Last year the average child was earning �1.36 from working, now they get on average 16p less than that.

The rise and rise over 25 years

Although the gap between girls' and boys' total weekly income, including gifts from relatives has narrowed, the average boy is still slightly better off.

Girls are getting slightly less pocket money than boys again - in recent years they have been getting more.

North-South divide

The Scots are by far the most generous when it comes to pocket money.

For some years, statistics have indicated that Scottish parents are handing out more for their children's piggy banks, and this year the average increase there is much higher than elsewhere at 56%.

The average Scottish child now gets �5.35 a week, whilst in London and the South children get a mere �2.71 - making southern parents the least generous in the country.

Children in the south of England also earn less from odd jobs than boys and girls elsewhere.

Sweets top the shopping list

The main winners from the boom in young people's spending power are still the manufacturers and vendors of all things sugary.

More than half - 57% of girls and boys spend their money on ice-cream, sweets and chocolate.

For the first time, mobile phones register on the shopping list, but still only 1% of children say that is how they spend their pocket money..

Kids still spend over half their cash on chocolate

A third of girls buy magazines and comics with their money, whilst 30% of boys buy computer games and equipment.

Only a fifth of children choose to save their earnings.

But the government is trying to reverse this trend and ensure that this new-found wealth for Britain's boys and girls will not continue to be blown on sweets and chocolate.

Responding to the report, Schools Minister Estelle Morris pointed out that, from September this year, schoolchildren will be taught how to spend pocket money wisely in new "citizenship classes".