When a case is referred to a formal hearing of the disciplinary process, students will receive an invitation to the hearing.  Within this students should receive the details of the case, procedural information an signposting to support.  Sometimes, between a case being referred and the invitation being sent out, a bit of time could pass as there may not be any hearings scheduled, people's availability needs to align etc. 

To reduce anxiety and keep the student informed, it is good practice to confirm to a student that a referral has been made, particularly if it is anticipated that a hearing invitation (or Fast-Track decision) will be some time away.  This confirmation could be an email or a letter from the referring area or the team setting up the disciplinary panel.  The correspondence could:

• Advise that a referral has been received
• Give an indicative timeframe for when the case is expected to be heard
• Indicate the usual format of the hearing (i.e. online)
• Advise when the student might next hear about the case (e.g. at least 5 (for SDPs) / 10 (for UDPs) working days before the hearing)
• Suggest what the student can do in the meantime (e.g. prepare a response, arrange to speak to a supporter for the hearing, read policy information)
• Signpost to the Students’ Union, the Counselling and Mental Health Service and the Student Support webpage

Procedural requirements

For Summary Disciplinary Panels (SDPs) students should receive 5 working days notice of a hearing.  The day of the invitation would be taken as a working day (assuming it goes in working hours), there are then at least 4 full working days between the invitation and the hearing, and the hearing takes place on day 6.  So, if notification of a hearing went out on a Monday, then the hearing would take place the following Monday.  

For University Disciplinary Panels (UDPs) students should receive 10 working days notice of a hearing.

Disciplinary hearings take place across the year, including outside scheduled teaching and learning activity.  However, notice periods need to be extended where there are bank holidays or during University closure as these are not viewed as working days.   

The procedural notice periods are considered reasonable to allow students to seek support and prepare for the case.  The notice periods will only be reduced for hearings with the student's agreement.

Outside of hearings, such as investigations or suspensions, there is less formality around length of notice period. 

Exams

Hearings will not be usually be scheduled to take place during a student's examination period (usually in part of January, May and August).  This does not include coursework periods.  However, notice of a case or an invitation may be issued during an examination period.  Similarly, Fast-Track letters (particularly if a student is already aware of a case or the case is not particularly contentious) may be issued during exam periods.

Potential welfare issues

Where there are potential significant support issues concerning a student that are known to the team handling the case e.g. the student is unwell, the case could be allocated to a hearing date which allows for some time to pass so that the issues are affecting a student less prominently. 

If there are anticipated complexities to a case, whether from a support perspective or otherwise, students could be given longer than the normal notice period to prepare.  This may not be needed if there has already been a fuller disclosure of the case to the student such as at the end of an investigation.

It would not be appropriate to delay a case for an unreasonable period of time as it will be necessary for the case to be heard.  However, if the student withdraws before the hearing, a view may be taken (in discussion by the case handlers, Chair etc) to not proceed with the hearing.

The student on receipt of the invitation may request that a hearing is postponed; the Chair of the hearing can agree to this or can postpone the hearing for other reasons.  In any event, requests for postponement for welfare reasons will be carefully considered.

Length of hearings

The length of hearings will vary.  Individuals involved in a case should look at the subject of the case, its complexity, whether the case will be contentious, and who is, and how many people are, involved. Summary hearings should be scheduled for around an hour, University hearings for around 3 hours.  These can take place across the working day (Monday-Friday), but it may be advisable to avoid 9am in case there are any issues with attendance or in case correspondence has been received that needs to be reviewed.

Some complex hearings may take place over, and beyond, a full day.  Ideally these would be consecutive and not cross over a weekend. 

A hearing held on a Friday should ensure that it ends before 4pm so that students still can access support if they need it.  Staff can check when a support service / individual is available and factor this into identifying an appropriate end time for lengthy hearings.

The Procedure for Summary Disciplinary Panels and the Procedure for the University Disciplinary Panel state that the default mode for hearings is that they will take place is online.  An online hearing carries a range of benefits, including from an accessibility perspective for all attendees and it can accomplish much the same as a hearing in-person.

Students can request in-person hearings and they tend to do so when they wish to meet the panel to state their case.  Such a request would need to be considered by the Chair to confirm, though this will not be unreasonably refused, particularly if there are high-level support needs, the outcome may be significant and the case is complex. 

The challenges for in-person hearings are commonly to do with space (having enough rooms close together and with sufficient IT facilities) and availability (can everyone attend campus).  Therefore, though a request may be submitted, and it may be possible to agree to, it may delay the hearing from going ahead.  In such a circumstance, if the student has already been advised of a date, but a delay of beyond 1-2 weeks is expected because of the request, it is recommended that the student be advised of the postponement to see if they wish to revert to the original online hearing; some students may prefer to get the hearing over with.

In hearings expected to run over a number of days, it may be possible to adopt a hybrid approach so that part of the hearing is in person and the other part online.

Where the student is known to have significant support needs (e.g. has referred to / attempted self-harm in the past) and the potential penalty may also be of a high level, the University may consider that an in-person hearing is more suitable for the student and may pre-emptively arrange this prior to sending the student the hearing invitation.  Factors that may be relevant include:

• The significance of the welfare issue.
• Has the student indicated a preferred mode of attendance?
• Whether the student has a Supporter, who this is and whether they can attend.
• Is the student in-attendance / on-campus at the time of the hearing?
• If the hearing is delayed, might this negatively affect the student (and others involved)?

An invitation to an investigation meeting or disciplinary hearing will set out what the case is about, link to relevant policy, say when the meeting/hearing is taking place, a student’s rights at the stage of the process they are at and will include a section on support.

A student is usually able to submit an advance written statement.  Students need not submit a statement if they choose not to.  Late statements will only be accepted at the discretion of the case handler / disciplinary panel.  For disciplinary hearings, there is a template form that guides a student on what to include in their statement, albeit the content of the statement is for a student to produce, not for the University to advise on.

Invitations will include information on support, notably a student's ability to attend a hearing with a Supporter (and range of people who may occupy this role - fellow student, member of staff, Students' Union), it will signpost to Counselling and it will ask students whether they wish to request any reasonable adjustments for a DASS-related condition.

The invitation will be sent on 5 working days’ notice for SDPs and 10 working days’ notice for UDPs.  A longer notice period is advisable where there are known support needs or the case is complex.

The invitation need not be copied to a student’s School in all cases.  At summary level, notification may be copied to a School (and/or referring area e.g. ResLife) where there is a need for the School to be aware of the case in advance of a hearing.  At University level, the invite will be shared with the School (and/or referring area) as standard.  The School and any other appropriate areas of the University will be advised of any suspension-related cases.  Notification of investigations will be handled on a case-by-case basis by the investigator.  A notification may allow other areas of the University to reach out to the student from a support perspective. 

TBC

Disabilities

Individuals involved in casework may not have routine access to records which advise whether a student is in the process of registering with DASS or is already DASS registered (and if so for what condition and what a support plan states).  However, this information may become known during the process of handling a case. 

A hearing invite should prompt a student to disclose DASS registration if they wish to request any reasonable adjustments to a hearing.  This places it in the control of the student to make a condition known and to request adjustments.  These can be considered pre-emptively if there is a known support need.  Common adjustments may include:

• Extended notice period / considering postponement to scheduled hearings.
• Scheduled breaks during a hearing (e.g. 5 mins on the hour) or considering requests for breaks during the hearing.
• Live transcript on screen (for online hearings).
• Papers being more easily navigable e.g. contents page, page numbers etc
• Considering whether the hearing be in-person – if so, are the rooms sufficiently accessible.
• Extending the run time of the hearing.
• Allowing a Supporter to have a more active role in the hearing e.g. more opportunities to address the Panel, or allowing a Supporter to be from outside the University.

DASS registration is based on a student’s condition requiring reasonable adjustments in a teaching and learning setting; support plans are not created with adjustments to disciplinary hearings in mind as not all students go through this process.  If there are queries regarding potential reasonable adjustments to a hearing DASS can be contacted for advice.

If the condition may be relevant to the finding of a case (e.g. were it not for X condition, X may not have happened) then it is for a student to make this argument.  However, if such an argument is set out, and this has not already been considered prior to a case referral, it may be reasonable to submit queries to the DASS or other specialist area for their view.  With the agreement of a disciplinary panel Chair, this may extend to the involvement (whether in person or in writing) of expert witnesses in a hearing.  This has been arranged in the past where a student has referenced a condition as a contributing factor in the committal of serious alleged misconduct.  However, there are challenges to this type of involvement, and it should be considered very carefully, as a witness / service may not have diagnosed or engaged with the student to be able to comment more than generally and it may be considered that the involvement of a service may hinder future support-engagement by the student.

If a student discloses a condition during the disciplinary process which they have not disclosed to the University previously, then students should be offered a referral to DASS (and advised that they can approach DASS themselves in the alternative).  If the student consents to the referral, the referral will usually be made following the conclusion of the hearing.

Mental health

A student may disclose mental health challenges during the disciplinary process.  All students will be signposted to the Counselling and Mental Health Service as a matter of routine.  If students have already engaged with Counselling, it may be that they have a nominated Counsellor who they can contact directly.  If not, then students will need to contact the service more generally in order to be put in contact with a Counsellor.  The service is normally open Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm, and there is a Duty Counsellor available each day.  This doesn’t, however, mean that a student can be seen, or spoken to, by a Counsellor immediately on the day they request this as Counsellors may be engaged in other work.

Students are welcome to submit statements from Counselling during the disciplinary process.  Casehandlers will not seek a statement from a student’s Counsellor or ask for access to a student’s confidential records.  It is for the student to decide whether to divulge this information.

If a hearing is taken place in-person on campus, a student could be escorted to Counselling afterwards if they need this.  Within the Advice and Response Team if an in-person meeting is being held, it may be possible to hold this (numbers / availability dependent) in the Crawford House meeting room as this is only one floor down from Counselling.  

Where a student has significant mental health needs, Counselling may be alerted to an upcoming hearing date (and then subsequently advised when the hearing has concluded), so that Counselling can reach out to the student if required.  Counsellors will not be provided with the full materials for a case, only high-level details.  This approach may be mirrored with other pastoral support services for the student.

Hearings may need to be scheduled for certain days and times to minimise the impact of announcing decisions which students may not respond well to, unless there are benefits to concluding a case e.g. the student wants to know the outcome, the Panel are close to finalising a decision etc.  A Panel may opt to reach a decision, but postpone informing the student of this to an appropriate point in time.  It is recommended hearings do not continue past 4pm so a student can still access support internally.  Students will be signposted to external support as required.   

If a student receives a decision that means their registration is paused (e.g. suspension, exclusion) or ended (e.g. expulsion), signposting to Counselling will still be made and there is likely to be some limited access for students in these circumstances.  Counselling can set the limits of this support with the student, but they need to ensure any access is in line with the parameters set by the disciplinary process e.g. is the student allowed to be on campus.

Gender based violence, safeguarding and hate

Cases of this nature are normally first considered through the Assessment stage of the disciplinary process.  Any students making a report of this nature can do so through the Report and Support platform.  This will put a reporting party in contact with an Advice and Response Caseworker for practical and emotional support and confidentiality is maintained insofar as possible e.g. it will not be routinely requested that a Caseworker’s notes are used within the disciplinary process.

Respondents to cases of this nature will also be entitled to access an independent Advice and Response Caseworker for an equitable level of support. 

It will be for the Reporting Party and Respondent to decide whether they wish to have an allocated Caseworker.  If they do, some correspondence about the disciplinary process may be shared with their Caseworker e.g. dates of hearings, outcome etc, and Caseworkers may be asked to reach out to their students.  Caseworkers are well placed to have conversations with their students about what the disciplinary process may involve. 

A student can attend most meetings during the disciplinary process with a Supporter.  It is for the student to approach individuals to act in this capacity and will be for those individuals to decide whether to act in the role being requested.

For Reporting Parties, where a case is referred to a disciplinary panel, Caseworkers can advise of the potential to attend as a witness and to submit an Impact Statement.  Where a Caseworker has been advised by a Reporting Party that they wish to attend a hearing, this will be communicated to the disciplinary panel casehandler to then review whether a witness is required, and if so, it will issue a formal invitation to a hearing.  A witness may attend a hearing with their Caseworker for support.

The conclusion to a disciplinary case does not mean that the support from a Caseworker will automatically come to an end.  It will be for the Caseworker to manage continued contact based on the needs of the individual and/or case outcome.