Up and down the Country, thousands of schoolboys and girls earn a few pound by delivering papers. But are they getting paid fairly? Kirkby Times can report that there is a massive difference in wages paid to those who deliver papers, we can report that some paper boys or girls can earn £40 for a 6 day week, whilst some kids earn as low as £9 a for working 7 days a week. The younger the kid is the more chance there is that they will be exploited.

In Liverpool, the most popular daily paper is the Liverpool Echo. Many paper boys and girls are employed on Merseyside alone, likely hundreds, to deliver the Echo which is published 6 days a week. We found two examples of the gap in wages paid to these kids, the 2 kids deliver about the same number of papers. One paper girl aged 13 earns the respectable sum of £40 a week because she or a relative gets a number of Echo Newspapers delivered everyday and the kid has no middle man to go through. Another paperboy aged only 11 is paid the sum of £9 per week, for a 7 day week. This is pure exploitation, the 'agents' who have networks of paper boys and girls can pay the kids whatever they feel is a fair rate - £9 a week is a joke and its sad that we allow this hidden exploitation of kids to go on. Remember that all these kids are also expected to collect money and even debts. Often they can do double paper rounds. It obvious some agents are coining it in, the Echo can simply say that delivering the papers is nothing to do with them. But they are unwittingly involved, as are many newspapers, in what may be an issue for the trade unions to take up.

If your child delivers the Echo, ask yourself how much they earn. If they take home £9 it means the agents earning £30 or so. Do YOU think its right that children who work should hand over three quarters of the profit to someone? We must teach our kids not to sell them-selves short. It'll be interesting to see if any newspapers respond to this story.

If your child is involved in work such as paper rounds, please inform Kirkby Times whether they are getting a good deal. As you read here, the potential earnings of £40 for 6 days delivering papers is pretty respectable.