Making an extenuating circumstances claim

Extenuating Circumstances are unexpected events or situations beyond your control that have seriously affected your ability to:

• Attend a summative assessment event (e.g. an in-class test, exam or presentation).
• Submit an assessment or coursework by the deadline
• Perform to your usual academic standard.

The examples below are not exhaustive but should offer some guidance about the types of circumstances faced by students which may be extenuating circumstances. 

Health-related issues such as short-term illness or injury, flare-ups of existing conditions, newly diagnosed conditions, pregnancy complications.

Personal factors such as bereavement, caregiving challenges, personal crises (such as housing or trauma), technical failures, severe weather or transport disruption, unavoidable work duties, visa or immigration problems, and public service obligations.

Additionally, any other significant issue if it directly affects your academic performance.

If you're unsure whether your situation qualifies, reach out to SU Advice, The Student Wellbeing and Inclusivity Service or your department for advice.

What’s not usually accepted?

Some situations, while difficult, are not considered ECs. These include:

• General workload or time pressure
• Holidays, weddings, or other planned events
• Oversleeping or misreading exam timetables/assessment deadlines
• Financial difficulties common to student life
• Existing health conditions for which you have effective reasonable adjustments

Need more time to submit your coursework or online exam? See if you could submit a late submission.

Even if you've spoken to staff about your situation, you must submit an EC form by the published deadline (see deadlines below).

Speak to your department for advice before submitting a form

Read the policy which explains:

• how the process works
• the criteria for acceptable circumstances
• how to write a statement of impact to explain how your situation has affected your academic performance
• the possible outcomes
• appealing against a decision

Be clear and honest about how your situation affected your work. This helps the committee understand your experience and make a fair decision.

Submit the EC form before the deadline (see deadlines below)

Late claims may not be accepted, so try to submit as soon as possible

Your claim will be reviewed by an Extenuating Circumstances Committee, who will make recommendations to the Board of Examiners. Their goal is to ensure you’re treated fairly and given the best chance to succeed.

You are not typically required to submit external evidence in support of your claim. For most circumstances a statement of impact is sufficient to consider your case. In complex situations, however, you may be asked by your Department to provide supporting evidence, when it is reasonable and proportionate to do so. Your Department will discuss this with you if it applies to your case.

What is a statement of impact?

The University understands that you may face challenging circumstances which impact your assessment from time to time, and that the impact of such circumstances may vary from person to person. So that we can clearly understand how your performance has been impacted by your circumstances, we ask you to write a statement explaining the impact.

In most cases the statement of impact is sufficient to consider an extenuating circumstances claim, however, students may choose to submit other evidence to support their claim.

Relevant evidence should normally be in a written format, rather than images. We ask that you do not upload supporting evidence which includes images that staff reviewing your claim may find distressing.

How to write a statement of impact?

1. Outline the circumstances leading to your request.

Example: On 14 March 2025, I was involved in an accident and fractured my wrist.

2. Specify dates or periods when the issue affected you.

Example: This impacted me from 14 March to 10 May 2025, including during the revision and examination period.

3. Describe the impact on you. Link your circumstance directly to specific academic consequences.

Example: Due to reduced mobility and pain, I was unable to type for long periods, which delayed completion of my coursework. Pain medication also caused drowsiness, affecting concentration during lectures and exams.

4. Mention if the issue is still affecting you, and when you expect it to resolve, if known.

Example: Although my wrist has now healed, I continue to have reduced grip strength and pain which slows my writing and typing. The Doctor expects this to last for around 8 weeks from today.

Please refer to the extenuating circumstances policy for further information on potential outcomes of your request.

If you are unable to submit the Extenuating Circumstances form electronically, please contact your department or the Student Services Hub to request the form in another format. Once completed, submit the form to your department.

If your claim is rejected and you have questions, please contact your department for further information. You can also speak with staff at the Student Services Hub if you feel your individual needs were not fully understood.

If you have a long-term medical condition, specific learning difficulty, or disability, we strongly encourage you to disclose this to your department and the Student Wellbeing and Inclusivity Service as soon as possible, so appropriate support can be arranged.

Practice Placements

If your course requires a practical professional placement, you have additional responsibilities regarding your professional suitability. If you have extenuating circumstances that may affect your performance while on placement, you must disclose this to your department as soon as possible.

If you do not, the University may need to initiate formal procedures such as the Fitness to Practise or Termination of Training Procedures.

This is because failing to disclose your circumstances may cause harm to service users, other members of the public, service providers, other students, or you. Not disclosing may be a breach of professional standards or codes of conduct and bring into question your professional suitability.

If any information provided in an Extenuating Circumstances form raises concerns of professional suitability, it may be shared with relevant internal or external parties. This will only happen when necessary and on a strictly need-to-know basis, to ensure the University complies with its professional suitability obligations.

You will have been informed when you registered as a student if your course is subject to these procedures. Please contact the ELS if you have any questions.

The University is committed to a fair and confidential process for handling extenuating circumstances and recognises that this process may involve the disclosure and handling of sensitive personal information. Information will be processed in line with the UK General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) and Data Protection Act 2018. For further details about how the University processes your personal data please see our Privacy Statement.

If you’re experiencing difficulties, it’s important to let the University know by submitting your Extenuating Circumstances claim as soon as possible and before the deadline. This ensures your circumstances can be properly considered. We encourage you to reach out for support as soon as possible so we can help you navigate the process.

Some departments have specific deadlines for EC claims, as detailed below.

Undergraduate Students

Incoming Study Abroad Students

East15 (Loughton and Southend) Students

Edge Hotel School students

Health and Social Care Students

Deadlines for the submission of Extenuating Circumstances forms have been set based on the date of the Board of Examiners meeting for each course/CPD module.

Please note that claims for courses with in-year reassessment (including credit accumulation programmes Medical & Clinical Education, Advanced Clinical Practice and Advanced Clinical Practitioner), and for CPD modules, should be submitted within seven calendar days of the published assignment submission deadline.

Extenuating Circumstances applications received outside of the above timescale will only be considered by the School's Extenuating Circumstances Committee if you have provided a valid reason why you were not able to submit your claim on time.

What if I missed the EC deadline?

Please contact your department to see whether it is too late to be considered. If you have a valid reason why you were not able to submit your claim on time, the School's Extenuating Circumstances Committee may be able to exceptionally consider it.

How is the deadline set?

They are set based on the meeting date of the Board of Examiners for each course/CPD module.

What about in-year reassessment and CPD modules?

These should be submitted within seven calendar days of the published assignment submission deadline.

What happens next?

Once your claim has been submitted within the deadline, it will normally be considered by a designated group within each department known as the Extenuating Circumstances Committee.

Find out more about how extenuating circumstances are evaluated.

• how your extenuating circumstances are evaluated
• the possible actions that could be taken
• the actions that cannot be taken, for example, we cannot give extra marks

If you are one of the following, please contact your department for the extenuating circumstances claim deadline:

• Postgraduate taught
• Integrated PhD course
• Professional Doctorate where your circumstances have impacted a taught module

Please see separate information for extenuating circumstances procedures for postgraduate research students.