturday.

Either add everything you give him currently up and give him a lump sum totalling that + a bit extra to manage for a month- or keep it as you are. I’d say the former is better for teaching him money management.

I give inline with what is recommended for foster children which covers personal spends, I cover everything else. For a 16 year old that is £10 a week.

DD 14 gets £35 a month allowance, £20 of that is linked to doing the dishwasher Mon - Fri. We Pay for her phone, toiletries, lunches etc and general clothes. She also gets £20 a month for clothes outside what of we buy her.

Bit sad a 16 year old having to ask for money to socialise. Similarly aged son has guitar lessons, phone, big clothes purchases, toiletries and fares paid for. Pocket money £60 pw (£30 each from me, £30 from dad) plus £25 a week from his Nan. So, £85 It doesn't go far with cinema tickets, eating out, gym and random clothes purchases. Obviously anything done with us is paid for by us.

And it's an allowance really.

Tbh, I should think very few college students take a packed lunch these days. My ds has just finished college and despite plenty of food here he wouldn't have taken packed lunch stuff because I think part and parcel of college is going out for lunch /the canteen. It's social too. I occasionally reminded him there's food in the house and encouraged him to take snacks(which he never did) but he preferred to buy with friends.

This set up is very similar to mine. (Heads up - it’s cheaper for them to top up their own U18 Oyster for tubes! I think it’s either 50% or 15% off of full price.)

@boulevardofbrokendreamss I've just been introduced to the delights of bloody Radnor fizz when my youngest started secondary school last week. School charge so much for them! They're all obsessed with them because at junior school they couldn't have anything like that! I found 24 Radnor fizz on Amazon for £11 so ordered some of those and he can take 2 or 3 of those a week. If I didn't put a limit on it, he'd probably drink them all in a week!

We pay for phones and essentials, clothes etc. Sub them if they have an event and need lunch money, popping to see the bright lights once a month.

But neither dc gets pocket money for spending on themselves as a regular thing and also they help with chores because no one gives me a tip for doing housework:) We expect then to get a job outside the house! Dc have had Saturday jobs, pet sitting etc. They are mid teens.

Dc are indescribably proud of being able to buy what they like with their own money and have their own savings. Good reports and exam results are very lucrative in our house:)

I feel a bit mean now, seeing what others get. But it's not as if we have x amount to give away anyway.

13yo dd gets £7 a week into her debit card; she has to hang up the washing for that as that's her chore

£25 a week Lunches onto her school account
£10 a week onto her travel card

I also pay her phone bill and give her money whenever she wants to go out with her friends - Starbucks / cinema etc