MITIGATING CIRCUMSTANCES
Procedures for Submitting Mitigating Circumstances
Assessment is an integral part of the teaching and learning experience in higher education. Sometimes, for
good reason and through no fault of your own, you may not be able to undertake or complete an assessment
at the appropriate time. Sometimes, your academic performance in an assessment may be significantly
affected by unforeseen events, such that you are not able to demonstrate your true abilities in the
assessment. If this happens to you, you should submit a Mitigating Circumstances Form to your School. This
will allow the University to ensure that appropriate decisions are taken fairly.
PLEASE READ this guidance and follow the procedures – ignorance of the mitigating circumstances guidance
and procedures is NOT an acceptable mitigating circumstance!
The University's policies on students with mitigating circumstances are set out in detail in
Senate Regulations SR4.30-4.51
1. Overview
A mitigating circumstance is defined by the University as:
“a serious or significant event, and its consequences, which have significantly impaired the academic
performance of a student in one or more assessed activities possibly over more than one term. Mitigating
circumstances may include medical matters or events directly affecting someone other than the student…”
(SR4.31)
When the University looks at any claim of mitigating circumstances from you, it will act on the following
principles:
 You are responsible for informing your School of any circumstances that you want to be taken into
account. You must do this by submitting a Mitigating Circumstances Form (see ‘Standard Forms’), in
advance if possible, but certainly no later than seven days after the deadline or exam or other
assessment event;

If you submit a Mitigating Circumstances Form late (more than 7 days after the assessment date) it
must be accompanied by an explanation for its lateness, otherwise your claim will be rejected;

Appropriate supporting evidence must be submitted with the form (or separately if there is a delay in
obtaining the evidence). Without supporting evidence, your claim of mitigating circumstances will
normally be rejected;

All information provided by you will be regarded as confidential (i.e., strictly restricted to those who
need to know in order to reach a decision).
All cases will be formally and carefully considered, but not all will be accepted. Some circumstances are clearly
beyond the control of students, but some are not. For example, the normal pressures and challenges of
student life are unlikely to be accepted as mitigating circumstances. Likewise, if a student could reasonably
have foreseen the circumstances, they are unlikely to be accepted.
2. Examples
Below are some examples of typical circumstances that would be accepted, some that might be accepted, and
some that would not normally be accepted:
Examples of circumstances which would normally be accepted (with evidence):
 Bereavement involving a relative or friend to whom you were close
 Serious illness or accident resulting in your hospitalisation, or other medical emergency
 Serious infectious disease
 Childbirth, or pregnancy complications leading to your hospitalisation
 Jury service
Examples of circumstances which might be accepted (with evidence):
 Planned medical operation (if the School is notified before the deadline or assessment event)
 Planned hospital tests (if the School is notified before the deadline or assessment event)
 Victim of crime (with Police crime reference number)
 Significant accident, injury, acute ailment or condition requiring medical or other professional
attention
 Private or public transport failure leading to delays of more than one hour
Examples of circumstances that would NOT normally be accepted as mitigating circumstances:
 Illness in the family (unless it is a dependant)
 Exam nerves
 Feeling generally anxious, depressed or stressed (where this is not a diagnosis of a mental health
condition)
 Clash of study or assessment with paid employment
 Minor accidents or injuries
 Minor conditions (e.g. cold, cough, throat infection)
 Childcare problems that could have been anticipated
 Pregnancy
 Day-to-day domestic problems
 Mistaking a deadline, misreading an exam timetable or other time management problems (including
alarm not going off)
 Attending a wedding
 Religious festivals or similar commitments
 Private or public transport failure leading to delays of less than 1 hour
 General financial problems
 Legal problems (unless required to attend Court on the day of an examination or assessment)
 Planned absence due to holidays
 Accommodation changes
 Notes destroyed or stolen (unless supported by a fire or police report)
 Last minute computing equipment problems (discs, machines, printers, viruses)
 Handing-in problems, including failure by a third party to submit work on your behalf
 Weather (unless severe conditions)
 Ignorance of the Regulations or examination/assessment arrangements
 More than one assessment due in at the same time
If your circumstances are in this last group of examples (circumstances that would NOT normally be accepted)
but you still want to submit a claim, you should discuss this with either the Undergraduate Programmes
Manager or the Postgraduate Programmes Manager, by arranging an appointment with them through the MJ
Centre.
PLEASE NOTE: It is always advisable to discuss problems affecting your studies or assessment with us as soon
as you are aware of them – it may well be that we can agree arrangements with you to deal with the problem
more effectively and in good time without having to resort to the mitigating circumstances process (which is
often concerned with remedial action after the event).
3. Supporting Evidence (see also section 4)
You should include supporting documentary evidence (e.g. a medical certificate giving the nature and duration
of an illness and its treatment) with your Mitigating Circumstances Form. If you fail to provide supporting
evidence in reasonable detail your claim may not be accepted. Supporting evidence you submit should
confirm the following:
 The nature of the circumstances
 When and for how long you were affected by the circumstances
 How the circumstances were likely to affect/have affected your ability to study or perform properly in
assessments
Depending on the nature of the supporting evidence, it may only be able to confirm some and not all of the
above points – for example a death certificate will only confirm the nature and timing of the circumstances,
whereas a letter from a health professional might be able to give information (a professional opinion) on all of
the above points.
Please note that the University normally expects you to submit original documents in support of your request
for mitigating circumstances. If you cannot do this immediately, you may submit a copy of the document(s)
concerned, with the original(s) to follow, either by post or by taking it/them in person to your School. Any
documents sent by post will be returned as soon as possible. Any decision made by your School based on
copied documents will be preliminary, and subject to receipt of original documents (and verification, where
necessary). Failure to supply original documents within a reasonable period of time may result in your request
being rejected.
Please note that the University has seen a number of instances where students have submitted falsified
documents in support of mitigating circumstances. It takes such incidents very seriously and has resolved to
report all such cases to the police. It has further resolved that all students suspected of submitting falsified
documents should be subject to disciplinary action as per Senate Regulation 6 This could result in expulsion
from the University and the loss of some or all credit.
Examples of acceptable documentary evidence
 Bereavement - copy of death certificate
 Travel delays - letter from transport company
 Legal – letter from police, lawyer or Court
 Medical - letter or medical certificate from hospital, GP or the University Health Centre (but see 16.5
below)
See also ‘Submitting Mitigating Circumstances’.
3.1 Self-Certification of Illness
If your mitigating circumstances are based, in whole or in part, on illnesses which have lasted for up to 7 days,
you do not need to submit a medical certificate/doctor’s note. Instead, you should complete a Student SelfCertification of Illness Form (available from the MJ Centre and at the School Administration page on BBLearn)
which covers up to the first 7 days of illness and submit this form with your Mitigating Circumstances Form.
For the first 7 days of an illness, your self-certification will have equal status to a doctor’s note.
Please note that the Student Self-Certification of Illness Form requires you to sign the following declaration:
I declare that the above information is true and accurate to the best of my knowledge.
I understand that to give false information could result in disciplinary action against me
in accordance with Senate Regulation 6.
3.2 Medical Supporting Evidence
PLEASE NOTE: a note or letter from a doctor simply stating the fact that you have been to see them is not
useful supporting evidence.
In order to allow the University to properly consider your case, a note or letter from a GP or other doctor
would include a diagnosis, details of treatment or referral, dates of illness or condition, and ideally a
professional opinion on how your illness or condition would have affected your ability to study or perform
properly in assessments. Please follow the protocol below:
3.2.1 For illnesses that lasted for up to 7 days: please complete a Self-Certification of Illness form as described
in section 3.1 and submit it along with your Mitigating Circumstances Form – please do not request a medical
note from the University Medical Centre.
3.2.2 For illnesses which have lasted (continuously) for more than 7 days (or your doctor is of the opinion
that it will): please request a medical certificate/note from your doctor at the time of your visit to the doctor
and submit it along with a Student Self-Certification of Illness form (for the first 7 days) and your Mitigating
Circumstances Form. Please note that your doctor will be unable to issue a certificate if you were not seen by
them during your illness.
3.2.3 For significant, ongoing medical conditions that are being monitored or treated by the University
Medical Centre: please complete a Medical Disclosure Form which will give permission for the University
Medical Centre to share information with the Mitigating Circumstances Panel. This form is available from the
Medical Centre and, once completed, must be submitted with your Mitigating Circumstances Form. Please do
not take the Medical Disclosure Form to the University Medical Centre – it will be refused.
3.2.4 For significant, ongoing medical conditions that are being monitored or treated by a doctor not in the
University Medical Centre: please ask your doctor to write a letter setting out:
 The condition
 The symptoms
 When the condition arose or was diagnosed
 The impact on your ability to study or complete the assessment(s) on time
 Whether any acute episode is associated with the condition and whether you have suffered an acute
episode during the time the claim refers to.
4 Students with Disabilities or Chronic Medical Conditions
If you have a disability or a chronic medical condition and feel that this affects your studies, you are
encouraged to contact the Disability and Dyslexia Service (DDS) as soon as you arrive at University in order to
arrange support. This support is designed to enable you to meet deadlines, and ensure your condition does
not affect your performance.
Being a disabled student (including having a chronic medical condition) in itself is very unlikely to be accepted
as a mitigating circumstance, as the likely impact on your studies is foreseeable as soon as the disability is
known. However, there may be additional circumstances that affect your performance or prevent you from
completing an assessment on time.
Some examples are:
 A change in circumstances which means that the support you already get no longer meets your needs
(such as an unforeseen worsening of symptoms, or an acute flareup)
 A delay in setting up support
 A recent diagnosis of a condition where there is not enough time to set up support
 A course of treatment which has had unforeseen side effects that affect your studies
Please remember that it is your responsibility to inform the University about a disability or chronic medical
condition in a timely manner such that reasonable adjustments can be agreed and implemented for you –
mitigating circumstances can only come into play when things go wrong unexpectedly.
4.1 Supporting evidence for students with disabilities or chronic medical conditions
4..1.1 If the circumstance relates to a medical condition, mental health condition or late diagnosis, the
evidence must state the following:
 The condition
 The symptoms
 When the condition arose or was diagnosed
 The impact on your ability to study or complete the assessment(s) on time
 Whether any acute episode is associated with the condition and
 whether it was known to your medical practitioner
 Whether you have suffered an acute episode during the time the claim refers to.
The evidence should be a letter from a GP, the University Medical Centre (but see 3.2.3) or a hospital; in the
case of a late diagnosis for a specific learning difficulty, such as dyslexia, a diagnostic report is required. The
Disability and Dyslexia Service may also be able to write a supporting letter.
4.1.2 If the circumstance relates to problems with your support you should follow the guidance in section 3
above. The Disability and Dyslexia Service may be able to write a supporting letter.
5. Submitting Mitigating Circumstances
The responsibility for notifying the Mitigating Circumstances Panel and Board of Examiners of possible
mitigating circumstances lies with you, the student:

All mitigating circumstances claims must be made in written form to the MJ Centre no later than 7
days after the assessment event or assessment submission deadline to which it pertains. The form is
available
from
the
MJ
Centre
and
from
the
School
Resources
page:
http://www.brunel.ac.uk/sss/resources

Please ensure, in filling in the form, that you are clear about the nature of your circumstances, when
and for how long they affected you, how your ability to study or perform well in assessments was
affected and specify which assessments were affected.

If your Mitigating Circumstances Form is submitted late and you do not provide a satisfactory
explanation for the lateness it will NOT be accepted.

All mitigating circumstances submissions should, wherever possible, be supported by documentary
evidence (see section 3) which can be verified by the University through contact with a third party.
The University may routinely confirm the authenticity of documents submitted as evidence of
mitigating circumstances by contacting directly the organisation which issued the document
concerned. You should indicate in your submission any conditions of confidentiality which you ask to
be observed by the University in making such enquiries.

If your mitigating circumstances are related to illness or other medical condition, please read, and
follow the instructions in, sections 3.1–3.2 on medical supporting evidence.

If you feel that your mitigating circumstances are private and sensitive, you are encouraged to discuss
them in the first instance with your Personal Tutor who may advise on the nature of the information
to be conveyed to the Board. Information you disclose will be treated in confidence by all concerned.

You should note that reluctance to disclose information in a timely manner, or the inability of the
University to verify the authenticity of documents submitted as evidence of mitigating
circumstances, may mean that the Mitigating Circumstances Panel has insufficient information
either to accept your mitigating circumstances or judge correctly their severity.

The adjustment of deadlines for the submission of assessed coursework affected by mitigating
circumstances is determined in accordance with a University-wide Policy on Late Submission Penalties
also available on the Resources Page.
6. Consideration of Mitigating Circumstances Submissions
6.1 Role of the Mitigating Circumstances Panel
Students’ written submissions are considered by a Mitigating Circumstances Panel. This Panel determines
whether a submission concerning mitigating circumstances should be accepted or not. Where mitigating
circumstances are accepted, the Panel makes recommendations in a report to the relevant Board of Examiners
(with the student's name anonymised) concerning the assessments affected and the likely severity of the
impact on the student.
6.2 Action by the Board of Examiners
The Board of Examiners will receive the recommendation of the Mitigating Circumstances Panel and, taking
into account your profile of results, decide on the action to be taken. Senate Regulation 4 defines the range of
actions the Board of Examiners may take in response to accepted mitigating circumstances, as follows.
THIS REGULATION IS RELEVANT TO ALL POSTGRADUATE STUDENTS AND UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS
ENTERING BRUNEL AFTER SEPTEMBER 2009
SR4.46-4.48
4.46 The Board of Examiners may determine to take any of the following actions in respect of accepted
mitigating circumstances:
a the Board may set aside any provisional grade/mark already assigned, and allow the student a new attempt
in the relevant assessment(s) according to an appropriate schedule to be determined by the Board. The
student will be eligible for an uncapped grade or mark if the assessment affected was a first attempt;
b the Board may assign grades to elements of assessment where mitigating circumstances have been
accepted. The grades assigned are to be used in the calculation of grade point averages (in the case of
undergraduate awards) and in grade profiles in the normal manner. Grades will not normally be assigned in
this manner unless there are result(s) available in at least one other element of assessment in the same
assessment block to guide the Board. Grades will not normally be assigned by Boards in this manner in
assessment blocks totalling more than one third of the credits at any given Level;
c where a student is discontinuing with a programme and neither a new attempt nor the assigning of a grade
is appropriate or possible, the Board may assign a grade P in element(s) of assessment in order to enable a
student to achieve an aegrotat award of a CertHE, DipHE or an unclassified degree award. Proceeding in this
manner should reflect the judgement of the examiners that, on the basis of the evidence available to them,
the student would have achieved at least a threshold standard in the relevant elements of assessment had
these not been affected by mitigating circumstances. Credit assigned a P grade will normally not be recognised
by the University as part of an application for admission with accreditation of prior learning. Aegrotat awards
shall be clearly presented as such and will not be assigned a classification where this is normally available.
4.47 In extreme cases, where a Board considers that, in the light of the mitigating circumstances, the
constraints set out in the previous Regulation are not appropriate the Board should present its
recommendations to the Chair of Learning and Teaching Committee for consideration and approval on behalf
of Senate.
4.48 Grades assigned due to mitigation or credits assigned to enable an aegrotat pass shall be indicated as
such in student transcripts.
THIS REGULATION IS RELEVANT FOR UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS ENTERING BRUNEL BEFORE SEPTEMBER
2009
SR4.49-4.51
4.49 The Board of Examiners may
a defer consideration of the student's performance and require him/her to be assessed or reassessed; the
student will be eligible for full marks if the assessment attempt is deemed a ‘first attempt’ or ‘late-sit’.
b deem the student to have been absent/have failed to submit/have performed badly with good cause; the
student will be awarded full credits for the module and a grade P will be assigned.
c on the basis of the marks available to it (eg where the student has submitted coursework, but not sat the
examination) assign marks and a grade to the module; provided the mark/grade awarded is of pass standard,
the student will be awarded full credits.
d for students who would otherwise be eligible to graduate recommend the award of an aegrotat pass;
provided the mark/grade awarded is of pass standard, the student will be awarded full credits.
4.50 Transcripts should clearly indicate the meaning of a P grade.
4.51 Panels and Boards of Examiners may NOT adjust marks for individual assessed activities in the light of
mitigating circumstances submitted. In the light of mitigating circumstances, Boards of Examiners may exercise
discretion (i) in their decisions in respect of condonation, substitution or progression and/or (ii) in their
recommendations for an award and/or its classification for an individual student.