FAQs

The University is operating a Five Steps process to working safely at Oxford Brookes which we will be implementing for Semester 1, and which aligns with Government guidance on reopening workplaces. The five steps are:

1. Carry out a Covid-19 risk assessment
2. Develop cleaning, handwashing and hygiene procedures
3. Maintain 2m social distancing, where possible
4. Where people cannot be 2m apart, manage transmission risk.
5. Help people to work from home, where possible

Further detail on each of these steps are detailed in the answers below. The full document is also available for you to read. 

Department Managers must ensure that the following five stages are followed before the reopening of their business area is possible:

PPE for faculties and directorates must be procured in line with the University’s procurement framework and usual procurement processes and all costs associated with orders for Covid-19 PPE must be attributed to the Covid-19 Activity code. Please refer to the Requisition of PPE process for further information.

Due to stock availability and lead times it is important this is undertaken as soon as possible. The Procurement Team has advised Directors and Faculty Heads of Operations on the deadlines and arrangements for this. 

The Print Services Team (Brookes Print) have provided appropriate generic signage via an online shop. When using the online shop staff will be required to log in using their staff details. Covid-19 work space signage can then be selected from the drop-down menu. Bespoke signage must be procured directly by the faculty/directorate by emailing printservices@brookes.ac.uk.

A ventilation strategy has been developed for Oxford Brookes’ Health and Safety Group and provides the University with an understanding of the types of ventilation systems within non-domestic buildings and their optimal use in the context of Covid-19. 

Prior to its implementation, the University has considered the potential transmission of Covid-19 and is drawing upon latest industry advice and best practice, as issued by the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers, the Federation of European Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning and the Building Engineering Services Association. Colleagues in Estates and Campus Services will ensure that ventilation systems are operating in such a way to help reduce the risk of viral infection transmission indoors. 

Any requests for changes to ventilation use in the University’s non-domestic buildings, which will be conducted outside of normal business hours, should be raised via Service Now. Staff are encouraged to keep windows open to keep a steady flow of fresh air, particularly in teaching rooms and shared offices. 

We are using the Alama Covid-Age risk assessment tool.

The Alama Covid-age tool helps to assess an individual’s vulnerability to COVID-19. It is based on published evidence for the main risk factors, including age, sex, ethnicity and various health problems. It works by translating the risk associated with each risk factor into years which are added to (or subtracted from) an individual’s actual age. This then gives a single overall measure of vulnerability.

You can read all about the Alama Covid-age tool here. 

The advice is that you should still return to work and we will work with you to mitigate any risks regarding your specific situation. Any anxieties should be raised with your Line Manager in the first instance, who may then seek advice from HR or Occupational Health on how to ensure you keep household members safe. It is important that you keep communicating with us if your situation changes or you have any concerns. 

HR has issued the following guidance for Line Managers. 

The first self-assessment stage will give you and your line manager an immediate outcome. If, however, you need to go through to the second stage then this process may take a few weeks. Due to limited capacity in Occupational Health to process all of the risk assessments which come through to the next stage, we need to prioritise the order in which they are undertaken. This will mean longer waits for some staff and managers to receive the outcome. 

The self assessment form is split into three sections, you will be asked questions about…

• Section 1: Your age, sex, ethnicity and BMI
• Section 2: Any health conditions you may have that fall into the Very High or High risk category for Covid-19, based on published evidence.
• Section 3: Your household context, caring responsibilities, occupational exposure and any anxieties you may have about returning.
• If you have no underlying health conditions in the Very High Risk or High Risk category, AND your Covid-age is low or moderate, then you will be assessed as fit to return to work.
• If you do have underlying health conditions in the Very High Risk or High Risk category, AND/OR your Covid-age is high or very high, then you will need to go through to a further Occupational Health stage risk assessment. Your Line Manager will also need to complete a role-based risk assessment.
• Section 3 of the form asks information for your Line Manager, rather than Occupational Health. They will follow up with you on the answers you have given to these questions, and will involve HR or OH if required.    

Please see the privacy statement for this form.

Your answers to the self-assessment form will be held by Occupational Health (OH).

The outcome of your self-assessment will be sent to your Line Manager, along with the answers you gave to Section 3. There will be no information about specific health conditions in this self-assessment form, only whether you fall into a general category.

In terms of the second stage assessment, your data will be treated with the same level of confidentiality as with any other OH assessment referral. OH will upload your health information onto the OH record system, and will provide you and your manager with an OH Outcome Report.   

The process and criteria for applying for this hotdesking space is set out in Exceptional request process for the ‘hotdesking site’ at Harcourt.

If you are working from home you can apply for tax relief on the Gov.uk website.

For many people, any increased costs from home working are likely to be offset by savings in commuting.

The University will therefore not be making any other financial contribution at this time.

Please take a look at the Working from home in exceptional circumstances guide, available on Moodle, put together by the Health & Safety Team.

The HSE have said there is no increased risk from DSE work for those working at home temporarily. However due to the length of time we have been working at home, we are planning to create an online workstation assessment form for staff to complete. More will be communicated about this by the end of September.

If you are experiencing significant aches, pains or discomfort related to your temporary DSE arrangements, having already reviewed the above DSE checklist, please speak to your Line Manager in the first instance. If this cannot be resolved locally they may suggest a referral to Occupational Health.

Staff who have specialist DSE equipment, such as orthopedic chairs, keyboards, mice etc. can arrange to pick up this equipment from campus. See protocol for collecting equipment from campus and the position statement on purchase of equipment to work from home.

There is also guidance for Line Managers managing teams remotely.  

Yes, but you will still need to seek prior approval from your Faculty or Directorate Operations Manager. Please refer to them if you are unsure about the local arrangements in your department.

If you are coming to site for anything more than a quick collection of books/equipment then you need to complete the OccHealth individual health risk assessment and await a fit to return outcome.

(Note: this outcome will be returned immediately if you are low risk / have a low Covid-age, but if you have underlying health conditions or a high Covid-age then you may need to wait for an second stage OccHealth assessment). 

You do not have to complete the normal HR forms at this time. Please refer to the homeworking guidance circulated by email on 13 March and to the HR webpages and the ITS webpages.

Due to current circumstances, the University has agreed that there should be no large scale events on campus during Semester 1, unless there is an exceptional business case. All event requests will go through a central approval process.

The first step is to get in principle approval from the Director or PVC Dean. If approved, this request will then be submitted via the Event Request Form for approval by the Recovering Steering Group.

In many cases, for the above scenarios, you may be able to simply use your normal office (particularly if it is a single occupancy office). However, due to the requirements of social distancing which reduces the safe capacities of shared offices, it will not always be possible for everyone to use their normal office. In some cases you may need to use a local booking process (e.g. Google Calendar or equivalent) to secure space.

Faculty Operations teams have needed to look across all of the available space to make sure this is allocated according to need, as effectively and safely as possible. They will let all academic staff know what the arrangements will be for them in Semester 1.

Current government advice is to self isolate if you have a new continuous cough or a fever above 37.8 degrees. You should notify your line manager as soon as possible and email covid-19@brookes.ac.uk. You may work from home if you feel able to so. In any event, you will be paid your normal pay and your absence will be recorded as Special Covid-19 Leave. This means that any entitlement under the Managing absence from work due to ill health Policy won’t be affected by this absence.

For clarity, the first seven days of any absence are self certified so there is no need to get a doctor’s certificate.

If the illness includes symptoms of Covid-19, the current advice is to contact NHS 111 online if symptoms persist or worsen and follow their advice. Do not attend a GP surgery or hospital. You should notify your line manager that your symptoms have worsened or continued and that you will not be coming to work and email covid-19@brookes.ac.uk. Our current understanding is that NHS 111 will be able to issue a medical certificate after seven days. You will continue to be paid normally and this will be recorded as Special Covid-19 Leave.

If the sickness absence is for some other illness, you should follow the usual procedure set out Managing absence from work due to ill health Policy and, if necessary, contact your GP in the usual way and follow their advice.

If the reason for your absence is Covid-19 related, you will receive normal pay for the period you self-isolate or are advised not to work. This will be treated as Special Covid-19 Leave and will not affect any entitlement under the Managing absence from work due to ill health Policy.

The most recent Government advice (16 March 2020) is that people over 70, anyone with an underlying health condition or pregnant women should take special precautions.

The University will follow government advice which states that from next weekend (Saturday 21 March) people in these categories should stay at home for 12 weeks. You can continue working from home unless you are unwell. You should discuss your situation with your line manager who will take advice from OH to enable them to complete a Risk Assessment and make an informed decision. You should always follow the specific medical advice given to you.

This 12 week period will be treated as Special Covid-19 Leave and individuals will receive normal pay, or in the case of pregnant women payment as set out in the Maternity Leave Policy depending on due date.

On 16 April the Government extended the curbs on movement, allowing people to leave their homes for only ‘very limited purposes’ including travel to and from work when ‘absolutely necessary’.

In light of this announcement, colleagues at Oxford Brookes should stay at home and not come in to work, unless they are advised otherwise. Your faculty or directorate management team will be in touch with you, if you are needed on campus. Entry to our campuses will be highly restricted over the coming weeks. 

The current government position is that if a person is displaying symptoms, they should self-isolate and if symptoms worsen, contact NHS 111.

If a member of your household is displaying Covid-19 symptoms (raised temperature / fever and cough), you should follow the latest advice and the whole household isolate for 14 days. At the end of that period, you will be expected to return to the working arrangements that have been agreed with your manager which could, for example, be working from home.

You should notify your line manager and email covid-19@brookes.ac.uk. If you are well and are able to work from home, this will be the preferred solution. If you are not able to work from home, you will be paid and this will be recorded as Special Covid-19 Leave.

Update 11 June 2020

The Director of Human Resources wrote to all staff on 11 June to confirm the University was extending its commitment that staff employed directly by the University, who cannot work from home, will be paid 100% of their salary until the end of July. This will be reviewed in mid-July.

In an email to all colleagues on 20 March, the Vice-Chancellor recognised that many staff would be faced with a need to balance caring commitments with work.

Staff who were able to work from home were asked to do what they could, when they could, without the need to use annual leave or other kinds of leave to deliver their caring responsibilities. This continues to be the case and staff should continue to work from home, unless they have been requested to do otherwise.

In the first instance, colleagues should discuss their situation with their line manager to agree how much work they can undertake by working flexibly. 

If your specific hours have already been scheduled in, then the University will honour payment of these hours. This paid time should be used to undertake mandatory training, prepare materials for online delivery or record lectures to be put online at a later date. If your hours have not been scheduled in and if teaching is not going ahead, then, due to the extenuating circumstances, your teaching will no longer be required for this period. However, later on in the year, the University will need to reschedule teaching over a shorter time period and your services will likely be in high demand.

Government advice is if any member of the same household is displaying symptoms then you must all self isolate for 14 days. Contact your line manager and discuss if you are able to work from home. If you are unable to work from home then this will be classed as Special Covid-19 Leave and you will be paid as normal until the self isolation period is over.

The exact adjustment will depend on their situation, and any programme-specific or professional body rules which may apply, but the possibilities, which are dependent on their degree programme and their stage within it, are:

If a student has passed a module, but their mark is lower than their standard mark of the previous semester:

• The student can do nothing and accept the result. They might want to do this if their mark is only slightly lower than their previous standard.
• The student can have an adjustment which means that their marks for these modules will not count towards their final classification average or Grade Point Average: this is called an ungraded pass. They might want to do this if their marks are significantly lower than their previous standard. A student can have ungraded passes applied to a maximum of two module credits in their programme (i.e. two single modules or one double module). When these modules appear on their transcript, it will be clear that they’ve passed the module, but no mark or grade will be listed.
• The student can re-sit these assessments during the Semester 2 resit period (11 - 18 July), for an uncapped mark. We recognise that resitting assessments may not be an attractive option for students who continue to be affected by the current situation, in which case they might want to opt for the ungraded passes as described above.

If a student has failed a module:

• They can re-sit any failed assessment during the Semester 2 resit period (11 - 18 July), for an uncapped mark.
• In certain limited and specific circumstances, a “compensated pass” can be applied to a module that a student may have narrowly failed.

Once a student has read the email and considered the adjustment(s) that they have been offered, they will need to decide which of the adjustments available they would like to accept - if any. The email will contain a link to a simple form where the student can indicate which of the adjustments they would like to take. The student can also use that form to tell us that they would like to accept the mark that they’ve already achieved.

Their responses will then be processed on our system, and any adjustments will appear on their Student Information page within a few days. We will process the responses as quickly as we can, but please advise students to be patient if there is a short delay between their submission of the form and the updates appearing on their Student Information page. A student will only be offered adjustments which are automatically available to them, so if they have selected an adjustment then the student can be reassured that their student record will be updated accordingly. 

The student’s marks will appear on their transcript as they are published on their Student Information page. If any of their marks are replaced with ungraded passes via this process, then they will appear as ungraded passes on their transcript - no marks will be shown, but it will be clear that they have passed the modules.

If any ungraded passes are added to their programme, the marks for those modules won’t count towards the calculation of their final degree average: which is the figure that determines the classification of their degree. This means that the number of modules on which their final average is calculated will be reduced by the number of modules on which a student has an ungraded pass.

If any ungraded passes are added to their programme, the marks for those modules won’t count towards their Grade Point Average. Otherwise, it will be calculated in the usual way.

Yes, it will be online and event assessments (exam resits) will take place between 11 and 18 July.

If a student had resits on any Semester 1 modules, then we recognise that their preparation and focus on these will also have been affected by the current situation.

If a student had capped resits on Semester 1 modules, and they pass those resits, then there is no need to adjust anything, as any pass will be an improvement on what a student previously achieved.

If a student had uncapped resits which a student passes, but the marks for those modules are lower than their previous standard performance, they can have an adjustment applied under this procedure: i.e., for those marks to be replaced by an ungraded pass so that they don’t negatively affect the calculation of their final average.

If a student had Semester 1 resits (capped or uncapped) which they fail, they can, in certain limited circumstances, have a “compensated pass” applied to the module(s) in question (see below for an explanation of the limitations on compensated passes), or they can have a further opportunity to submit or take the assessment during the Semester 2 resit period (11 - 18 July). Please note that this exceptional allowance is only available for resits which were failed in April 2020, in recognition of the sudden disruption that students were faced with at that time. Any Semester 1 resits which were previously capped will remain capped; resits which were previously uncapped will remain uncapped.

If a student has a capped resit, we will be comparing this semester’s marks against the original mark, as this is the fairest and most accurate measure of previous performance. However, if their resit is uncapped (i.e., they were affected by exceptional circumstances at the time of the original assessment) we will discount the previous mark from the calculation.

We have adjusted our assessments to make sure that - within a changed timeframe - we are still giving students the chance to show that they can meet all the Learning Outcomes which are required to pass their modules and their course.

In recognition of the disruption that everyone is currently experiencing, any students who fail Semester 2 modules will be entitled to an uncapped resit, without having to apply for Exceptional Circumstances.

However, it’s important for the value of their award that - even in these disrupted circumstances - a student can say with confidence that they have met all of the required Learning Outcomes for their programme. We also recognise that resits may not be an attractive option for students who are still experiencing disruption as a result of the current situation.

So, if a student does fail any Semester 2 modules, or any Semester 2 resits, then in certain very limited circumstances we may be able to award them a “compensated pass” on a limited number of modules (up to a maximum of 2 module credits at Levels 3 and 4, and a maximum of 1 module credit at Level 5). However, this will depend on how close they have come to passing the module in question and whether they have passed everything else required to progress.

Where applicable, compensated passes will be applied by the Examination Committees which are considering students’ results and will be published with the rest of their results. If a student would rather take an uncapped resit than have the compensated pass, they will need to let us know by responding to the email that we send to them when their results are published. Please note that this only applies to compensated passes which are applied to their first sitting of these assessments: if compensated passes are applied to any Semester 2 resits, a student won’t be able to request a further resit.

If a student doesn’t have enough marks from previous semesters for us to be able to measure their previous standard of performance (e.g. because they started their course in January 2020, or because they started in September 2019 and are in the first year of a programme which consists of ‘long thin’ modules that run over Semester 1 and Semester 2), then we can’t make any definitive judgement on whether they were disadvantaged by COVID-related disruption. However, we have said that we acknowledge that all students will have been affected in some way, so in these instances, we will offer students the opportunity of an ungraded pass or an uncapped resit, which they can choose to take if they think that their performance was of a lower standard than they would have been able to achieve without the COVID disruption.   

If a student passes their resit but their performance is below their previous standard, then as per the process described above, they can have their marks replaced by ungraded passes for up to two module credits. 

If a student thinks they have not been offered the appropriate adjustments, or they haven’t been offered any adjustments and they think they should have been, please advise the student to contact their Student Support Coordinator in the first instance.

If a student thinks that there has been an error in the way we have calculated their marks and eligibility for adjustment, please ask them to contact their Student Support Coordinator in the first instance.

The Academic Adjustment Process should not become a means of circumventing or nullifying any penalty which has been applied following an Academic Conduct investigation. However, the exact relationship between an Academic Conduct penalty and AAP will vary greatly between different cases and we will seek to cross-reference the penalties which have been awarded with students’ eligibility for AAP. If Faculty colleagues are aware of any students whose eligibility for AAP may need to be considered in the light of Academic Conduct penalties, please contact Gavin Barber directly with details.

Exam committees will decide which students are eligible for a compensated pass.

A live dashboard showing which adjustment options have been requested, including the number of resits, will be available to SSCs and ADSEs from 26 June. After 3 July, a report detailing student responses by Faculty will be sent to ADSEs to cascade to Programme Leads and Module Leaders in order to plan exam and coursework resits as necessary.