Extenuating Circumstances

Extenuating circumstances (EC) claims and supporting evidence should be submitted within 5 working days of the deadline for the assessment item affected by the EC's after you have considered requesting a short extension of time if this is more suitable.

Evidence must be supplied with your EC claim and must coincide with the submission dates. 

It is important to remember that if you are requesting consideration of Extenuating circumstances that you do not attend or submit for the assignment as to do so you are confirming that you are "fit to sit" and any Extenuating circumstances claim will be disregarded. 

ECs will not be accepted after the Module confirmation process has taken place, If you feel that you have not been able to engage with the EC process then you may wish to consider submitting for academic appeal after you have received your formal results following the assessment and award boards. 

If you have not engaged with the EC process in time but feel you have grounds that need to be considered then you can submit an appeal once you have received your most recent transcript.  If you appeal on ground of Extenuating Circumstances you will need to provide evidence that you were not capable of understanding that your performance was likely to be affected seriously by ill health 
and/or its treatment and this confirmation has the written support from a psychiatrist or mental health practitioner who has been treating the you over a period of time. A GP may also give support if they are aware of :

(a) treatment or referrals to such specialists

(b) an incident close to the assessment date that may have temporarily affected the student’s capacity 
to take decisions. 

Yes you still need to present a completed EC claim. The panel can only consider claims that have been submitted on a fully completedExtenuating Circumstances Claim Form 

This is to preserve confidentiality in the process, and to ensure we get your information reliably if your tutor is not at work throughout.

If you are having trouble filling in or sending the form, please email assessment@cumbria.ac.uk for advice.

In exceptional cases, if you are incapacitated (either due to a physical or mental illness) and therefore not able to complete the EC form yourself, the form may be completed on your behalf by a member of staff (e.g. Personal Tutor, Programme Leader). However, it is your responsibility to contact the member of staff and ask them to do this for you, the panel will need to see evidence that you have asked the member of staff to complete this form for you.

Your claim may be deemed invalid if you fail to provide enough information or evidence for the panel to consider your case. It is essential that you include module codes, titles and submission dates on your form. You must also give a clear and concise explanation about how your circumstances have impacted on your study which has led to your claim for extenuating circumstances.

If you have submitted or attended the assignment then your EC claim will be disregarded. 

The following are examples of documents that may be considered as evidence:

• Medical certificate
• Hospital / doctor's Letter
• Solicitor’s letter
• Death Certificate

Students should keep their Personal Tutor informed of any adverse personal circumstances. Where circumstances are of a nature that make it difficult to obtain independent evidence and your course tutor or personal tutor is aware of your situation they may provide a letter of support as evidence on your behalf. 

Where medical evidence is supplied it should include dates, time frame and a medical opinion about the likely effect of illness on your ability to study for and/or submit for assessment.

Documentary evidence must be independently verifiable and therefore letters from family members or friends will not be accepted. Newspaper articles, copies of internet pages or photographs (of any nature) will not be considered as verified evidence unless such documents directly link you to the circumstances/news stories being discussed. 

Any information submitted as part of an academic appeal and/or extenuating circumstances claim which subsequently is identified as fraudulent will be disregarded from the purpose of the EC/appeal.  If you submit fraudulent information you may be referred for consideration under the Adjudication Procedure and/or Disciplinary Procedure or Fitness for Professional Practise Procedure

If your ECs are deemed ‘not valid’ the original assessment result will be confirmed and if you are entitled to a reassessment opportunity this will proceed as normal.

To ensure confidentiality EC claims are considered by a panel prior to the Module Confirmation Process (MCP).

The panel considers whether the circumstances are valid and the decision is reported at the MCP who recommend the next course of action to the University Progression and Award Board (UPAB).

Decisions of the EC panel remain provisional until confirmed by the MCP and UPAB and you will not be notified of the outcome until the official release date of results following the UPAB.

Once the EC panel has met and a decision made, you will be advised if your  Extenuating Circumstances claim has  been deemed valid or not valid.   

The outcome and any dates for submission will be confirmed following the Module Confirmation Process (MCP) and University Progression and Award Boards (UPAB) and sent to you in your transcript of results and in ICON.

IMPORTANT : If you have submitted or attended the assignment but this is not apparent at the time of the EC  Panel you need to be aware that any recommendation of the panel will be overturned and voided. By submitting or attending  you have declared that you are "Fit to Sit" and your mark will stand.

Once the outcome has been confirmed by the Assessment Boards the EC decision will be displayed on your Statement of Results and in ICON along with your module result.

The recommendation will likely note: EC (Valid), followed by an assessment recommendation, or EC (Not valid).

If your claim for extenuating circumstances has been deemed valid, there are a number of likely outcomes:

Depending on your number of attempts at the submission you will be offered either:

• a deferred initial attempt ( mark will not be capped at 40% if at level 3,4,5,6 or 50% at level 7) if you have not yet submitted any attempt at the assessment (first submission) 
• a deferred reassessment attempt (mark will be capped at 40% if at level 3,4,5,6 or 50% at level 7) if you have already submitted your initial attempt and are due to submit for reassessment attempt. 

Depending on your EC claim and the details competed in the EC form there may be some instances when you may receive a valid EC outcome for one element of assessment within a module but not another - particularly where there are significant differences in submission dates within the module. 

In such cases,  it is may be that the earlier assessment attempt is to be offered first as the outcome of this assessment may impact on the potential requirement for the remaining assessment to be undertaken.

You can see some examples of the impact of EC claims and impact on assessment offered in accordance with the current regulations.

Further information on the University’s policies and procedures on Extenuating Circumstances can be found within the Academic Regulations.

Staff in the Assessment and Awards team (assessment@cumbria.ac.uk) will be able to provide further help and information you can contact them by email with details of your questions and remember to include your student number and if needed a suitable contact number and time you are available for a call or email reply.

If your situation is of a sensitive nature and you wish to speak to a member of the Assessment and Awards Team in private, please inform them of this so that they can make suitable arrangements to call you.

You can also speak to your Personal Tutor or Programme Leader to seek advice before submitting ECs and the discussion of possible extension dates.

Staff within the Students’ Union will also be able to provide advice and assistance.

We are committed to providing mental health support for all students to help you get the most out of your university experience, whatever your circumstances may be, if you need more information on what support is available to you at this time please visit Mental Health and Wellbeing | MyCumbria

For more information on other student support services available to you at this time such as finance, library Skills, safeguarding then please visit Student Services | MyCumbria

You may find these EC Case studies for Students useful.