Council finance director to keep job despite emigrating to Australia

A council finance boss who is emigrating to Australia is keeping his job in a rural area of England - thanks to modern technology.

Mat Taylor, 44, will continue to work for Fenland District Council, in Cambridgeshire, despite living 10,000 miles away in Adelaide.

The authority said it was the first in the country to employ anyone who lived on the other side of the world.

"The council is confident it will work well, both for us and Mat," said council chief Geoff Harper.

"We have found an exciting and innovative way of retaining his considerable expertise until we have recruited someone who can replace him.

"We are the first local authority in the country to fully utilise modern technology to deliver a highly cost-effective solution to the problem of maintaining continuity when there is a change in key personnel."

The council will pay Mr Taylor a £20,000 salary to retain his services and will communicate with him using the internet.

It said the alternative would be to hire an interim boss on a consultant's rate of about £800 a day.

"Retaining Mat's services is much more cost-efficient," said Mr Harper.

Mr Taylor and his wife, Kim, decided they wanted their three children, aged 12, nine and two, to sample life in another country.

"As a resident of Fenland for 12 years, I'm really looking forward to being able to remain connected to the great things going on at the council," said Mr Taylor, who earns £100,000 a year in his current post.

He will work one day a week for the council, with certain elements of his job passed on to other staff until he is replaced.