Manager on long-term stress leave, what to expect?

[ConfusedManager]

Hi all, I am a long-term lurker but I have NCed to ask this question. FYI I have altered some details to ensure anonymity.

I work for a big corporation in a major city. My manager, who is the head of the team (10+ people), has been signed off from work back in late 2020 for burnout/ stress. I have since then been running the team ad interim, even though I am still formally in a project manager role that wasn't supposed to have any reporting line. I now report to my manager's manager (head of the department). I have received enthusiastic feedback from my new manager about my work and the way I have been running the team.

She mentioned that she'd like me to continue leading the team long-term, but she didn't provide any clarity on whether this would be an informal arrangement like now (with me technically still in my lower level role but effectively running the team) or a formal one (me getting a formal promotion). She also mentioned that she wants to reshape my old manager's role when he comes back.

My old manager's leave was initially meant to last 2 months, but it keeps being extended with doctor notes. The latest update is that my old manager might come back in early June, but no certainty.

I wanted to ask if any of you has experience of what might happen in a similar scenario? Have you seen a situation like this playing out in the corporate world, and if so what was the outcome? Is it likely that old manager will come back to the previous role they had, or a different role? Or not coming back at all? I don't know what to expect and the uncertainty is starting to weigh on me.

Thank you for any perspective on this, I am very grateful to anyone who has any experience to share.

Geronimo- my point is there are unknowns so I wouldn’t be quick to assume it will be straightforward and therefore would sit back and see what happens when he he returns.

I was only using depression as an example in the past that I have had which was a grey area in relation to protected characteristic- not referring to this man.

The only things that you should do in these circumstances is ensure that they are paying you an appropriate acting up allowance to reflect the enhanced role and also an “acting xxx manager” title in line with the role you are doing. Based on their pretty remarkable approach to the situation, I’d be using those to go and get another job elsewhere based on your current enhanced package. They sound like an absolute shower

Agree with @EuroTrashed - where is your uplift? Have you asked about this? It should be backdated to when you first took on additional duties.