Hired help is recession-proof

HIGH-earning Britons are relying on hired help to maintain their work-life balance, despite the financial pressures of the credit crunch.

A survey of 268 households with an annual income of 100,000 and above found that more than half (51 per cent) employed a cleaner, while one in three families entrusted their children to a nanny.

Financially-secure households in London undertook the fewest domestic chores, with almost half (48 per cent) saying that they never cooked, cleaned or did their own laundry.