The Students’ Union Advice Service

Meet the Team! Lorna Chambers - PT Advice Service Manager Rebekah Ollerenshaw – FT Student Advisor Susanna Barton – FT Student Advisor (from April 2013)

Opening Times The Advice Service is open Monday to Friday 10am – 4pm, throughout the year (excl. Christmas) During these times we run a drop-in service, appointments and advise by telephone and . Information is also available on our website:

We advise on most issues: Academic Finance Housing Wellbeing

Academic Mitigating Circumstances Academic Appeals Complaints Academic Malpractice Conduct & Discipline Fitness to Practice

Case Study UG Nursing Student, 3 rd yr Fraudulent signature identified on student’s Ongoing Record of Achievement. Student had mitigating circumstances relating to ill health at time of signing them. Student has been to H&C Committee who referred them to a Fitness to Practice hearing. We advised the student on how to prepare, including help with writing a statement and attended the hearing with them. Outcome – Student to visit OH for sign off and 6 month additional placement. PGT Student Student committed 2 nd offence regarding plagiarism and was referred to the Student Discipline Committee. Outcome – excluded from university Advised student regarding an appeal on procedural irregularity as their friend had not been used in the capacity of witness as they had hoped for. Outcome – An Appeal Board meeting was called which we attended with student and witness. The appeal was not upheld. We then advised regarding the option of appealing to the OIA.

Finance Student Finance -Eligibility, Appeals and Complaints Postgraduate Funding Benefits General Hardship - ALF, BH Fund, Additional Funding Emergency Loans

Case Study UG Student, 1 st year Student had 4 years previous study, SFE reduced it to 3 years due to mitigating circumstances but the student felt the other 3 years were also affected. Advised regarding an appeal and the evidence required and edited a draft appeal letter written by the student. We also wrote a supporting letter stating the relevant regulations and calculations trying to get the student additional funding. Outcome – Ongoing. PGT Student Student was registered blind and their Housing Benefit had been stopped. Advised that despite FT student status, they were still eligible for HB and that they should appeal. Outcome – successful; student received HB.

Housing Looking for Accommodation Tenancy Contract Check Getting Repairs Done Utility / Billing Issues Ending / Transferring a Tenancy Deposits Small Claims Court

Case Study UG student had been assaulted by a fellow tenant and consequently they wished to leave the tenancy agreement. Outcome – We contacted the lettings agency on their behalf and the landlord agreed to end the tenancy agreement early releasing them from contract liability. UG student had not received their deposit back due to a number of charges set by the landlord. The deposit was protected but the time limit on contacting the organisation has passed. We discussed the charges with the student with regards to what was reasonable And what was not; e.g. TV rental charge unreasonable as contract stated TV provided and no charge was stated. We liaised between the tenant and the landlord negotiating the charges.

Wellbeing We advise students on wellbeing issues which might then lead to a referral to specialist services such as the University Counselling Service, Occupational Health, their GP or the Police. Wellbeing issues can include: pregnancy, depression, homesickness, assault, harassment, discrimination, domestic violence… We provide supplies relating to welfare issues: FREE STUFF – Condoms, Femidoms, Dental Dams Emergency Tampons Personal Alarms We also sell Mooncups at £10 each

Case Study UG student had recently been feeling depressed and was struggling with their course. We advised them to contact the University Counselling Service and their local GP. We also advised that they could speak to the DSO. Discussed the ability to submit mitigating circumstances regarding any current assessments and the possibility of an interruption if needed. Hate Crime Reporting Centre This means that students can visit us to report a crime if they feel that it was motivated by an offenders hatred of a person’s: Disability, Gender or gender identity, Race, colour, ethnic origin, nationality or nations origins, Religion or Sexual orientation

What can’t we advise on?  Immigration Home/Overseas fee status Student Finance eligibility Whilst we will liaise between students and the credit control team regarding debts to the University, we cannot currently advise on wider debt problems.

Advice Service – Case Statistics Academic336 Finance401 Housing176 Wellbeing107 TOTAL1020 Academic217 Finance284 Housing133 Wellbeing199 TOTAL 833 Aug 2011-Jul 2012 Aug – Dec 2012

Gender Male – 215 Female – 219 Not Specified – 80 Advice Service – Client Statistics Faculty EPS – 85 H – 219 LS – 33 MHS – 71 Not Specified – 106 From August – December 2012 we saw 514 students: Fee Status Home – 237 EU – 24 Overseas – 63 Non Students – 19 Not Specified – 171

Any Questions???