Pocket money by age in the United Kingdom.
Every age from 5 to 17, worked out from the real minimum wage in the United Kingdom, £12.71 an hour, and the junior rates the law already sets. Not a number anyone made up.
An 8 year old in the United Kingdom earns
£4.00an hour
About £10.00 a week if they do 2½ hours of paid jobs. That's 31.5% of the minimum wage in the United Kingdom.
Worked out from GOV.UK — National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage rates, rates from 1 April 2026.
It's not a number we made up.
Every age from 5 to 17, worked out from the real minimum wage in the United Kingdom, £12.71 an hour, and the junior rates the law already sets. Not a number anyone made up.
- Pocket wage, paid by you
- Real minimum wage, paid by a boss
At 16, the legal minimum in the United Kingdom is £8.00 an hour. Pocket Wage draws a straight line from there back to zero, and a kid's age picks the spot on it.
The Jobs Board at age 8.
Every paid job has a standard time: how long it should take, not how long it did. Dawdle and you earn less a minute. Get good at it and you earn more. There's no timer to game and no price to haggle.
The Jobs Board at age 8, £4.00 an hour
| Job | Standard time | Pays |
|---|---|---|
| Vacuum the living areas | 20 min | £1.33 |
| Empty every bin in the house | 10 min | £0.67 |
| Hang out a load of washing | 15 min | £1.00 |
| Put the groceries away | 15 min | £1.00 |
Example jobs and times. Family Duties, like clearing your own plate, are unpaid: belonging isn't billable.
How junior wages work in the United Kingdom.
The UK has three legal rates: the National Living Wage for 21 and over, a rate for 18 to 20 year olds, and a rate for 16 and 17 year olds. They change every 1 April. The minimum wage applies from school leaving age, so a sixteen year old with a Saturday job is legally owed the 16 to 17 rate.
Pocket Wage anchors on the 16 to 17 rate and draws a straight line back to zero. At current rates that works out to almost exactly fifty pence per year of age: a ten year old earns five pounds an hour, a twelve year old six. Every April the line is redrawn from the new rate.
Children can do light work from 13 under local council bylaws, such as paper rounds, but the minimum wage does not apply until 16. Between 13 and 15 the pocket wage may well beat what a paper round pays.
Source: GOV.UK — National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage rates, rates from 1 April 2026.
Questions parents in the United Kingdom ask.
How much pocket money should a child get in the UK?
The pocket-money surveys published by UK banks find averages of a few pounds a week at primary age and around ten for teenagers, given weekly regardless. A pocket wage pays the rate for their age for the hours they work, so the answer depends on the jobs.
What is the minimum wage for a 16 year old in the UK?
The 16 to 17 rate set by the government each April, shown on our 16 year old page from the official GOV.UK source. Pocket Wage uses it as the anchor for every younger age.
Does the minimum wage apply to a 14 year old in the UK?
No. Under 16 there is no legal minimum, which is why a pocket wage matters: it is the only rate a thirteen or fourteen year old is guaranteed, and it is set by the same line the law draws from sixteen.
Every birthday is a pay rise.
The app runs the whole thing: the Jobs Board, the standard times, a sacred weekly payday with a payslip, and Pay-Rise Day on every birthday. No cards, no stored money. The parent is the bank.