it's all a bit complicated and tiresome. They might only need a month or two to cover, in which case they often just ask someone to take it on without doing a recruitment (and they might just ask me) - however, if the person she's covering for doesn;t return to the post after the 6 months, then the month or two would turn into her whole mat leave. knowing that that's a possibility they might do a proper recruitment for it, even though they've only just been through one. It's an almost laughable situation - the person that the pg woman is covering for is actually covering for someone else. he;s on sabbatical and may or may not return...are you still with me?