Evidence to support Extensions and Exceptional Circumstances Requests

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Evidence to support Extensions and Exceptional Circumstances Requests

If your circumstances are having a detrimental impact on your ability to attempt or reach a pass standard in an assessment task, you can submit an Exceptional Circumstances request.

Your application needs to be accompanied with evidence to enable us to understand your situation fully. The evidence should confirm the circumstances that have affected you, confirm the start and end dates of when you have been affected, and be from an independent and authoritative third party.

Independent means that they are not personally connected with you in any way. Authoritative means that they are a recognised expert for the evidence they are providing.

All medical certificates or statements should be:
• written by appropriately qualified professionals who are independent to you;
• original, on headed paper and signed by the author;
• dated, to confirm that the date of the illness is around the dates of assessment;
• in English with any translation of supporting documentation undertaken by an authorised translator (which you will be required to organise and, if required, pay for).

Evidence Requirements:
The table below gives examples of the type of evidence the Exceptional Circumstances Panel would expect to see to support your application. The examples of how these circumstances can be evidenced are illustrative and should not be read as exhaustive:

Bereavement of a family member/friend

Purpose: to confirm the death. Should include the name of the deceased, and either the date of the death or the ceremony/service.

 

Evidence: death certificate; order of service; letter from a minister of religion, medical practitioner1 or officer of the law; obituary notice; newspaper announcement.

Ongoing impact from a bereavement

Purpose: to support the impact of the bereavement.

 

Evidence: letter of confirmation from a relevant support organisation or network; letter from a medical practitioner1 or accredited counsellor. This must contain your name.

Hospital admission

Purpose: to confirm the date of admission, length of stay and nature of the treatment.

 

Evidence: an appointment or discharge letter from the hospital, outpatient's appointment or A&E attendance. This must contain your name.

Worsening of an ongoing condition

Purpose: to confirm the exacerbation of the circumstances (not just the circumstances themselves).

 

Evidence: letter from a medical practitioner1. This must contain your name.

Symptoms of an illness or condition awaiting a formal diagnosis

Purpose: to confirm the treatment attendance dates, when tests were undertaken and when a diagnosis is expected. Note: this should not solely be related to routine tests.

 

Evidence: letter from a medical practitioner1. This must contain your name.

Personal illness or impact of prescribed medication

Purpose: to confirm the dates when the illness affected the student and how.

 

Evidence: letter from a medical practitioner1; doctor's notes; hospital letter; hospital appointment letter; image copy of prescription medication (date of prescription must be visible) and noted side effects. This must contain your name.

 

To account for absence from an examination, you can submit a self- certification medical form as evidence.

Illness of a close family member/dependent or friend

Purpose: to confirm the dates and nature of the illness.

 

Evidence: letter from a medical practitioner1; doctor's notes; hospital letter; hospital appointment letter; letter of confirmation from a relevant support organisation.

Serious personal accident or injury of self or close family member/friend

Purpose: to confirm the date of the accident or injury.

 

Evidence: a copy of an accident report provided by a police officer, Magistrate

or Magistrate's Clerk; a formal insurance claim; or a letter from a medical practitioner1. This must contain the name of the person concerned.

Significant adverse personal or family circumstances

Purpose: to confirm the circumstances being reported, time when they occurred and whether they are continuing.

 

Evidence: letter from one or more of the following: a medical practitioner1, a social worker, a registered psychological therapist, a registered professional in a psychiatric practice, an officer of the law, a teacher outside of the University,

a minister of religion.

Impact of natural disaster (e.g. severe weather which prevents attendance or submission, major breakdown in transport

system)

Purpose: to confirm the incidence in terms of its nature and severity.

 

Evidence: letter from the police or other authority (depending on the nature of the incidence); newspaper article; evidence of flight cancellations or local conditions with supplementary evidence to link the delays to the disaster.

Serious personal disruption (e.g. victim of crime, court attendance, breakdown of a long term relationship, service with reserve forces)

Purpose: to confirm the events reported.

 

Evidence: letter of confirmation from a relevant organisation; solicitor's letter; letter from courts; divorce petition; written evidence from: the police (including, but not limited to, a crime reference number), counsellor, social worker, victim support, etc. This must contain your name.

Evidence of a requirement for reasonable adjustments provided too late to be taken into account in the delivery or assessment of a module.

Purpose: to confirm the situation regarding a recently disclosed medical condition/disability.

 

Evidence: statement from a SHU Disability or Wellbeing Advisor.

Personal participation in activities at a national/international level (e.g. sport, drama, art and design, writing)

Purpose: to confirm the requirement for the student to be available on specified dates.

 

Evidence: official correspondence from the relevant organisation.

Work commitments for a part time student

Purpose: to confirm the unexpected and higher than usual workload for the student which has reduced the time available for study.

 

Evidence: letter from employer on company headed paper.

 

Late applications:
All applications should be submitted within 5 working days of the submission deadline/date of examination/other assessment event. If you submit an application after this date then you will need to provide evidence (where appropriate) to support your reasons for the late request (e.g. a letter from a medical practitioner1 supporting your inability to engage with the Exceptional Circumstances process).

File types:
Evidence items can be up to 25 MB per individual document, and there is no limit to the number of documents which can be uploaded. All file types can be uploaded, the only exception to this is zip files, please only upload individual documents as evidence. It is acceptable to provide photographs of documents which you only have in hard copy format, so long as the key evidential requirements listed above are visible.