Mitigating Circumstances:
Guidance Notes and MCF1 Form
What are mitigating circumstances?
1. Mitigating circumstances are circumstances outside your control that prevent you from
submitting or presenting your work by the specified submission deadline.
2. You are responsible for managing your learning throughout the duration of your studies and as
such you are expected to manage any unexpected life events that might occur. The University
does however recognise that you may experience circumstances beyond your control, which
can affect your ability to submit your assessments or your assessment performance. In these
cases you can submit a Mitigating Circumstances claim.
Examples of acceptable mitigating
circumstances:
Examples of things that would not be accepted:
Serious short-term illness (for which
Medical circumstances that occurred at a
you have medical evidence)
different time to your assessment(s)
Death of a close relative, friend or
Holiday/employment commitments
partner
Sudden deterioration of a long-term
Financial difficulties
Personal computer/printer problems
health condition
Poor study practice (for example, losing or
Any other unforeseen personal
misplacing your work)
circumstances that have a severe
impact on your assessment(s).
Ignorance of due dates or times
Poor time management
Late disclosure of circumstances as you felt
uncomfortable confiding in a university staff
member.
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What are the different types of mitigating circumstances claims?
3. Prospective
The University generally expects students needing more time to complete their assessments to
submit a prospective mitigating circumstances claim before your submission deadline. Your Course
Leader will consider your claim and decide whether or not to grant an extension.
4. Retrospective
If you have a valid reason for not submitting a claim before the submission deadline, then you can
submit a retrospective claim, after your assessment to be considered by the University’s Mitigating
Circumstances Panel.
5. Unfit to Sit
Unfit to sit claims are also considered by the University’s Mitigating Circumstances Panel and are
claims where you did submit your work on time, but you now want it to be discounted. For example, if
you had mental health problems and can provide a medical certificate to say that you were under a
doctor’s care at the time and were not able to make a rational decision due to the type of illness.
How do I submit a mitigating circumstances claim?
6. Prospective
If you believe that your work is being negatively affected by exceptional and unforeseen
circumstances, including illness warranting a medical certificate, you should fill out a Mitigating
Circumstances Form (MCF1) and hand it in or email it to the Campus Registry in advance of your
submission deadline.
7. Retrospective
If the nature of your circumstances prevents you from submitting a claim before your deadline, you
should fill out a Mitigating Circumstances Form (MCF1) and hand it in or email it to the Campus
Registry Office at least 1 week before the next meeting of the Mitigating Circumstances Panel (the
Campus Registry will be able to let you know the deadline for handing in a retrospective claim).
8. Unfit to Sit
If you submitted your work on time, but now want it to be discounted, you should fill out a Mitigating
Circumstances Form (MCF1) and hand it in to the Campus Registry Office at least 1 week before the
next meeting of the Mitigating Circumstances Panel (the Campus Registry will be able to let you know
the deadline for handing in a retrospective claim).
9. Mitigating Circumstances forms are available from each Campus Registry Office or can be
downloaded from:
Mitigating Circumstances: Regulations & Guidance Page 2
MyUCA (MyUCA > A-Z > Mitigation Circumstances & Guidance Notes) or the UCA website
(http://www.uca.ac.uk/quality-assurance-enhancement/university-regulations-policies-andprocedures/).
10. If your prospective claim is not accepted you will still have to meet your assessment deadline.
Otherwise this will be treated as non-submission and you will be awarded a mark of zero (0).
11.
If you are able, but choose not to submit a mitigating circumstances claim at the time your
circumstances are impacting on your assessment(s), you should be aware that it is highly unlikely that
any retrospective or unfit to sit claim will be accepted. If you submit a mitigating circumstances claim
form after your deadline, you must clearly state why you were unable, or for valid reasons unwilling,
to submit the claim before your submission deadline.
What evidence should I submit in support of my claim?
12.
Your claim is highly unlikely to be accepted without any evidence. Evidence should be
independent, third party evidence and should include date(s) relevant to the assessment(s) in
question.
Accepted forms evidence may include:
a. A death certificate or interim death certificate or other evidence (for example, an order of
service);
b. Medical or health certificate (with relevant date to the assessment);
c. Letter of support or explanation from an external or University support service where you
are already receiving ongoing support. For example, Counselling;
d. Letter of support or explanation from third party medical or other professional;
e. Letter from the Learning Support Manager to evidence a disadvantage to your learning.
For example if the requirement for occasional extensions forms part of your Learning
Support Agreement. It should be noted that being disabled or having a specific learning
difference is not in itself a reason for requiring an extension.
What outcomes can I expect following consideration of my mitigating
circumstances?
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13. Your assessment marks cannot be changed as a result of a successful mitigating circumstances
claim.
14. We expect that most mitigating circumstances will be resolved by giving an extension to the original
assessment submission deadline. The extension should be equal to the number of days lost or
expected to be lost due to your mitigating circumstances. Students who put in a successful ‘unfit to
sit’ mitigation claim will normally be given the opportunity to resubmit their assessment(s) as if for
the first time.
Who can help me with my mitigating circumstances claim?
15. Staff at the Campus Registry will be able to advise you on how to go about submitting a mitigating
circumstances claim and the sort of evidence you will need.
16. You can also contact the Students’ Union for help and advice at [email protected]
17. For further details including information on how mitigating circumstances claims are considered,
please see the Mitigating Circumstances Regulations available to download at:
http://www.uca.ac.uk/quality-assurance-enhancement/university-regulations-policies-andprocedures/
Form MCF1
Mitigating Circumstances Form
Please complete ALL relevant sections of the form, including the original assessment deadline. Please include corroborative
evidence with your claim. Claims without accompanying evidence are unlikely to be accepted.
Please read the guidance notes and Mitigating Circumstances Regulations at http://www.uca.ac.uk/quality-assuranceenhancement/university-regulations-policies-and-procedures/ before completing this form. You may wish to seek advice from
your Campus Registry Office, Unit Tutor or Course Leader, or from the Students’ Union, on how to complete this form.
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If your disability is the reason you require an extension, you should use this form. It should be noted that an extension will ONLY
be granted where your Learning Support Agreement specifies that you will require occasional extensions for reasons arising
from your disability. (Please note this does NOT include specific learning differences.)
Student information
Name:
Student Number:
Course Title:
(e.g. BA Fine Art)
Campus:
Year of Course:
(e.g. 2nd year)
Contact details – please note that contact will be via email unless otherwise specified
UCA:
Email address(es):
Personal:
Phone number:
Contact address:
Assessments affected
Unit Title:
Unit Code:
Original deadline:
New deadline (for
staff use only):
Unit Code:
Original deadline:
New deadline (for
staff use only):
Unit Code:
Original deadline:
New deadline (for
staff use only):
Unit Code:
Original deadline:
New deadline (for
staff use only):
Assessment component/task:
Assessment component/task:
Assessment component/task:
Unit Title:
Assessment component/task:
Assessment component/task:
Assessment component/task:
Unit Title:
Assessment component/task:
Assessment component/task:
Assessment component/task:
Unit Title:
Assessment component/task:
Assessment component/task:
Assessment component/task:
Use another sheet if more than 4 units are affected
Nature of mitigating circumstances
Serious short-term illness
Sudden Deterioration of a long term medical condition/disability
Death of close relative, friend or partner
Other. Please state:____________________________________________
Please tick here if you have a Learning Support Agreement in place
Please give details of your mitigating circumstances and describe how these circumstances have affected your
assessment. Please state the amount of study time (days/weeks) lost due to these circumstances:
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For retrospective and/or ‘unfit to sit’ claims
Please state why you were unable/unwilling to submit a prospective mitigating circumstances claim (claims without this
information are unlikely to be considered):
Declaration
I confirm that I have completed this form in full, and that I have included appropriate documentary evidence. I have read and understood the
guidance notes accompanying this form, the University’s Mitigating Circumstances Regulations and I believe that I am entitled to special
consideration in respect of the assessment tasks stated above. I understand that the University regards the submission of false information as a
very serious offence.
Signed …………………………………………………….
Date ……………………………….
Please submit this form to your Campus Registry Office, either by hand, by post or by email.
Mitigating Circumstances: Regulations & Guidance Page 6
FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
For Campus Registry Office Use
Date Received ……………………………..
Prospective
Retrospective
Unfit to sit
Out of time
For Prospective Claims – Course Leader’s Use Only
Yes for all
units
1
Outside the student’s control?
2
Unforeseen and unforeseeable?
3
Acute?
4
Evidenced to be true?
5
Contemporaneous with assessment(s) in question?
6
Will prevent student from submitting or presenting for assessment by due date?
Yes - for these
units only (list unit
codes):
No - for
all units
Accepted for all units
Accepted for following units only (rejected for all others): _________________________________________________________
Rejected for all units
Course Leader Signature (for extensions up to 3 weeks)
________________________________
Date
_____________________
Head of School Signature (for extensions longer than 3 weeks) __________________________
Date
_____________________
All retrospective and unfit to sit claims for mitigating circumstances will be considered by the University’s Mitigating
Circumstances Panel and the decisions communicated to the Campus Registry who will in turn inform the student.
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