CHILDREN in the North-East are losing out in the financial stakes, according to a survey on pocket money.

This is despite Britain's children enjoying a staggering 29 per cent increase in pocket money, that takes youngsters' weekly spending power to £73m.

North-East kids' overall weekly income has dropped 15p to £6.29 from last year, being pushed from third to fourth position in a survey commissioned by Wall's ice cream.

But although they may feel they are being short-changed, they are still coining it in compared with their southern cousins.

Scottish children are the richest with £9.29 swelling their coffers, and London and the South the poorest, with a stingy £5.14.

Children in the North-East do come top when it comes to weekly handouts from friends and relatives, with a generous £2.10.

An additional £2.99 a week comes in pocket money from parents. But the youngsters are earning less from part-time or odd jobs than they did last year.

Not surprisingly, more than 50 per cent of all youngsters questioned chose to spend their money on ice-cream and sweets followed by magazines and comics.

For the first time youngsters were also using their allowances to pay for mobile phones.

Nationwide, the number of children investing their money has dropped to 21 per cent.