Manager Trish is struggling to cope, she has a world of work seminar to run, the temp is late, and Angela - the most difficult employee in the West Midlands - has returned to the office. Fresh from winning an employment tribunal Angela is still unmanageable and now unsackable. Karl is the only member of staff Trish can rely on, but even he has reached the end of his tether.

In an effort to boost Brownall Job Centre's figures, Trish calls in the troops. When Sergeant Steve Fox arrives to recruit jobseekers into the armed forces, he finds himself the object of a very different kind of interest. As battle lines are drawn, Trish is going to have to overcome her bad hair day if she is going to get her soldier.

It is all hands to the pump when a local factory suddenly shuts down and Karl is in the worst possible state to cope as the centre is overwhelmed by newly unemployed jobseekers.

The job centre is due to be inspected and Trish is on the lookout for the mystery shopper - or secret jobseeker - who is going to file a report. Nobody else seems to care, apart from security guard Janette who harbours an irrational hatred of the Great Barr branch and is determined to beat them in the job centre league table.

Trish is conducting staff appraisals and Danielle is feeling the pressure, while Angela is in an unusually good mood. When the reason for her cheerfulness comes to light, George suspects that she is not telling the whole truth and seeks revenge and Karl arrives for work with a spring in his step - he has finally got a girlfriend.

Trish gets a life-changing surprise on her birthday - or so she thinks. Needing time to think it through, she promotes Karl to acting manager, but Karl's fears that nobody will listen to him prove correct. With Trish out of the way, Paul takes the chance to expand his carpet-fitting business.