CHILDREN in the UK receive a massive £55 million-a-week in pocket money according to a survey - and kids in York are getting their share too.

The Princess Pocket Money Survey found that in North Yorkshire 80 per cent of children under 16 received up to £5-a-week, while even the under-5s receive a total of £18 million-a-week nationwide.

According to families interviewed by The Press, the amount of pocket money paid in the area varies from £1 to £5-a-week.

What it is spent on is equally varied - from intricate models and mobile phone top-up vouchers to more traditional products.

Trevor Fenwick, owner of Bubbles Toys, in York, said: "The most popular toys children spend their pocket money on in our shop are jumping beans, pop guns, catapults and trading cards.

"The girls like the jewellery, especially the pink stuff, anything pink, in fact."

A spokeswoman for Toys R Us, Clifton Moor, said: "We sell a lot of trading cards to children aged between five and 13. The packs of cards vary in price from £2.50 a pack to £29.99. The children trade them in at school - some cards are more valuable than others. The children tend to save up for the bigger items and their parents usually end up putting a little bit towards them."

Asked how much kids spend on the cards, the spokeswoman said: "Quite a lot. They buy five or six packs at a time."

The criteria for pocket money varies widely.

Nine-year-old Ryan Webb receives £1-a-week.

Ryan, who been scouted by a professional football club, gets an extra £1 for each goal he scores for his football team.

Most parents wanted their children to help out around the house to earn their pocket money.

Judith Kendall, a civil servant and mother of two, from Church Fenton, said: "Before they get their pocket money, my kids must have tidied their bedrooms and put their washing away."

Christina Lawson, 13, of Cawood, who gets £5-a-week, has to do the vacuuming.

Her mother, Teresa Lawson, said: "My children have to help out around the house."