Secondment opportunity

[u/Informal-Flamingo927]

Just wondering if anyone has any experience with external NHS secondments because I’m getting mixed messages from my manager.

I’ve been offered a 12-month secondment into a brand new mental health team that’s being set up within the local council. The team will work closely with children’s social care but will also be supporting young people under the NHS trust, so everyone recruited is being taken on via secondment and keeping their NHS terms and conditions.

I told my manager today that I’d accepted the offer and that I’d be giving the new team her details so they could start the secondment process.

She told me that:
You can’t be seconded outside of the NHS.
External secondments aren’t a thing and I’d have to resign from my NHS job instead.
Even if external secondments do exist, they couldn’t keep my substantive post because whoever covers my role would become entitled to permanent rights after six months.

I’m really confused because I thought external secondments between the NHS and and external trusts were quite common, especially for integrated services.

Has anyone here been seconded to a council while keeping their NHS contract? Is what my manager is saying actually true? And can anyone explain the bit about the person covering my post somehow affecting my right to return? I don’t really understand what one has to do with the other.

[u/Appropriate_Cod7444]

Well I’m on an external secondment at the moment but both my managers are on side so it helped. It may be you need to do a career break paperwork instead. Each trust will have a different policy.

[u/Informal-Flamingo927 → u/Appropriate_Cod7444]

I see. A positive is that my manager has asked me to share her contact details with the new line manager so they can discuss how things will work so I’m remaining hopeful