Manager Trish invites an army sergeant to the job centre to hold an armed forces recruitment day, and the soldier soon finds himself the object of intense scrutiny. Elsewhere, benefit fraud investigator George goes undercover to catch a man who's signing on while working as a decorator.

While celebrating her birthday, Trish receives a life-changing surprise, or so she thinks, and decides to promote Karl to the post of acting manager while she tries to get her head round what it means. However, he's soon out of his depth and the pressure mounts when a jobseeker stages a protest. Meanwhile, Danielle sits back and lets everyone else do the work, and Paul makes a bid to further his carpet-fitting business.

Following the party to celebrate Trish's divorce Karl is shocked to find himself waking up nude in her bed. On arriving at work he meets the new deputy manager Natalie Mason whom Trish rates but about whom Angela is typically cynical. However, thanks to Natalie the whole office gets to know about his one-night stand with Trish and, feeling embarrassed, he applies for a new job. Of course he fails but finds the means to get himself back with the job lot when he discovers Trish at it with his flat-mate Tom.

The staff attend a mandatory Saturday morning workshop on health and well-being with employees from the Kingstanding branch. In the exercises Karl is hoping to be paired with Natalie but ends up with irresponsible Tyler, who gets him high whilst Natalie is teamed with Trish's opposite number Denise, who is keen to poach her. Trish overhears Denise asking Natalie to be her deputy but gets locked in her office. Natalie accepts the offer because she is fond of Karl and the rules state that colleagues cannot date. However, Trish escapes in time to change the rules and keep Natalie and Karl together.

Trish's broodiness continues to cause havoc in the workplace. Meanwhile, Karl's flatmate leaves unexpectedly, leaving him on the search for a replacement. Janette suggests Natalie, but does she really want to move in?^[7]