Parental Concern Over Youth Online Spending: Level of Concern and Family Financial Situation

About this data

In June 2025, Ofcom conducted research into persuasive design features and the potential financial harm to children. The study evaluated how parental controls and monitoring mechanisms for children's online spending are implemented across different household financial situations. The dataset reveals a link between household financial security and the adoption of parental spending oversight. - Families 'doing well' financially report the highest level of supervision, with 89% of parents implementing at least one method of oversight for their child's online spending. - Those 'getting by' show a moderate adoption rate, with 83% of parents utilising oversight mechanisms. - Families 'struggling financially' report the lowest prevalence of oversight, with 81% of parents using spending controls or monitoring tools. Although the adoption of parental controls remains high across all economic tiers (with over 80% of parents using them), the 8-percentage-point gap between financially secure households (89%) and those that are struggling (81%) suggests an economic divide in digital supervision. Financially comfortable families may have greater access to paid monitoring tools, higher digital literacy, or more time to set up account-level restrictions, whereas struggling households may struggle to set up or manage complex control mechanisms across devices.