Counselling

Extenuating Circumstances Form (ECF)

When unforeseen personal difficulties have resulted in you being unable to submit or sit  assessments, you may want to make an application for 'extenuating circumstances'.  This requires you to make a personal statement and have it affirmed by someone who knows you, for example a member of your family, or an academic tutor, or a counsellor.  Your tutor or departmental office can give you details of how this works, and the correct forms to use.

If you are seeing a counsellor, you can talk to them about whether it is appropriate for the Service to provide a letter of support for your ECF.  Often we are happy to do this where the situation clearly warrants it.  We cannot normally give a supporting letter where the only session you attend is for the purpose of asking for an ECF: we do need to know you in order to provide something meaningful to the department. 

Although we understand that deciding to use an ECF form may be a last minute decision, please also bear in mind that they take time to prepare, for you and for us, and we cannot provide something without a few days' notice, even when you are known to us.