Extenuating Circumstances

‘Extenuating Circumstances’ (ECs) are things outside of your control that are unplanned/unexpected and affect your ability to study or achieve your best in assessments. The EC process allows UCB to make adjustments so that you have a fair opportunity to do your best another time.

The Extenuating Circumstances process is described in the Code Of Practice For Extenuating Circumstances. The latest version is available on UCB’s Policy page.

Applying for ECs

Valid Reasons

You can apply for extenuating circumstances if you have encountered any significant personal difficulty that affects your ability to study or complete coursework, assessments and exams. UCB call these the ‘grounds’ for your ECs, which could include:

• Illness (including mental health, physical health/injury, and chronic illnesses)
• The death of a close friend or family member
• Sudden changes in your financial wellbeing
• Family crisis
• Being affected by a crime or misconduct

The list above is only the most common grounds for ECs. If your circumstances aren’t listed, you may still be eligible.

You must submit your extenuating circumstances application as soon as you can, normally within 10 days of an affected coursework/exam. If you submit an EC request more than 10 days after your deadline, you may need to show why it wasn’t submitted sooner.

If you submit an EC application whilst a coursework submission is open, we still recommend that you hand in your work, even if it’s incomplete: if your EC request is successful, you will be able to submit a more finished, updated version to be marked.

Evidence

When you submit your EC application, you must include evidence if you can. If you need more time to get your evidence, submit your application, but highlight that you are still waiting evidence and report when it’s likely to arrive.

The evidence that you need will depend on your particular circumstances. Often, ECs are supported with these kinds of evidence:

• Medical letter – this should be signed on official stationary
• Death Certificate or copy of an order of service
• Bank Statement or letter from the Student Loans Company 
• Letter from another professional (e.g. Solicitor or Counsellor) – this should be signed on official stationary
• Court Letter
• Police Case Reference number

Usually, you would only need to provide one form of evidence from the list above. It should clearly link to the situation you describe to UCB. You may also be able to ask a personal tutor to write a supporting statement, but only if it is relevant to your case.

How To Apply

You can apply for ECs on the Portal. If you have questions about your application, you can speak to a Guild advisor or email UCB’s Registry team.

If you’re affected by circumstances outside of your control, we recommend that you also contact your lecturers or personal tutor to let them know so that they can make any informal adjustments that might help you keep up with your course.

Possible Outcomes

If your application is accepted, you may:

• Be permitted to submit the assignment late, within 10 working days after the original due date 
• Have the late penalty removed from late submissions
• Be granted a new submission date for a Dissertation or Research project
• Be granted to sit the examination as a first attempt at the next available opportunity 
• Be granted an additional resit