Extenuating Circumstances rarely occur and are deemed to be out of your control if they are:

• Unforeseeable - you would not have prior knowledge of the event (e.g. you cannot foresee that you will be involved in a car accident or have a medical emergency) 
• Unpreventable – you could not reasonably do anything in your power to prevent such an event (e.g. you cannot reasonably prevent a burst appendix) 

Examples of the type of circumstances that might qualify for Extenuating Circumstances are detailed here.

Please check:

• The circumstances guide on these webpages available here.
• The Student Guide to Extenuating Circumstances 2024/25. The relevant information is in Parts 2 and 3 of the document.

You must apply within 10 working days of the affected assessment date or original/extended submission deadline. For example:

• If your original submission deadline is Wednesday 13 November at 2.00pm you must apply for ECs between 2.00pm on 13 November and end of day (11.59pm) 27 November.
• If you had a 5 working day extension on the assessment above, you would be able to apply for ECs between 2.00pm on 20 November (your extended deadline) and end of day (11.59pm) on 4 December.
• Remember that bank holidays or college closure days are not included in the working day count so you may get a little longer to apply around these times. A full list of bank holidays and University Closure dates for the 2024/25 academic year is available here.

Applications cannot be accepted after the 10 working-day application window has closed.

The system will send you an automatic confirmation that your application was submitted. You will receive various email notifications throughout the process and will also be able to check the status of any applications you have made in the Extension and Extenuating Circumstances System.

Applications cannot normally be accepted once the 10 working-day application window has passed. 

If you have missed the application window due to serious and high impact circumstances you should contact the ECs Team at the earliest possible opportunity. They will advise you what your options are. Late applications will only be considered in very exceptional circumstances and will always require full documentary evidence as to why an application window was missed.

Please note that serious and high impact circumstances are usually limited to being hospitalised or otherwise medically/mentally incapacitated for the entire 10 working-day application window. It does not include being unaware of the assessment date/submission deadline/EC procedures etc, moderate or minor disruptions to your studies or IT issues that could be resolved by contacting the IT team, or by using an alternative device on campus or elsewhere.

Your application will be received by the Extenuating Circumstances (ECs) team, who will triage your application to check that you have completed the application correctly and that your circumstances are applicable.

Your application will then be presented to the Extenuating Circumstances Committee, who meet each month.

The Committee will assess your application for the following:

• if you have provided suitable information to review the application
• if your circumstances meet the criteria of an Extenuating Circumstance
• how much your circumstances are likely to have affected your studies.

The Committee decides whether to accept or reject applications and identifies the possible mitigating outcomes available under the University regulations.

Accepted applications are passed to your School Progression and Award Board, who are responsible for using academic judgement to decide which of the possible mitigating outcomes is most appropriate in your case. This will depend on your performance in the affected assessment compared to your performance across your other assessments. School Progression and Award Boards meet at the end of each academic year to review and agree grades, progression, awards and classifications - this is when the final decision regarding your Extenuating Circumstance will be made.

Students on a Postgraduate Taught programme, who have experienced extenuating circumstances that have prevented them from completing an assessment, may ask to defer that assessment to the next available opportunity. Full details about when and how to apply are available here.

Documentary evidence is not normally required to submit an EC application. You will be asked to self-certify the information you give on your application.

Very occasionally, the EC Committee may need further information to be able to process your application - this may include requesting that you submit documentary evidence to support you application/s. If this is the case the EC Team will contact you to tell you what is required and by when.

Yes, you will still need to give a brief outline of what your circumstances are on your application form. More importantly, you will need to explain how the circumstances have affected your ability to complete the assessment for which you are applying.

All information you give is treated confidentially and detailed information regarding your circumstances are NOT shared with your school.

Registration with the D&N team does not on its own qualify you for Extenuating Circumstances. You would still need to be experiencing short term, unexpected and unpreventable circumstances.  

It’s important to note that there are a limited number of actions that the university can take in response to accepted Extenuating Circumstances. Outcomes might include the lifting of a late submission penalty or the opportunity to take the assessment again at the next available opportunity (this may be the next academic year).

We cannot increase module marks, a year or degree average, or classification. 

Full details of the outcomes available can be found here.

You will receive a confirmation by email that you have submitted your application  

After the EC Committee has met to review applications each month, you will receive an interim notification to confirm if your application has been accepted or rejected.

The following accepted applications will also receive a final outcome at this time:

• If you submitted late and the lifting of the late submission penalty applied is judged to be the most suitable outcome for you, you will receive confirmation of this with your interim outcome.
• If you applied to defer an assessment (PGT students only) and this has been accepted, you will receive confirmation of this with your interim outcome.

All other accepted ECs will be forwarded to the School Progression and Award Board, which meet at the end of each academic year for consideration of suitable mitigation.

Final outcome letters are sent by email to your University email account on the day your results are released.

You can only apply for ONE assessment to be taken into consideration on each application. Extenuating circumstances are available to enable the University to mitigate where a short-term unexpected circumstance has affected your ability to complete an assessment.  

You may apply again if your circumstances continue and affect later assessments or if new circumstances occur at a later date. 

While there is no limit to the number of applications you can submit, if your circumstances are longer term and are affecting multiple assessments, then Extenuating Circumstances may not be the most appropriate means of support. Please seek advice from your tutor, the SU or support services you are engaged with, such as D&N or Wellbeing. 

Your school and the Wellbeing team will be notified if you make multiple EC applications, so that they can reach out to offer support where applicable.

An INTERIM outcome will be provided if the School Progression and Assessment Board will not be meeting to review your results until some time after your application. The INTERIM outcome will tell you if your application has been accepted or rejected. It will not be able to inform you what mitigation, if any, will be applied.

A FINAL outcome is provided for all accepted applications and tells you what regulatory outcome, if any, the School Progression and Award Board has decided to apply in your case. For example, an opportunity to take the assessment again or the lifting of a late penalty.

In SOME case you will receive your INTERIM and FINAL outcome at the same time.