Finance boss keeps job Down Under

Mat Taylor will work one day a week for the council

A finance boss at a Cambridgeshire council will keep his job after he moved house - to Australia.

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

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

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

"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.

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