What to do?

CDC2011

I am currently covering maternity leave for 12 months, it is due to end in June. I love my job, the experience is great and the money is really good.

Normally, as I am doing whats called a career development, I should return to my original role at the end of the cover. However, my original role was made redundant in October. I posted at the time about the options I was given and made the choice to stay on my career development knowing that when June came I may no longer have a job.

The department I am currently working in is going through a restructure and most of the team have been put 'at risk' of redundancy pending the results of the consultation at the end of the month. I am one of only 4 people in the department whose roles are 'safe' - this means I can continue in my maternity cover until June as planned.

However....three new roles are being created as part of the restructure and two of these will be available for redeployment in February. They are in my ideal department, the roles are something I'm interested in and I am considered eligible to apply as I am classed as a redeployee from my original job.

A number of senior people really want me to apply for one of these new roles (if not both) and I stand a very good chance. In theory it would be a permanent job.

The problems are:

• In terms of responsibility and title it is a step backwards for me, but would give me more experience in a slightly different area.
• They are a significant drop in salary (about £7k). Given the location and the associated petrol costs I wont have very much at all left after bills and I will need to adjust a few things to make it work. This makes me nervous as my husband is self employed and his income can be up and down meaning I pick up the slack when needed - the roles would leave no 'wiggle' room.
• We already know that in the next 12-18 months there is another change on the horizon and whilst the jobs are technically permanent, the department could be going right back through redundancies this time next year.

I am not sure what to do, I know I need to put my own needs first as being out of work in June is NOT an option. However I still have five months to go and I can put some real effort into hunting for a job that will be a sideways or upwards move in terms of responsibility and salary.

If I get one of the jobs, one of my colleagues will definately be redundant and although I will enjoy the job, as I mentioned, we could be going through all this again next year and I still end up looking for work, perhaps with much less notice.

There are no other jobs suitable for me in redeployment and if I wait till June hoping a job crops up in the company, this is a very big risk which most likely wont pay off. My redundancy is worth nothing meanigful to me either.

If you've read this far, thank you, and any advice is much appreciated.

What should I do?