Family allowance in 1956 was ---nothing for the first child ,8/-(40p) for second and I think it was 10/-(50p) for each subsequent child. In 1977 it changed to include payment for the first child as well.The word 'benefits' was unheard of back in the 50s. Back then you could do a helluva lot more with your money than you can today . I could take the train from my local town into Bury ,do a weeks shopping and have change from five pounds.I don't envy the young of today ,it must be a nightmare for some .
As previous posts have pointed out bednobs was only making a query.