Discipline

You can report other students to us if they break the University’s Code of Conduct.

The Code says that students in any situation, in any part of the University or when involved in any activities to do with the University including those done away from University premises or online they must:

• behave responsibly and with consideration, courtesy and respect towards others;
• not act in a way that could endanger, or cause harm or any form of distress to any other person;
• not engage in behaviour which causes offence or distress because of the protected characteristics in the Equality Act 2010;
• use the University's facilities or services with care;
• act within the law and follow the University’s rules and regulations;
• not interfere with the normal working of the University or any of its facilities or services;
• not bring the University into disrepute by any of their actions.

The University will not tolerate any behaviour that amounts to an offence against a person including assault, sexual assault or sexual violence, domestic violence or discrimination or harassment of any kind, whether verbal or physical either in person, written or online and such misconduct will be dealt with severely.

Call us on the Student Services Information Point number on 01244 511550. Students at all sites, except Warrington, can email universityproctor@chester.ac.uk and students at Warrington campus should use the email universityproctor.warr@chester.ac.uk.

You can also write using the Report a Concern tool.

You can ask us to keep your identity anonymous but this will limit our ability to investigate your complaint and we would encourage you to consider giving your full details in the strictest confidence and we will signpost support if you feel you need it as a result.

We will give you further information about the implications of remaining anonymous when you contact us.

Your report would be shared only on a need to know basis with those involved in your case.

We will tell you about our privacy policy when we meet you with.

There may be occasions, where because we consider there may be risk of harm to yourself or others or we are legally required to, we may break confidentiality and we would talk to you about this before acting.

You can. Where an informal resolution is possible we will work with you to find the best suitable outcome. However, if we consider the information you provide represents a risk of harm to you, other students, staff or members of the public we may have to act without your permission. We will also have to act if we are legally required to. We will discuss this with you before acting.

We will contact you to arrange to meet to discuss your report in more detail to establish the full circumstances so we can fully understand your report. 

This may be a face-to-face meeting, a Teams or phone appointment.

We may ask the Senior Case Worker in the Proctor’s Office, who is an experienced investigator, to hold this initial meeting. The Proctor and their deputies are fully trained and will not be surprised by anything you wish to tell them.

You can. It is best that anyone coming with you is not directly involved in the case. If you are discussing sensitive personal matters you can always ask that the person steps out of the meeting.

We will introduce ourselves and explain our role and how we work.

We will then take an initial account from you, make an initial assessment and discuss your options going forward.

We will write down your statement and we will make an audio recording of the meeting. If this is a Teams meeting there will also be a video recording which will be recorded as a written statement and you will be asked to sign this as a true account.

This is so we have an accurate record of the meeting.

We will ask you key points and details of the circumstances of the case for example, what happened, where and when it happened, who was responsible and if there were any witnesses to the incident.

We will ask you for any evidence that you may have, for example, if the incident happened online screenshots of any online messages or posts. We would encourage you to keep tangible evidence that you may have that may help us in establishing the facts.

We work on a common law basis and we are trained to be ethical, fair and impartial. This means that we gather evidence from the person making the report and we then gather other evidence from other sources including CCTV, witnesses, social media and digital footprints along with the reported person’s account.

Where we consider that the matter can be resolved at an informal level we will consider whether the evidence provided shows that the report is more likely than not to have happened.

Where we think that incident will need to be sent to a Student Discipline or Professional Suitability panel, we provide the panel with the evidence and the panel then decide whether the evidence provided shows that the report is more likely than not to have happened. There are FAQs on these panels and their outcomes in the Reported Student FAQs on this page.

You will be asked to attend any formal panels regarding your report and this can be in person or on Teams. This is your opportunity to tell the panel about what happened. We will discuss arrangements for this with you and we make efforts to ensure that we are sensitive to your needs around doing this as far as possible.

We understand that the process of reporting is not always easy and the wellbeing of all students involved in a student discipline case is very important to the Proctor’s Office.

We work closely with both the Student Wellbeing and Mental Health, Disability and Inclusion and Sexual Violence Liaison Officer services and we routinely signpost to those services.

There are Advice Centre staff at Chester Students’ Union who can provide support to reporting students whose case goes to a panel.

We risk assess all cases and we can work with you and other services at the University to help you feel safer.

We will inform you whether the case is upheld or not upheld.

Sometimes it is decided that there is insufficient evidence to progress the case and we will decide not to take any further action, this is sometimes referred to as No Further Action (NFA). If NFA is decided we will talk to you about the reasons for this decision.

We will not routinely inform you of the sanction imposed in cases that are upheld. This is because the reported student is also entitled to their privacy.

Student misconduct is divided into general and serious misconduct.

The sanction will be proportionate to the nature of the offence and when deciding sanctions, we will also consider any mitigating (things that reduce the level of sanction, for example somebody admits responsibility straight away) or aggravating (things that increase the level of sanction, for example using drugs at the time of the event) factors.

You can find full details on what is considered general and serious misconduct and the sort of sanctions applied for both in the FAQs for Reported Students below.

We do not use NDAs in cases of student misconduct.

During your contact with us we will work with you to help you understand possible outcomes.

If you are worried about a not upheld or NFAd outcome or how it could impact you we will signpost you to the support available in Student Services.

If you have any questions about reporting please phone us on the Student Services Information Point number 01244 511550.

Students at all sites, except Warrington, can email universityproctor@chester.ac.uk and students at Warrington campus should use the email universityproctor.warr@chester.ac.uk

You will be subject to disciplinary action on the grounds of misconduct if you fail to abide by the Student Code of Conduct or you do something that interferes with the proper functioning or activities of the University, or with the lives of those who work or study at the University, or you do anything which damages the University.

Here are some examples. This list is not exhaustive.

• The Director of Student Services will be informed about any allegations received.
• When the Director of Student Services is told about an allegation they will do a preliminary investigation.
• In most cases the Director of Student Services will ask another member of staff, usually the Proctor, to undertake the investigation on their behalf.
• If the Director of Student Services has received an allegation about your misconduct then you may be placed on a Precautionary Suspension and Precautionary Exclusion Pending a Hearing. This is not intended as a punishment but rather to protect you or others in the University as necessary.
• The preliminary investigation will normally involve interviews or discussions with the person who made the allegation, you and anyone else who may be able to help or provide more information. These interviews are held so that a decision can be made as to what should happen next.
• If you are or anyone else is invited to an interview you will be entitled to be bring a relevant Companion or Colleague with you. The type of person you may bring is explained in the Student Disciplinary Procedure.
• The interviews should provide enough information for the Director of Student Services to make a decision as to whether you have committed General or Serious Misconduct. You will be told either at your interview or shortly after what the decision is.

If you have committed ‘general’ misconduct then you will receive a sanction at the informal stage.

If it is decided that you have committed general misconduct or you admit the misconduct during your interview or a formal disciplinary panel is needed may receive one or more of the following sanctions:

• A warning and/or advice about your future conduct which may include you agreeing to a behavioural contract and/ or taking part in ‘restorative justice’ and/or an undertaking about your future behaviour
• You must pay a fine of up to £750;
• You are required to pay for any damage that you have caused, or pay for any cost to replace any loss that the University, or other people have experienced due to your misconduct.
• You must attend a Formal Discipline Panel.

If you have committed ‘serious’ misconduct then you will have to attend a disciplinary panel under the formal stage.

You will also be required to attend a formal disciplinary panel if your misconduct:

• involves Misconduct against another Person or Misconduct involving the (Mis)use of Alcohol and/or any other Substances.

• If it is decided that you have committed ‘serious’ misconduct or the allegation or complaint against you cannot be sorted out at the informal stage then you will be expected to attend a formal disciplinary hearing.
• You will also be expected to attend a formal disciplinary hearing if the Director of Student Services feels that it is not appropriate to deal with the allegation at the informal stage.
• Once the decision has been made to hold a formal disciplinary hearing the Director of Student Services may ask a member of staff to be the Invoking Officer.
• The role of the Invoking Officer is to undertake any further investigations including any other interviews with you or other people as necessary, collect any further evidence of your misconduct and then to explain to the panel members at the hearing what they have discovered in support of the allegation against you.
• At the panel, allegations will be presented by the Invoking officer and you will have the opportunity to give your version of events. At the end of the meeting, the Panel will decide if an offence has been committed or if the allegation should be dismissed. Where the Panel decides that an offence has been committed, the Panel is empowered to impose any of the penalties set out for minor/major offences in the section below. In cases where the Panel recommends that you should be permanently excluded from the University, the decision will require ratification from the Vice-Chancellor. After the meeting you will be informed of the Committee's decision in writing.

The following list of Sanctions is not exhaustive:

• You should be expelled from the University and you are not entitled to apply or to enrol for any other University of Chester Programme.
• You will be suspended from the University, your studies will be stopped and you are not allowed to attend the University for up to two (2) academic years. You may also be required to undertake a recommended programme of action designed to improve your future conduct and/or;
  • Your return to either study or attendance at the University will be subject to completion of the programme of action placed upon you as part of the suspension. If you do not complete or you are unable to evidence that you have completed the programme of action during your suspension of studies may mean that you will then receive the more severe sanction.
  • Once your period of suspension has finished and you have evidence that you completed the programme of action you will be asked to attend a return to study meeting with a member of the Directorate of Student Services.
  • You will be excluded from certain sites or parts of the University for a specified period of time and/or;
  • You may not hold any office, be a member of any university committee in the University or represent the University at any event, the exact details to be specified and/or;
  • A recommendation to the Vice-Chancellor or Domestic Bursar to terminate your accommodation contract.
  • A warning and/or advice about your future conduct which may include you agreeing to a behavioural contract and/ or taking part in ‘restorative justice’ and/or a recommended programme of action designed to improve future conduct undertaking as to your future conduct and/or;
  • You are required to pay a fine up to a maximum of £1500, the figure should reflect the seriousness of your misconduct, and/or;
  • Any other penalty deemed appropriate by the Panel.
• If you have engaged in any form of violence, assault, abuse, misconduct or sexual misconduct against somebody else or you are found guilty of a criminal offence you will be liable to the most severe sanction of expulsion if the allegations are upheld by the Panel.
• The sanction of expulsion may also be appropriate if you have committed any form of misconduct.

General Misconduct

• If you want to request a Review (appeal) against the sanctions you will need to attend a Formal Disciplinary Hearing.
• The decision made by the Disciplinary Panel may include a more serious sanction than the one you received at the informal Panel Phase.
• The decision of the Formal Panel will be final.
• If you do wish to request a Review against the decision taken at the informal stage then you must request the review in writing within five (5) working days of being sent the email telling you the decision. You should address your request to the Director of Student Services.
• You will be sent an email to confirm that your request has been received. The process for setting up the Disciplinary Panel will then begin.

Serious Misconduct

• You are entitled to request a review against any decision of the Panel so long as you can demonstrate one or more of the following grounds for review:
  • The emergence of significant additional evidence not available at the time of the panel hearing which could reasonably have affected the Panel‘s decision if disclosed at the panel hearing;
  • That you have new material evidence that you were unable, for valid reasons, to provide earlier in the process;
  • The emergence of evidence to show that there has been maladministration in the conduct of the proceedings;
  • The emergence of evidence which demonstrates that the measures implemented are too severe, or disproportionate or not permitted under the procedures.
• You must write to the Director of Student Services within ten (10) working days of the date of your outcome letter stating that you wish to request a review and which of the above ground you wish to use in your request.
• You now have a further five (5) working days to provide a written statement which details your full response to the panel decision including the reasons why you believe that the Ground(s) for Review are valid.
• You should also include any evidence which supports your request.
• You should address your request to the Director of Student Services and entitled ‘Request for a Review’.
• You need to be aware that you cannot request a review just because you disagree with the decision of the panel and your request for a review does not mean that there will be re-hearing of the case.

If you require advice and support, please contact Advice at Chester Students' Union.

If you have any questions about the disciplinary process, please contact The Proctor’s Office on:

• Face to face at our Information Point on the ground floor of Binks CBK005 in Chester
• By emailing to universityproctor@chester.ac.uk
• By telephoning: Chester: 01244 511559 or Warrington 01925 534206

• If you are student, or member of staff, and have concerns about a student's behaviour you can report a concern through the online Report a Concern tool
• In an emergency please report to the Proctor’s Office via our Information Point on 01244 511550
• If you are a member of the local community you should contact the Community Liaison Manager via community@chester.ac.uk  or via our Information Point on 01244 511550