Horrid boss, loads of work issues, need to compose a resignation letter - help!

[stinkymalinki]

Hi, I don't want to be too specific in case any of my work colleagues happen to be a MNer, but basically i'm a nurse, i've had to have time off sick secondary to an accident sustained whilst at work, my boss is being totally unreasonable about my return to work, child care etc (and i've had other long-standing issues), so i've decided the time has come to leave.

I'm so unhappy at the moment that DH and i have agreed that i will leave ASAP, and i'm planning to be doing agency nursing initially, and i'm already registered with them, but eventually i will need a more permenant job, so much as i'd dearly love to tell my manager where to stick her job, i need the resignation letter to be fairly neutral so that i can still approach her for a reference. I've never actually done this before, as i've had this job since qualifying 6 years ago, so any advice would be appreciated. Thanks

stinky sorry you've had a bad time.
You don't need to give any reasons in your letter if you don't want to, you can just say you would like this letter to be considered as your [one month/whatever] notice that you will be leaving employment, your last day will be [date] and you would appreciate confirmation of outstanding holiday entitlement/when you can expect to receive P45/any other leaving arrangements.

If you really want to give a reason, something neutral like career development might do it.

Or you could say you are taking up work which fits in better with your personal circumstances. That's true but isn't being particularly negative about your current post.

You don't need to say anything stinky. If it were me, I would just write along the lines of:

dear cowface boss,

as required by my contract, I am giving x weeks (or whatever) notice of my intention to terminate my employment with [insert name of appropriate body]. I confirm that my last day of employment will be [insert date]

love from stinky

She will pull you into the office to discuss it and at that point you say that your contract does not require you to give reasons for leaving, therefore you aren't going to give her any.

Then you go home and do voodoo on the doll you made earlier.

I think i'll go with your suggestion of stating taking up work that fits in better with my personal circumstances, as i'm currently still off sick anyway (i prolapsed a disc in my spine - ouch), so it is entirely feasible that i wouldn't be fit to go back to my current job role.

Thanks for your help FBB - most appreciated.

I never wanted nor expected it to come to this, as i love my job. Sadly, thanks to my manager's attitude, i do feel as though my hand has been forced. Whilst i probably could 'work through' some of the issues, this has been ongoing for some time and i cannot return to work for a manager that i have zero respect for, and she clearly has no respect for me

I work in a very corporate world Stinky, but we get Exit interviews here - you hand in police notice, but then HR give an exit interview to discuss issues that arose which led to the handing in of notice.

Thanks everyone. Some very useful comments on here. I did try posting this earlier, but my pc was having a funny 5 minutes and keeps losing the mumsnet chat pages.

AFAIK we don't have to do exit interviews, thank goodness.