Latest research shows that the British are not really as pushed for time as we would have everyone believe. Constant claims that 'there are not enough hours in the day' do not ring true.

Today, only 5% of British adults feel that they never have any free time at all. The vast majority (80%) of adults actually feel they have enough spare time and time to relax.

In fact, the research from Mintel shows that more than one in three (35%) believe that they have a lot of free time, either at the weekend or during the week. And, while you might think that these people are either students or retirees, Mintel found that one in four (25%) working adults feel this way.

"There is no doubt that we are a wealthy nation and that people today can afford to buy much more than they could 10 years ago,” says Peter Ayton, Chief Statistician at Mintel.

We are happy to spend money on time-saving products and services, points out Peter Ayton, who comments:

“We no longer spend time peeling vegetables and preparing dishes, we simply buy convenience foods or go out for fast food.”

“We use the Internet to save time on research and we don't need to go to the bank or supermarket as everything can be done from our home computer.”

“We now even look to save time with healthcare by going straight to the pharmacist. So despite longer working hours than most other European countries we save time in other areas so that we have the time to do what we want to and to relax at home.”

Today, many still find household chores such as cleaning, food shopping, DIY and cooking time-consuming and people often want help with these. This is to be expected but the split between men and women does little to suggest that traditional gender roles in the home have evolved at all.

Women (45%) are twice as likely as men (27%) to look for someone to help around the house. They are also more likely than men to want somewhere to do all the shopping in one place (42% vs. 27%) or even on the Internet. Women are also more likely than men to feel that family commitments leave them with little time to do what they want. Men (34%), on the other hand, are much more likely than women (21%) to want shorter working hours - despite many women working as well. In fact, men feel that shorter working hours, more than anything else would make their lives easier.

"This clearly shows that the traditional role of women who take care of the family and look after the household still rings true today. The one difference now of course is that more and more women are expected to do this on top of a having a job!" comments Peter Ayton.

Mintel has identified clear groups of people in terms of time management. The largest group is made up of those who are 'Busy Enough'. One in three people (33%) fit this group, where the people are busy but still find the time to relax. There are the 'Time Short', who feel starved of time. But this is by far and away the smallest group, with fewer than one in ten (8%) and is mostly made up of working mums. The 'Time Rich' group is the second largest group of people, who have time during the week and at weekends to do what they want. Some three in ten (30%) feel this way - this is almost four times the size of the 'Time Short' group. The rest are the 'Chilled' (14%) and the 'Leisure Constrained' (16%).