Pocket money for a 6 year old in the United Kingdom
At six the jobs get a little longer and the money becomes something they can plan with.
A 6 year old in the United Kingdom earns
£3.00an hour
About £5.25 a week if they do 1¾ hours of paid jobs. That's 23.6% 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.
The rate at every age in the United Kingdom.
Pocket Wage is a straight line, one step every birthday, until it meets the real minimum wage. Here's the whole ladder in the United Kingdom.
- 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.
What a 6 year old can do, and what it pays.
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.
Six year olds can hold a job that has steps: set the whole table, not just carry the forks. Water the plants on the deck. Sort the recycling. Ten-minute jobs are now realistic, and a six year old will happily race the standard time once they understand that finishing faster does not cut the pay.
This is also the age to introduce the idea of saving up. Not a savings rate or a rule, just a thing they want that costs three paydays, and the discovery that it arrives if they wait.
The payslip at 6
Jobs done and what they paid, plus a running balance. Six year olds like watching the balance climb toward something.
The Jobs Board at age 6, £3.00 an hour
| Job | Standard time | Pays |
|---|---|---|
| Set the whole table | 10 min | £0.50 |
| Water the plants | 10 min | £0.50 |
| Sort the recycling | 10 min | £0.50 |
| Make your bed properly | 5 min | £0.25 |
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 ask about 6 year olds.
What should a six year old spend pocket money on?
Whatever they like, within the family's rules. The wage is theirs because they earned it. Talk about choices; do not veto them, or the money stops feeling earned.
Should pocket money be tied to chores at six?
Some of it. Family Duties, like clearing their plate, are unpaid because belonging is not billable. The Jobs Board is paid because it is work someone else would otherwise do.
How much is a ten-minute job worth?
One sixth of the hourly rate, every time. Standard-time pricing means the job pays for the time it should take, so a fast six year old earns more per minute, not less.
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.
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.