Extenuating Circumstances Remedies

What remedies are available?

If your extenuating circumstances submission is accepted, the following remedies are available through the Extenuating Circumstances procedure and may be applied by your School:

For coursework that you are unable to sit/submit:

You may be permitted a one week extension to the submission deadline, or your assessment may be deferred to the next available opportunity.

The length of the offered extension is not flexible and if you are not able to complete by the extended deadline the only option is to re-report your circumstances to request that your assessment is deferred to the next available opportunity.

For an examination or equivalent assessment that you are unable to sit/submit:

Permit a deferral to the next available opportunity. It is important to note that it is not possible to receive a one-week extension for an examination or equivalent assessment.

You will be permitted a 1st attempt (or 2nd / 3rd attempt if you have previously failed) when the assessment, or equivalent assessment, is next scheduled to be submitted. For most assessments, this is usually the August resit period.

For a Postgraduate Taught Masters Dissertation that you are unable to sit/submit:

permit a four week extension to the final submission deadline.

The length of the offered extension is not flexible and if you are not able to complete by the extended deadline the only option is to re-report your circumstances to request that your assessment is deferred to the next available opportunity.

For circumstances not relating to a protected characteristic that has prevented you from completing an assessment (for example, where you have experienced technical difficulties or fallen ill in an exam):

Refer your submission to an Extenuating Circumstances Group who can:

Reject any requests that are submitted without sufficient evidence.

Permit a 1st attempt (or 2nd / 3rd attempt if you have previously failed) when the assessment, or equivalent assessment, is next scheduled to be submitted. For most assessments, this is usually the August resit period.

For circumstances relating to a protected characteristic

Refer your submission to an Extenuating Circumstances Group who can:

• Reject any requests that are submitted without sufficient evidence
• Take no further action
• Report to the Examining Board for an Examining Board Remedy

Please note that there are strict limits on the number of credits that can be deferred to the resit period. In most cases the maximum number of credits that can be deferred to the resit period is 60 for undergraduate students, and 40 credits for postgraduate taught students, but for some courses this limit may less. Please contact your academic school for confirmation of the credit limit for your programme. Academic School contact details can be found here. Please see our Deferring Assessments webpage for further information.

If the limit for deferred credits in your programme is exceeded then it is likely that you would need to repeat a year of study. This is not to deter you from reporting your circumstances if you are struggling with unforeseen circumstances, but to ensure that you are informed of the potential consequences of deferring your assessments.

Extension periods are not flexible or extendable. If you cannot submit by the extended deadline you will need to ask for a deferral. Student Advice cannot advise on visa related issues, and for more information and guidance on this matter, you must speak to International Student Support via Student Connect.

Examining Board Remedies

If you are managing a protected characteristic, or long term mental health condition, your extenuating circumstances submission may be referred to the Examining Board for an Examining Board Remedy. The remedies that are available to be applied in these circumstances are limited to:

1. Where the pass mark was not achieved for the assessment or the module, allow a retake of the assessment element as a 1st attempt (or 2nd/3rd if the student has failed previously) at the next available opportunity. This is usually the August resit period.
2. Where the pass mark for the module has been achieved, but the pass mark for the assessment element has not, offer the student the opportunity to retake the assessment element as a further 1st attempt (or 2nd/3rd if the student has failed previously), or award the student credit for the module without further assessment.
3. Where the module and assessment elements have been passed, offer the student the chance to retake the assessment element as a further1st attempt (or 2nd/3rd if the student has failed previously) with a view to improving their mark, or award the student credit for the module without further assessment.
4. If you are awarded the credit for the module(s) in question without further assessment, the Examining Board may discount the module marks that have been affected by extenuating circumstances if this remedy is available through the discounting regulations.

When should I get a response?

Your School may take up to seven days to accept or reject your further declaration of extenuating circumstances, and therefore you need to think carefully about whether your circumstances do meet the definition of extenuating circumstances and are likely to be accepted.

I haven’t had a response yet – what should I do?

The University’s Extenuating Circumstances policy is one of ‘fit to sit’, which means that if you sit or submit an assessment, no extenuating circumstances will be accepted and you will deem yourself as fit to do so. The only exception to this is where you attempt an assessment and are subsequently impacted by circumstances that relate to a protected characteristic or a long-term health condition. This is important to note as, if you wish to challenge any mark or result you receive from the assessment at a later date on the grounds of extenuating circumstances, and you sat/submitted the assessment, you will need to provide very good reason and evidence not only of the circumstances, but also the reasons why you sat the assessment, and why you could not have known that you were not fit to do so.

Alternatively, if you do not submit the assessment by the deadline, and your extenuating circumstances declaration is rejected, your next attempt is very likely to be capped at the pass mark (The pass mark is usually 40 for undergraduate students, 50 for postgraduate students). Regardless of the fact that you did not submit, this will be counted as an attempt, and so any subsequent attempts will be incremental (for example, if the non-submission was your first attempt at the assessment, the next attempt will be deemed your second attempt and so capped). If you are an undergraduate student on their 3rd attempt at an assessment, or a postgraduate student on their 2nd attempt, and you do not submit (and have no extenuating circumstances accepted) you may find that you are not given another opportunity to submit the assessment, as you will have exhausted the number of attempts permitted at an assessment as per the Academic Regulations, at 8.1.

The only exception to the above is where you have experienced circumstances related to a protected characteristic, a long term health condition (physical or mental – that has been exacerbated and can be evidenced) or a caring responsibility.

According to the University’s Late Submission Policy, if you submit an assessment after the deadline, but within 24 hours of the deadline, you should receive a mark which is capped at the pass mark (40 for undergraduate, 50 for postgraduate). If you do not submit an assessment within 24 hours of the deadline, then you will receive a mark of 0 for the assessment.

My declaration was rejected – what should I do?

If your circumstances have been rejected for not meeting the definition of “extenuating circumstances”, and the deadline is yet to take place, the options available to you as I understand them are:

1. Sit the assessment

If your assessment deadline has not yet passed, you may wish to consider sitting/submitting the assessment.

The University is very clear that you should only submit your assessments where you are well enough to do so. Your submission will be considered as confirmation that you were ‘fit to sit’ at the time of the exam/deadline.

If you subsequently receive a mark that you are not happy with, the only way in which you would be able to challenge this mark is to submit an academic appeal upon receipt of your official transcript at the end of the academic year.

If you choose to submit your work by deadline, or to sit your exam, your academic appeal will need to explain why you attempted the assessment when you were not ‘fit to sit’. In our experience, this can be a fairly difficult action to justify. You may need to demonstrate that you were not fit to sit the assessment and you were not aware of this at the time, or that you were advised to sit the assessment by the University despite your extenuating circumstances. You will also need to explain why you could not request a deferral. Not knowing about the procedure would not be considered a good reason Unfortunately, we do not know whether the University’s rejection of your extenuating circumstances declaration would be deemed as good enough reason for attempting your assessment when you were not fit to do so, and this advice may vary by case.

2. Submit a second declaration of extenuating circumstances.

If your assessment deadline has not yet passed, you may wish to re-submit a declaration of extenuating circumstances.

In this case, a subsequent declaration will need to include a more thorough explanation of your circumstances and how they meet the University’s definition listed above. It may take up to 7 days for your School to consider your declaration, therefore you need to think carefully about whether your circumstances do meet the definition of extenuating circumstances (listed above) and are likely to be accepted. The University also has a list of circumstances on the Student Intranet that are likely, or not likely, to be considered under their definition, which may help you to gage the potential outcome of your declaration.

a. If your circumstances are accepted and you did not submit any work, the remedy will be retrospectively applied. This means that an extension will start from the date your assessment was due to take place, and not the date that you receive a response to your declaration.

b. If your circumstances are accepted and you did submit your work by the deadline, your circumstances are likely to be disregarded and your assessment will be marked as usual.

c. If your circumstances are rejected and you do not submit any work, your assessment will be marked to zero.

If your circumstances have been rejected for not meeting the definition of “extenuating circumstances”, and the deadline has passed, the options available to you as I understand them are:

3. Submit a second declaration of extenuating circumstances for circumstances relating to a protected characteristic.

The only way in which you may still be eligible to submit a further declaration of extenuating circumstances is if your circumstances relate to a protected characteristic, long-term health condition or a caring responsibility. If this is the case, please contact Student Advice for more information.

4. Submit an academic appeal.

If your circumstances do not relate to a protected characteristic, long-term health condition or a caring responsibility, the only way that you will be able to challenge the decision to reject your extenuating circumstances will be to submit an academic appeal upon receipt of your transcript at the end of the academic year.

It is important to note:

• If the decision is that your assessment will be deferred you will normally need to hand in coursework over the summer vacation period or attend and exam during the August resit period.
• A nominated person in your School will decide on the remedy. If a one-week extension is deemed not to be a sufficient remedy, you will be given a deferral.
• If August exams and assessments are deferred it is likely that you will have to repeat the year.
• In most cases the maximum number of credits that can be deferred is 60. If you need to defer more than 60 credits you may have to repeat a year of study.
• If you have a long term health condition or disability you may be able to access support from the University Support Services. More information can be found here.
• If you need to make frequent declarations of Extenuating Circumstances you might need to think about whether you are fit to study and consider taking a break.
• Deferring assessments in the taught stage of your Masters’ may impact on your progression to the dissertation stage of your course.
• If you have a student visa, it is important that you take your time limit to remain in the UK into consideration before asking to defer your assessments.