In 2021, GoHenry kids’ earned a combined £148 million from weekly pocket money, completing tasks and receiving money through Giftlinks from family and friends. While it's entirely down to parental choice, paying children to do household chores is an effective way to teach kids practical and financial skills.
Related: Age-appropriate chores for kids
"With 75% of children agreeing that financial education will help them in their future career, empowering children to earn money from a young age could have a lasting positive outcome on equality and job opportunities in the UK."
Louise Hill, co-founder and COO of GoHenry
According to the latest GoHenry Youth Economy Report, 61% of kids using GoHenry completed paid tasks on their GoHenry app, which earned them a combined £2.9 million. Paid tasks are helping them learn crucial money management skills and financial responsibility.
But even when parents decide they want to pay their kids pocket money for doing chores, many wonder, "how much should I pay my child for chores?" and “what is the current price per chore? If this sounds like you, you're in the right place.
Should I pay my child pocket money for doing chores?
Our primary job as parents is to prepare our kids to handle life as an adult by teaching them essential skills, and money management is high on the list. One of the most important ways for young people to learn is through hands-on experience. Paying your child to do chores gives them hands-on practice when the stakes are low, and you are there to support them and monitor their spending and saving.
Giving your children money to do age-appropriate weekly tasks, whether laying the table, putting their toys away or sweeping the floor, has numerous benefits for parents and kids. It can help them build character, boost their self-esteem, and develop a solid work ethic and respect for earning money. It also celebrates achievements and shows appreciation. If your child helps with housework, the extra pocket money becomes a bonus reward. It's a great way to teach your kids important lessons about the value of money and the importance of hard work.
"Providing kids with payment for chores can help them understand the concept of earned income as opposed to money received as a gift. Earning money helps kids to understand both the value of earning and the value of money by allowing them to appreciate the connection between work and financial gain.'
Beth Zemble, VP of Education, GoHenry
Paying kids to do chores also teaches them:
- Life skills
- How to follow instructions
- Importance of taking care of things
- Value of teamwork
- Understand the between work and earning
- Delayed gratification
You can use the GoHenry app to set paid tasks for your children with a fixed value of your choosing. Once your child has completed the tasks, they simply tick them as done in the GoHenry app. Once approved, they'll get paid for the completed task.
Related:
Should I pay my child pocket money for doing chores?
What's the best way to pay for chores?
Not everyone agrees that kids should be paid for chores, and if that's something you are mulling over, there are ways to implement earning but with your own values attached.
“Practising real-world financial skills will help children to build the resilience and independence they need. Research from GoHenry has revealed that 84% of parents feel they would have made better financial decisions if they had received financial education before the age of 18. It’s so important to teach kids how to budget, earn and spend safely from a young age to instil positive habits as they grow into adulthood.”
Louise Hill, Co-founder and COO of GoHenry
There are various ways to pay your child for chores, and the best method depends on your child and your budget.
- If they are highly motivated to earn money by doing chores, you may want to pay them per chore, as this keeps their interest high. It also encourages them to ask you for extra chores.
- If your child quickly loses interest in doing their chores, you are best paying them weekly for all chores. Tell them that tidying their room and doing their homework every day for a week will earn them X amount. This motivates them to do them daily.
- If your child is very reluctant to do chores, set up a high-end goal saying that if they do X number of chores for a month, they will earn enough to do Y or buy Z.
- If you aren't sure about paying for chores, don't pay for the chores expected of your child as a household member; pay for the ones you wouldn't expect them to do. Perhaps, cleaning the car, gardening, volunteering to walk the dog or washing the floors.
How much should I pay my child per chore?
For some parents, one of the most challenging aspects of paying their kids to do chores is deciding how much money to give them, especially when taking the pay-by-chore route.
Average earnings per task
In most cases, how much you pay your kids will come down to your household budget, what other money they might get, and what you expect them to spend their money on. In 2021, the average weekly earnings from paid tasks through the GoHenry app was 73p. But how does this compare to the previous year?
Household Chore |
2020 |
2021 |
Vacuuming |
£1.23 |
£1.20 |
Homework |
£1.23 |
£1.18 |
Tidy room |
£1.17 |
£1.03 |
Feed pets |
£0.91 |
£0.88 |
Load/empty dishwasher |
£0.89 |
£0.88 |
Make bed |
£0.82 |
£0.81 |
Empty bins/sort recycling |
£0.85 |
£0.76 |
Get ready for school |
- |
£0.74 |
Brush teeth |
£0.66 |
£0.70 |
The average highest-paid chores:
- Vacuuming: £1.20
- Doing homework: £1.18
- Tidying their room: £1.03
Chores that don't pay quite as well:
- Getting ready for school: £0.74
- Brushing their teeth: £0.70
- Putting clothes away: £0.70
Top chores children are paid for
When the Covid-19 pandemic hit in 2020, children's pocket money earnings increased, with parents relying on kids for help and also trying to keep them occupied. But once kids returned to school, they still kept up the momentum of doing household chores. According to GoHenry data, what has changed since then is which tasks are the most popular to complete by young earners.
In 2021, the top four tasks were:
- Gardening: up 1%
- Washing and showering: up 2%
- Dusting: up 4%
- Emptying and loading the washing machine: up 7%
While the four tasks less popular than the year before included:
- Emptying rubbish/sorting recycling: down 11%
- Tidying room: down 11%
- Babysitting: down 12%
- Walking the dog: down 22%
Example pocket money chores lists for 6- 16-year-olds
It can be hard to think of chores for your kids but if you're considering what to ask them to do, consider their age and how responsible they are and then give them time to perfect the task. Kids may never do chores the way you will, but if they give it their best, then that's worthy of payment. The most common chores per age are:
- Brushing teeth
- Putting away toys
- Making their bed
- Putting clothes away
- Getting ready for school
- Helping clear the dinner table
- Feeding pets
- Homework
- Putting away laundry
- Tidying their room
- Sorting recycling and taking out the rubbish
- Vacuuming and dusting
Average weekly pocket money for different ages
If you want to pay pocket money once chores have been completed, you might want to know what the average amount of pocket money is for different ages. Below is a summary of the average pocket money per age taken from our UK Pocket Money Index 2021.
Age |
Pocket Money (Weekly) |
7 |
£3.52 |
8 |
£3.75 |
9 |
£4.12 |
10 |
£4.58 |
11 |
£5.34 |
12 |
£6.49 |
13 |
£8.09 |
14 |
£9.70 |
15 |
£11.34 |
16 |
£13.32 |
Make paying your kids for chores easy with GoHenry
If you want to easily pay your children for doing chores, set up paid tasks in the GoHenry app. Once your child completed their tasks and you have approved them, the money automatically goes into your child's GoHenry account - ready to spend using their prepaid GoHenry kids' debit card. The tasks can be whatever you want, and if you want to add additional money you can easily send them more funds in the GoHenry app.
A prepaid debit card is a great way for your children to use their pocket money. Using a prepaid debit card means that your children can spend money without the risk of an overdraft or going into debt. This means that your kids can complete their chores and experience the reward of pocket money — worry-free.
GoHenry's Money Missions offer fun quizzes and videos about money basics like saving, budgeting, responsible spending and more.
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