Languages for All Mitigating Circumstances Policy
LFA examinations (listening, oral and written) 2015-16
1. Mitigating circumstances: when illness or personal circumstances affect your LFA
examinations (written, listening and oral)
The University recognizes that sometimes you are unable to undertake or complete
summative assessments on time due to unforeseen and unavoidable circumstances, such as
illness, traumatic life events, personal difficulties, etc. The University calls these "mitigating
circumstances" and has a policy in place to allow you to recover if you are affected during an
assessment period.
If you are a University of York student and taking an LFA module for credit your home
department will have its own policy and procedures which will be applied should you need
to claim mitigating circumstances during the LFA examination period. You must use the
mitigating circumstances form available from your home department to inform us and your
department about any circumstances that have arisen which you believe may have affected
your academic performance.
If you are a University of York student taking an LFA module as an extra-curricular activity
or you are an external participant (member of staff, member of the public or a student
from another university) mitigating circumstances can still be claimed under the
circumstances outlined in this document.
2. What is a mitigating circumstance?
The University defines a mitigating circumstance as a problem that you have encountered
which goes beyond the normal difficulties experienced in life and that has affected your
academic performance adversely during an assessment period.
A list of circumstances that are generally are, and are not accepted as mitigating is given
below. If you think you have been affected by mitigating circumstances during the LFA
examination period, you can make a claim to have these circumstances taken into account.
i) What are the usual accepted circumstances and evidence?
Circumstances normally accepted and the required examples of evidence that would
support a claim based on this circumstance are listed below:
 Clash with home department teaching/examination or another LFA examination
A copy of your timetable illustrating the clash
 Clash with attendance at a conference (postgraduate students)
A copy of conference schedule
 Compassionate grounds
A letter from the Open Door Team, a counsellor or a relevant independent third-party
explaining that, in their professional opinion, the circumstances have had a serious
impact on your ability to engage with academic work effectively during the assessment
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period in question. Note that in general, claims on the basis of circumstances following
on from a trigger event (death, divorce, trauma, etc.) will not be considered if there is no
evidence that the student sought support from the Open Door Team (or equivalent) prior
to the assessment period, unless the trigger itself occurred within the assessment period.
Exceptional personal circumstances
A letter from the Open Door Team, a counsellor or a relevant independent third-party
explaining that, in their professional opinion, the circumstances have had a serious
impact on your ability to engage with academic work effectively during the assessment
period in question. An example of this type of circumstance would be the illness of a
dependent or the repossession of your accommodation.
Close bereavement
A death certificate. The following relatives are accepted as 'close' without further
evidence: spouse, child, parent, sibling, grandparent, and grandchild. For other
bereavements, evidence of closeness in the form of a statement from a third party
should also be provided. Additional evidence should be provided where mitigation is
claimed for an extended period where the bereavement is not close, for example, for
more than a fortnight following the death of the relevant person.
Victim of a serious crime
A crime report and number.
Disabilities for which reasonable adjustments are not yet in place and where the delay
is not due to the student
A letter from the Disability Services.
Serious and unforeseeable transport difficulties
A letter from the relevant transport company or evidence of a major road incident.
Interviews for placements or for employment
Evidence showing that the interview date cannot be rearranged.
Legal proceedings requiring attendance
A letter from a solicitor or a court
What does not count as a mitigating circumstance?
Misreading of the examination timetable
Constraints arising from other examinations in the same time period
Paid work commitments or constraints arising from paid employment for full-time
students
Minor illnesses, for example, those for which only self-certification under the
University scheme is available
Disabilities for which reasonable adjustments have been made or where you have
experience or time to manage the situation
Long-standing minor medical conditions such as hay fever
Over-sleeping
Holidays
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 Minor everyday surmountable obstacles, for example, disruption to normal domestic
routine
 English being a second language
 Moving house
 Deadlines for work being set close together
 Planned health appointments
 Financial difficulties
 Breakdown of personal relationships unless leading to compassionate circumstances as
described above
 Weddings
 Unavailability of course books/resources
 Attending or taking part in sporting or social events
 Voluntary work
 Unreasonable refusal to return to York for assessments scheduled in the vacation 'resit' period
Please note that it is not possible to release LFA examinations before the scheduled date.
External participants (members of staff, members of the public and students from other
universities) on LFA courses may be able to reschedule their written examination subject to
availability of staff resource. Details of alternative dates will be available from the LFA
administrative team once exam clashes have been identified at the end of Term 2 following
the release of the Summer Exam timetable.
If external participants (members of staff, members of the public and students from other
universities) have mitigating circumstances regarding attendance at the listening or oral
examinations these examinations will not be rescheduled. However, external participants
will not be penalised for missing these examinations and will still be able to receive
certification for the course based on the elements of the exam completed.
3. How do I make a mitigating circumstances claim?
University of York student taking LFA for credit: you must use the mitigating circumstances
form available from your home department to inform us and your department about any
circumstances that have arisen which you believe may have affected your academic
performance.
University of York student taking LFA as an extra-curricular module or an external
participant (member of staff, member of the public or student from another university):
you will be asked if you have any mitigating circumstances during the online exam
registration process. However, if you need to make a claim at a later date, you can
complete the mitigating circumstances form attached to the exam registration email sent to
you in late February (or request one from LFA), to inform us about any circumstances that
have arisen that you believe may affect your ability to attend your examinations or have
affected your academic performance in the examinations.
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i) When do I make my claim for circumstances affecting my LFA written, listening and/or
oral examinations
University of York students (credit and extra-curricular): If you know you are going to miss
an exam (to attend a funeral, for instance, or because you are ill or injured in advance of the
exam), you must submit a mitigating circumstances claim form with supporting evidence
and receive permission to miss the exam at least 24 hours in advance of the exam.
If you become ill on the day of an exam, you must go to the Health Centre and get
documentation of your illness, preferably on the day of the exam itself. This evidence
should be submitted along with your form within 24 hours of the exam. If you are too ill to
do this, you should go to your GP as soon as possible and your documentation must include
a statement that it would have been impossible, given your condition, for you to attend
earlier.
Only in the most exceptional circumstances will claims be considered after results for the
exams have been released.
External participants (members of staff, members of the public and students from other
universities): If you know you are going to miss an exam (to attend a funeral, for instance,
or because you are ill or injured in advance of the exam), you must submit a mitigating
circumstances claim form to the LFA office lfa@york.ac.uk.
If you become ill on the day of an exam please email the LFA office to let them know you
will not be attending and complete a mitigating circumstances claim form as soon as it is
possible to do so. Form available via the LFA Assessment section of the LFA website:
https://www.york.ac.uk/lfa/students/assessments.
Please note that external participants (members of staff, members of the public and
students from other universities) will not be required to provide personal documentation as
supporting evidence of their circumstances.
ii) When do I have to submit my supporting evidence?
University of York students (credit and extra-curricular): If your circumstances are
medical, you should submit your evidence with your form. You can get a Confirmation of
Illness Affecting Assessment form from the Health Service in support of your claim. If you
are registered with an off-campus GP, take a copy of the Confirmation of Illness Affecting
Assessment form (available online, at the link below) with you for your GP to fill out:
http://www.york.ac.uk/media/languageandlinguistics/documents/currentstudents/mitigati
ng_circumstances_confirm_illness.pdf
If you are unable to supply supporting medical evidence at the time of submission, you must
state on the form why this was not possible.
For other circumstances, supporting evidence should be submitted with the form wherever
possible, but will be accepted up until 7 days following submission of the form unless there
is a good reason why this is not possible (for instance, death certificates are not always
available within this time frame).
In general, retrospective doctor's notes (i.e. those dated more than 24 hours after the
assessment) will not be accepted as supporting evidence for missing LFA exams unless they
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contain a statement that it would have been medically dangerous for you to have attended
earlier.
External participants (members of staff, members of the public and students from other
universities) will not be required to provide personal documentation as supporting evidence
of their circumstances.
4. Frequently asked questions about mitigating circumstances
How is my claim considered if I am:
i.
ii.
iii.
University of York student taking LFA for credit?
University of York student taking an LFA module as an extra-curricular activity?
External participant (member of staff, members of the public and student from another
university)?
i) University of York student taking LFA for credit
Your circumstances will be considered by the Mitigating Circumstances Committee (MCC) of
your home department. Students cannot attend these meetings.
The MCC can consider your claim only if you have both completed the Mitigating
Circumstances Claim form and submitted relevant evidence supporting your claim. Your
claim will remain confidential and will be disclosed only to the MCC of your home
department, the LFA MCC and those administering the Committees. For this reason your
claim cannot be anonymous. If, however, you appeal against the decision of the MCC,
members of the University's Special Cases Committee and its administrator will see your
claim and the associated evidence.
What are the possible outcomes of my claim?
If you miss or become ill during an exam and your claim is accepted, you will be offered the
opportunity to resit the exam "as for the first time" during the August resit period (third
week of August).
If you are offered a resit and you accept this option, any mark you may have received for
your original attempt becomes void and is replaced with the mark for the new attempt.
If your claim is not accepted, the original mark for the assessment will stand. This mark
could be a mark of zero if you have not taken the original assessment.
How will I be notified of the MCC’s decision?
You will receive email notification of the MCC's decision. You will be informed of the reason
if your claim is rejected.
What evidence do I need to provide if I am ill?
If you fall ill during an assessment period, you must provide evidence from a medical
professional stating the nature of your illness/injury and the length of time you were not
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able to engage with academic work effectively. This evidence must be dated within the
assessment period you are claiming for.
If you attend the University Health Centre, you can ask them to fill in a Confirmation of
Illness Affecting Assessment form for you:
http://www.york.ac.uk/media/languageandlinguistics/documents/currentstudents/mitigati
ng_circumstances_confirm_illness.pdf
This service is available for all students even if they are registered with another doctor.
Alternatively you can obtain evidence from another doctor. You should take a copy of the
Confirmation of Illness Affecting Assessment form with you for them to fill out, or ask them
to send a letter to the Administrator for Mitigating Circumstances of your home department
copied to the LFA Office Manager also.
Other third party medical evidence can also be considered, such as evidence of emergency
treatment (e.g. from a dentist, Accident and Emergency doctor and others). Any evidence
you supply in support of your claim must be dated within the assessment period you are
claiming for and must state the nature of your illness/injury and the length of time you were
not able to engage with academic work effectively.
If you have suffered from long-term illness you should provide a medical certificate or letter
from your doctor or hospital consultant. Letters from the Open Door Team regarding
medical conditions should specifically state that the Open Door team is in possession of
documentary medical evidence to support this request” and state who has provided the
evidence. (Letters from the Open Door Team regarding non-medical conditions are
discussed below.)
Why might my claim be rejected?
 The form is incomplete
 No independent documentary evidence has been supplied to support the request (letters
from family, fellow students, or supervisors are not normally sufficient on their own)
 The timing of the circumstances cited would not have adversely affected the
assessment(s)
 The evidence submitted does not support the claim that the nature of the circumstances
was over and above the normal difficulties
 The form was not submitted by the department deadline and the mitigating
circumstances would not have prevented you making a claim by the deadline
 Sufficient mitigation has already been made for the same circumstances
 The mitigation is a disability for which reasonable adjustments have been made
 The circumstances are not, or not normally, accepted under Mitigating Circumstances
Policy. The full policy can be found in the documents on the following webpage:
http://www.york.ac.uk/students/support/academic/
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How do I appeal against the decision of the MCC?
If the Board of Studies of your home department had not yet received the recommendation
of the MCC you can ask the Board to consider your appeal.
ii) University of York student taking LFA as an extra-curricular module
Your circumstances will be considered by the LFA Mitigating Circumstances Committee
which will meet when necessary. Students cannot attend these meetings.
The LFA MCC can consider your claim only if you have both completed the Mitigating
Circumstances Claim form and submitted relevant evidence supporting your claim. Your
claim will remain confidential and will be disclosed only to the LFA MCC and those
administering the Committee. It may also be necessary to seek further information from
your home department and for this reason your claim cannot be anonymous.
What are the possible outcomes of my claim?
If you miss or become ill during an exam and your claim is accepted, you will be offered the
opportunity to resit the exam "as for the first time" during the August resit period (third
week of August).
If you are offered a resit and you accept this option, any mark you may have received for
your original attempt becomes void and is replaced with the mark for the new attempt.
If your claim is not accepted, the original mark for the assessment will stand. This mark
could be a mark of zero if you have not taken the original assessment.
If you are unable to attend a particular element of the LFA examinations (i.e. listening, oral
or written exam) and you have submitted a successful mitigating circumstance claim then
you will not be penalised for missing this element when the final calculation of the exam
results are made. i.e. if you cannot attend the listening exam your final result will be
calculated on the result of you oral exam and written exam.
If you decide not to attend the LFA examinations you can request a Certificate of
Attendance which will be issued at the end of the academic year.
How will I be notified of the LFA MCC’s decision?
You will receive email notification of the LFA MCC's decision. You will be informed of the
reason if your claim is rejected.
What evidence do I need to provide if I am ill?
If you fall ill during an assessment period, you must provide evidence from a medical
professional stating the nature of your illness/injury and the length of time you were not
able to engage with academic work effectively. This evidence must be dated within the
assessment period you are claiming for.
If you attend the University Health Centre, you can ask them to fill in a Confirmation of
Illness Affecting Assessment form for you:
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http://www.york.ac.uk/media/languageandlinguistics/documents/currentstudents/mitigati
ng_circumstances_confirm_illness.pdf
This service is available for all students even if they are registered with another doctor.
Alternatively you can obtain evidence from another doctor. You should take a copy of the
Confirmation of Illness Affecting Assessment form with you for them to fill out, or ask them
to send a letter to the Administrator for Mitigating Circumstances of your home department
copied to the LFA Office Manager also.
Other third party medical evidence can also be considered, such as evidence of emergency
treatment (e.g. from a dentist, Accident and Emergency doctor and others). Any evidence
you supply in support of your claim must be dated within the assessment period you are
claiming for and must state the nature of your illness/injury and the length of time you were
not able to engage with academic work effectively.
If you have suffered from long-term illness you should provide a medical certificate or letter
from your doctor or hospital consultant. Letters from the Open Door Team regarding
medical conditions should specifically state that the Open Door team is in possession of
documentary medical evidence to support this request” and state who has provided the
evidence. (Letters from the Open Door Team regarding non-medical conditions are
discussed below.)
Why might my claim be rejected?
 The form is incomplete
 No independent documentary evidence has been supplied to support the request (letters
from family, fellow students, or supervisors are not normally sufficient on their own)
 The timing of the circumstances cited would not have adversely affected the
assessment(s)
 The evidence submitted does not support the claim that the nature of the circumstances
was over and above the normal difficulties
 The form was not submitted by the department deadline and the mitigating
circumstances would not have prevented you making a claim by the deadline
 Sufficient mitigation has already been made for the same circumstances
 The mitigation is a disability for which reasonable adjustments have been made
 The circumstances are not, or not normally, accepted under Mitigating Circumstances
Policy. The full policy can be found in the documents on the following webpage:
http://www.york.ac.uk/students/support/academic/
How do I appeal against the decision of the LFA MCC?
You can write to the Director of LFA for further consideration. The Director will then review
the appeal with a colleague from the MCC of the Department of Language and Linguistic
Science.
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iii) External participant (member of staff, member of the public and student from another
university)taking LFA as an extra-curricular module
Your circumstances will be considered by the LFA Mitigating Circumstances Committee
which will meet when necessary. LFA students cannot attend these meetings.
The LFA MCC can consider your claim only if you have both completed the Mitigating
Circumstances Claim form. Your claim will remain confidential and will be disclosed only to
the LFA MCC and those administering the Committee.
What are the possible outcomes of my claim?
If you miss or become ill during an exam and your claim is accepted, you will be offered the
opportunity to resit the exam "as for the first time" during the August resit period (third
week of August).
If you are offered a resit and you accept this option, any mark you may have received for
your original attempt becomes void and is replaced with the mark for the new attempt.
If your claim is not accepted, the original mark for the assessment will stand. This mark
could be a mark of zero if you have not taken the original assessment.
If you are unable to attend a particular element of the LFA examinations (i.e. listening, oral
or written exam) and you have submitted a successful mitigating circumstance claim then
you will not be penalised for missing this element when the final calculation of the exam
results are made. i.e. if you cannot attend the listening exam your final result will be
calculated on the result of you oral exam and written exam.
If you decide not to attend the LFA examinations you can request a Certificate of
Attendance which will be issued at the end of the academic year.
How will I be notified of the LFA MCC’s decision?
You will receive email notification of the LFA MCC's decision. You will be informed of the
reason if your claim is rejected.
What evidence do I need to provide if I am ill?
Please note that external participants will not be required to provide personal evidence.
Why might my claim be rejected?
 The claim made does not fall into the categories normally accepted under the LFA
Mitigating Circumstances Policy
How do I appeal against the decision of the LFA MCC?
You can write to the Director of LFA for further consideration. The Director will then review
the appeal with a colleague from the MCC of the Department of Language and Linguistic
Science.
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