Children Suffer Most From Recession

The UK’s children have been hit hardest by the economic downturn as ‘kidflation’ soars, according to new research.

The rate of inflation for children’s spending has risen 68% faster than the Retail Price Index over the past three years.

Santander found that nearly half of children aged between 10 and 16 have had their pocket money reduced, if not stopped all together. Many of them are also being made to earn the cash.

Childhood goodies such as sweets, snacks and soft drinks have seen some of the highest price hikes over the last few years, leaving many parents cash strapped.

The inflation rate for goods and services that are favoured by children has risen 68% faster than inflation as a whole over the past three years.

The price of goods typically bought by children has increased by almost 15% between June 2008 and June 2011, compared to just 8.5% for products and services in general.

Unfortunately for those with a sweet tooth, chocolate and sweets have risen by 24% in the last three years and soft drinks have increased by over 16%.

Children’s clothing, which has a zero VAT rate in Britain, has seen an increase in prices of 17.4%.

The findings reveal that one in 10 parents (10%) have been forced to reduce their children’s pocket money and a further 2% have stopped it altogether.

21% of parents have started to make their children earn their money through household chores, but haven’t reduced the amount.

“Inflation is generally considered to be something that only affects adults, but it’s evident from our research that children have been impacted too while inflation has been creeping up over the past few years,” said Nici Audhlam-Gardner, director of banking at Santander.

“Children are seeing the costs of their everyday purchases rising at a very worrying rate, and parents are also being impacted with the costs of children’s items apparently increasing more than the standard adult measure of inflation.”

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