SOUTH East householders would rather spend their time socialising than waste hours cleaning their homes, a new study has revealed. One in four Southern householders said their social lives kept them too busy to spend more than six hours per week cleaning. And more than one in 10 - more than anywhere else in the country - said they just could not be bothered with housework.

But the Home Truths study, conducted by British Gas, reveals that harassed homeowners across the country are struggling to juggle domestic duties with work commitments, children and their social lives.

Housework is no longer a priority in modern South East households - 71 per cent say keeping their homes spick and span is much less important to them than it was to their mothers. And more than threequarters (77 per cent) say they are far too busy to spend more time cleaning with work commitments (64 per cent), children (44 per cent), social lives (26 per cent) and hobbies (11 per cent) just some of the activities that distract them.

Nick Smith, director of marketing and strategy at British Gas, said: "Three in five UK homeowners told us that having a clean home is still very important to them but, with longer working hours for us all now, it is no surprise that attitudes to housework have changed and cleaning is no longer such a priority.

"It seems that the South East's 21st century homeowners would rather be out enjoying their free time than scrubbing the oven or defrosting the freezer." Londoners do the least cleaning - just five hours per week.

One in three UK homeowners would rather give up all together and employ a cleaner. Ironing tops the list of domestic duties we would like to hand over.