What are exceptional circumstances?

The University considers an exceptional circumstance:

to be personal circumstances that are out of the control of the student; and
that the student could not reasonably have prevented or accommodated; and
they must have had a significant and demonstratively negative effect on the student’s ability to study or undertake an assessment.

Additionally, the timing of the circumstances must be relevant to the affected assessments and/or period of study. All elements must be met in order to substantiate a claim for exceptional circumstances.

What you need to do

To make a successful claim, you'll need to:

Step 1: Describe your exceptional circumstances and tell us why the situation was out of your control, explaining how you could not have reasonably prevented or accommodated the situation.
Step 2: Explain how the circumstances had a significant and demonstrable negative effect on your ability to study or take an assessment.
Step 3: Show how the timing of the difficulty is relevant to the assessment you’re claiming for.

Timing of the application

Progressing through your assessments on time is generally better than postponing assessments.

If you apply very early, e.g. more than 4 weeks in advance of the assessment, the panel may suggest that you apply again closer to the date of the assessment and provide the most current evidence. This may give you the chance to accommodate the circumstances by the deadline and consider whether you really need to apply for exceptional circumstances.

Exceptional circumstances really must be... exceptional

It’s important to understand that exceptional circumstances really must be exceptional. As a student, you are expected to manage your health and minor illnesses or disruptions alongside your studies. The deadlines for submitting assessments are published when you start a module in order that you have plenty of time to plan, research and complete the work required.

You are expected to work round short-term issues, such as a cold, in the same way that you would if you were employed. This is intended to help you develop your time management skills, which will be transferable skills you will need for whatever you go on to do after university.

Applications for exceptional circumstances longer than 3 days should only be made for genuinely serious situations such as:

exceptional medical circumstances e.g. hospitalisation or incapacitation through injury, illness, or mental health crisis
significant bereavement e.g. family member or close friend
victim of a serious crime
disabilities for which reasonable adjustments are not yet in place and where the delay is not due to the student
legal proceedings requiring attendance
challenging domestic situation (e.g. divorce)
the sudden significant illness of a close family member
disruption related to a student’s status as a sanctuary seeker, including issues around asylum, displacement, or immigration uncertainty.

The University would only expect that a minority of students would need to make an exceptional circumstances application during the course of their studies. If you find yourself needing to make regular applications, it might be that there is more suitable support or other processes which may better suit your situation. Your Student Support Co-ordinator or your Academic Adviser can explore other options with you.

Circumstances which are not generally considered to be exceptional include those events where you are aware of the date well in advance, and are therefore expected to make the necessary adjustments to meet your deadlines.

These include, but are not limited to, the following:

weddings and associated travel arrangements
academic deadline pressures, e.g. multiple deadlines, time mismanagement, general exam stress
deleted work, not-backed-up work or other computer failure
uploading the incorrect assignment, mis-reading assignment deadlines or forgetting to submit an assignment on time
domestic events such as home moves, family celebrations, holidays or other events where you are aware of the date well in advance and are therefore expected to make the necessary adjustments to meet your deadlines
pregnancy and childbirth in and of themselves
sporting commitments related to deadline assessments.

A note on...

Bereavement or traumatic events

We understand that sometimes students experience bereavement or traumatic events which can impact their studies. If your Exceptional Circumstances application relates to one of these, the panel is likely to offer you an initial extension of 3 weeks as standard; this is to allow you some time to begin to process the events and in case you can submit your work in this period and do not want to delay your assignments significantly.

However, the panel understands that this initial allowance may not be long enough and that you may need additional time or another opportunity to take the assessment at a later date. If you are given an initial 3-week extension in relation to a traumatic event and feel the initial allowance is not sufficient, please make another Type C application to say that you need an alternative / additional allowance and mention your previous application.

Exceptional circumstances and the cost of living crisis

We realise that the cost of living crisis will impact many students and for some this may mean having to spend more time in paid employment than they had previously planned, or having increased care responsibilities. There is a University financial support fund students can apply to.

The Careers Service will help students look for employment opportunities. Additionally, we recognise that these kinds of unforeseen circumstances will impact on time you are able to dedicate to your study. If you need to make an exceptional circumstances application for this, please apply through Type C and supply evidence.

We will consider the overall impact the change in circumstances has had on your study time and we will try to compensate accordingly.

Evidence could include:

timesheets evidencing differences in working hours/shift patterns (before vs after)
supporting documentation from employer, care provider, etc
contracts / other communications between student and place of employment or care provider.

You should provide a comprehensive explanation detailing the change in circumstances (i.e. what was your situation before and what is it now and it should include:

the reasons why you are struggling due to increased workload / childcare (and the specific impacts this has had on their ability to complete their studies).
the reasons why the change could not be accommodated by you.

IT problems

Generally, IT-related problems are not considered valid grounds for exceptional circumstances. This is because students are expected to back up their work regularly via their Google Drive, so that they can continue accessing their files on other devices. If you experience IT issues, your are expected to take prompt action to remedy these, for example, by raising a ticket with the IT Service Desk; taking your technology for repair, or contacting your faculty if you need support with faculty-provided software.

If your own device is faulty, there are many open access PCs available for use on campus, or you may borrow a laptop for up to four hours from one of the self-service cabinets on campus. If you cannot come to campus, many local libraries also have computers available.

ADHD medication

We realise there is currently a global shortage of ADHD medication. If you have been impacted by this, you can apply for exceptional circumstances. If possible, please provide evidence of your ADHD diagnosis or your usual prescription, e.g. a letter from the GP, an old diagnostics report, an old prescription etc.

Sanctuary Seeking Students

We understand that students who are seeking sanctuary in the UK, such as asylum seekers, refugees, or those with uncertain immigration status can face a range of academic and personal challenges that make university life harder.

You might be dealing with:

Difficulty understanding course materials or adapting to university life without understanding how to seek appropriate support
Limited access to technology for online learning
Financial pressures, especially with international fees or limited access to funding
Isolation, mental health struggles, or the effects of past trauma
Housing issues or restrictions related to Home Office accommodation
Uncertainty around your immigration status, which can impact your ability to study
Barriers related to language or navigating complex systems like the UK immigration process

Because of these challenges, we know it may not always be possible or safe for you to get formal evidence when applying for exceptional circumstances.

If this applies to you, you can still submit an exceptional circumstances application without supporting documents. Instead, you can write a personal statement explaining:

What’s been going on
How it’s affected your studies
Why you can’t provide formal evidence

We’ll review your application with understanding and respect for your circumstances. Your information will be treated confidentially, and you won’t be disadvantaged for not having documentation.

If you’d like help with your statement or need someone to talk to, you can reach out to:

Sports commitments

We realise some students engage in high performance sports and many represent clubs at a national level, or their country.

If the date of a particular sports engagement falls on the same day as an examination, students should complete the form on the Change Your Exam Date webpage. If the date of the sports event falls on another event assessment, e.g. in-class test, presentation etc., students can use a Type B exceptional circumstances.

We do not accept sporting commitments as an exceptional circumstance for deadline assessments. Students typically have many weeks to prepare for the submission of a deadline assessment. As such, we would expect students to accommodate it by fitting their sporting commitments around work on their assignments.

Example scenarios

Below are some examples of the kinds of situations which are likely to be considered exceptional and some examples of situations which are not. These are not all the possible situations that we might consider to be exceptional, there may be more.

Remember that if you are applying for Type C (an extension of more than three days, or an opportunity to postpone an assessment) you’ll need to provide evidence of your situation and how it is impacting on you.

Here are some scenarios to illustrate:

Parent taken ill

One of your parents is suddenly taken seriously ill two weeks before the Semester 2 exam period. You’re understandably very distressed and want to return home to be with your family. You make a successful claim for exceptional circumstances and the recommended allowance is that you be allowed to submit your coursework and sit your exams in the resit period.

After a few days it is clear that your parent is going to make a full recovery but you feel exhausted and want to stay close by for a little longer. You stay home as agreed during the original assessment period and take your assessments during the resit period, by which time your parent has made a full recovery and you are able to focus on your studies.

Painful toothache

During week 4 of the semester, you experience very painful toothache. You visit the dentist who diagnoses an abscess and prescribes a course of antibiotics. You continue to feel ill for a few days but then recover quickly. You’ve missed some lectures, but are able to catch up with them by speaking to your lecturers as soon as you feel well.

By the time you are due to submit a piece of coursework in week 9, you are fully recovered and back up to date with your work. There is no need to submit a claim for exceptional circumstances, as by the time the assessment was due you were fit to submit the work.

Home was flooded

Your term-time home was flooded in April following extensive rainfall and you were forced to move out and stay in temporary accommodation. You made a successful application for consideration of exceptional circumstances for the May assessment period and the recommended allowance is to sit your assessments in the resit period.

You made a further application in the following semester on the basis that it has taken a long time to get the necessary repairs completed. However this time your application is not successful. This is because the Panel would have deemed that the situation was no longer unexpected and would have expected you to make alternative arrangements.