Live in France and work in the UK: We’re Super-Commuters

What’s it like to have your home in France but work in the UK? Gillian Harvey talks to British expats who do this to find out how they divide their lives between work and play…

Like many British Francophiles, Alan Davey and his wife Jane had long planned to move to France for retirement. However, changes in legislation due to Brexit meant they made the leap a little earlier than they had planned. “We’d bought the house five years ago and finally moved in 2022, after Brexit pushed us into a situation where we had to make a decision,” Alan explains.

Not yet ready for retirement, Alan continues to work as chief operating officer for a bathroom supplier in the UK and commutes each week from his home in the Alps to London via plane – arriving on a Monday morning and returning on a Thursday.

“The commute takes around six hours, including travel to and from airports,” says Alan. “The flight takes an hour and 15 minutes, so it’s not too bad.” He’d already had experience of travelling for work when he moved to France, so is used to long commutes. “When my children were at home, my family always stayed in the same house in the UK and I’d travel to work,” he explains. “It was a way of giving them a stable childhood and consistent schooling. I used to spend lots of time living in hotels, so it’s not so different.” Alan pays tax in the UK and France, and most of his work is carried out in the UK. “I operate under an A1 as I’m an employee rather than being a contractor,” he explains. “I have private healthcare to cover me in France.”

While commuting is working well, Alan is looking forward to retiring fully to France in around five years’ time. “Living in France is great,” he says. “The natural pace of life here creates a real break when I’m home. I enjoy my job, but I’d happily retire tomorrow to live here full time!”

“I SPEND LONG WEEKENDS AT HOME IN FRANCE”

Alan Davey, 54, chief operating officer

When Donna McDougall first moved to France in 2012, she gave up her job as a specialist veterinary surgeon and had no intention of commuting for work. However, she has since returned to practice and found commuting gives her a great way of life. “I was working about two days a week until 2012 when I left the UK with Brian, my then partner,” she says. “We settled on the border of Normandy and Pays de la Loire and were very happy, but sadly in 2016 he died.

“I knew I wanted to stay in France, but began to miss the intellectual challenge of having a job,” she says. “However, my French is not good enough to work with the general public in France. As I specialise in emergency medicine, detailed questioning and explanations are often required.”

Even if she had sought employment in France, a commute would have been on the cards. “Emergency work is nearly always at night, and to do that here I’d have had to look at the big veterinary hospitals in cities like Paris,” she explains.

Instead, Donna decided to think about positions in the UK. “In 2020 I enquired at Kynoch Vets in Wokingham on the Monday and had the job by the Wednesday!” she says. “There’s a lot of demand, as for emergency medicine you have to be very experienced, as well as have no commitments requiring you to be at home in the evenings.”

Now Donna works one week in three in the UK, giving her the best of both worlds. “I work for seven days then have two weeks’ ‘holiday’ at home in France,” she says. “It’s wonderful, although it does mean that I cross the Channel 34 times a year.” Despite the amount of travel involved, Donna has come to enjoy her commute. “I drive up to Caen, take the ferry to Portsmouth and the hospital I work at is just an hour and a half away,” she says. “I have accommodation with the job, although I sometimes stay with a friend. “It’s just the right balance for me. I have friends and a daughter in the UK and I get an intellectual buzz from my job and enjoy working with my colleagues. Then I get to come back to two weeks’ downtime in France. Here, I live in the countryside – I love the tranquillity. It wouldn’t suit everyone, but for me it’s the best of both worlds!”

“Working One Week In Three Gives My Life Balance”

Donna McDougall, 66, veterinary surgeon

Margaret and her husband, Rob, 46, bought a holiday home in Normandy at the beginning of 2018 with the idea of renovating it and eventually using it as a holiday home. The pair both work in the tech industry as independent consultants, taking on contracts for a variety of different firms. However, Covid changed everything. “We assumed the pandemic would disrupt things for about two years, so once travel was permitted again we decided to relocate and try life in France. We moved heaven and earth to get under the Brexit wire in December 2020,” Margaret says.

After fast-tracking their renovations to make their new home habitable, the pair initially wondered whether they could do much of their work remotely, from their French base. “We soon realised that it wouldn’t be possible in terms of tax and legislation to work like that. Instead, we tried to incorporate our French life into our old world,” explains Margaret.

The couple took it in turns to spend a few months at their house in Preston for work, with the other staying in France. As all their work was completed in the UK, they paid tax and national insurance there too, although they submit a French tax return. “This works for us, but it does mean we can’t take on a contract where we’d be working from home in France as it would make things too complicated. We have an S1 form, which covers our healthcare, but that can sometimes be difficult as paperwork can get held up. Occasionally I’ve had to come to the UK to get my medication due to delays.”

While the couple enjoy life in France, they have found super-commuting exhausting. “At the moment I work three days a week. I travel to London for those days, then return,” says Margaret. The couple also found that they were spending a lot of time apart.

As a solution, they have decided to move within France. “We love the life here and want to make it work, but we don’t want to spend so much time and energy travelling back and forth,” says Margaret. “We’ve decided to buy a house closer to Paris. This will make travelling to the UK much easier and mean we finally have the best of both worlds.”

“Commuting Was Hard, But a Move To Paris Should Simplify Things”

Margaret Spink, 56, consultant