MITA

The Annual Halifax Pocket Money Survey shows that half of the parents interviewed for this study were concerned about their children spending money for downloading of applications, games or films. Their worries were mostly about their children's exposure to inappropriate content. However, the survey reveals that the majority of their children still managed to download digital applications although their parents did not give them the money.

This study is part of an ongoing research about the spending and saving trends of children between the ages of 8 and 15 years. Apart from the concern regarding the exposure to inappropriate content, parents were also worried that their children could overspend on digital applications. For this reason, almost a third of the parents downloaded the content on behalf of their children so that they limit their spending, while filtering the content.

The survey also explains that the majority of children had direct access to the internet. Thus, they had the ability to download online content without the need of their parents' permission. The most popular downloads were games, followed by applications, music, TV programmes and films respectively.

The Head of Halifax Savings, Giles Martin explained the results of this survey while referring mainly to the parents' concerns. He explained that their worries are understandable because on the internet everything is so easy to download or to buy by just clicking on a button. However, he explained that this could be a good opportunity for parents to teach their children how to manage their money.