You are considering telling your university about sexual misconduct, or you have already spoken to someone and are unsure what happens next. You may want support, changes to your study arrangements, a formal investigation or time to understand the options. Start by identifying what you need now and asking how the university will use the information you provide.
For students and parents in England and Wales, reporting to a university under its education law procedures can involve both personal and procedural decisions. You should not have to organise every document before asking for support. At the same time, understanding the process helps you make informed choices about evidence, communication and participation, without assuming that a particular disciplinary outcome can be guaranteed.
Identify immediate support needs
If there is an immediate danger, use the appropriate emergency route rather than wait for a routine university response. Otherwise, ask the university for its specialist support contact and explain any urgent concern about accommodation, teaching, travel on campus or contact with another person. You can keep the initial explanation brief.
The OIA’s guidance on the initial response places wellbeing first and describes support, reporting and investigative options that should be explained to students. Ask for those options in writing if that makes them easier to consider. A trusted person can help you read the information, but the decisions and account should remain yours.
Explain what you are asking the university to do
Tell the recipient whether you are seeking support, asking about a formal report or requesting immediate practical arrangements. If you are unsure, say so. Ask whether the conversation itself starts any procedure and what would happen before another person is contacted. Different universities use different terminology for disclosures and reports.
The OIA distinguishes seeking advice and support from making a report requesting further action. [2] That distinction can help frame your questions, but the university must still consider the content and any identified risks. Avoid assuming that calling something “informal” guarantees that no record will be made or no safeguarding action could follow.
Understand confidentiality before sharing sensitive material
Ask who will see your account, which information may be shared with the responding student and whether any circumstances require sharing with others. You may need a clear explanation before providing detailed medical records or information about another person. Request a secure submission route for material that is necessary.
Confidentiality, which engages privacy and dignity interests within human rights and civil liberties law, is important, but it is not the same as a promise that nobody else will learn what you have reported. A fair disciplinary process may require the responding student to understand and answer the allegations. Ask how privacy and fairness will be managed, and explain any concern that sharing particular information could create a further risk.
Find the institution’s published process
Obtain the reporting, investigation and disciplinary information, including indicative timescales and support arrangements. For registered higher education providers in England, the OfS’s Condition E6 requires a comprehensive source of information about harassment and sexual misconduct policies and procedures. [3] That England-specific regulatory condition should not be presented as the rule governing Welsh providers.
Students in Wales should check their institution’s procedures and relevant information about their own regulatory framework. OIA guidance is relevant across England and Wales. Wherever you study, identify the caseworker or office responsible and ask how you will be told about changes in the process, delays or decisions affecting your studies.
Prepare an account in your own words
Describe what happened as accurately as you can, using approximate dates where necessary and distinguishing what you remember from what another person later told you. You do not need to force uncertainty into an exact chronology. If there are gaps in memory, identify them rather than filling them through guesswork.
Focus on the behaviour and relevant context. If you later remember additional detail or notice an error, provide a transparent clarification explaining what has changed. A supporter can help organise the statement, but should not supply experiences, wording or certainty that does not reflect your account. Retain the version originally submitted.
Preserve relevant records safely
Keep messages, emails, photographs and existing notes that may relate to the report. Preserve full conversations where available to you, not just selected extracts. Identify any university-held record, such as access information or CCTV, that might require prompt preservation. Ask the investigator to consider obtaining it through appropriate channels.
Do not access another person’s account or ask friends to obtain private information without authority. Avoid circulating intimate material to demonstrate your case. Describe what exists and ask how it can be considered securely. You can identify evidence you do not possess without promising that it proves a fact you cannot verify.
Ask about precautionary arrangements
Explain specific concerns about contact, shared teaching, accommodation or participation in societies. Ask which measures can be considered, who decides and when they will be reviewed. A practical request might identify a particular class, building or communication channel rather than seek an undefined separation that is difficult to administer.
Precautionary arrangements serve a different purpose from deciding whether misconduct occurred. Ask how they will work and what you should do if an unexpected encounter happens. If an arrangement places a significant burden on your own studies, explain the effect and request review. Keep records of relevant incidents through the designated contact.
Understand your role in an investigation
Ask whether you will be interviewed, invited to check a meeting note or asked to attend a hearing. Find out who may accompany you and what adjustments are available. You can ask how sensitive questions will be managed and whether separate waiting arrangements or remote participation can be considered.
The university investigates and decides the disciplinary case; you are not responsible for prosecuting it yourself. You may identify useful questions or missing evidence, but should avoid contacting the responding student to test their account. If another witness contacts you, do not coordinate recollections. Let the investigator know about relevant independent evidence.
Consider the relationship with police reporting
A university procedure and a criminal investigation, which falls under criminal law, have different functions. Ask for independent information about the options and any effect one process may have on the other. You may wish to speak to a specialist support service or an appropriately qualified adviser before deciding how to proceed.
Do not assume the university can promise complete control over whether information reaches the police, particularly where safeguarding concerns arise. Equally, do not assume you must make a police report before the university can offer support. Ask for a clear explanation of the intended approach, including support and risk management during any investigative pause.
An illustrative communication plan
Imagine a fictional student who wants to report unwanted sexual behaviour but is anxious about repeatedly recounting it. They ask for a named contact, written explanations of the next steps and permission to bring a supporter. They provide an initial account and identify existing messages without circulating them widely.
The student also asks how urgent teaching arrangements will be handled while the university assesses the report. Those requests concern access and communication; they do not predetermine the findings. The illustration shows how practical support needs can be expressed alongside a fair process for the person responding to the allegation.
Keep track of progress and outcomes
Agree how often you should expect an update and whom to contact if a date passes. Keep a brief communication log rather than repeatedly sending the full account to different offices. If delay affects examinations or attendance, identify that consequence and ask whether separate academic support or circumstances procedures are available.
When the process ends, ask for an understandable account of the outcome and arrangements affecting you. There may be limits on sharing another person’s information, so ask which matters can be explained and why. If you are dissatisfied with how the report was handled, obtain the relevant review or complaint route and its deadline, which is where any dispute resolution process begins.
How Aldwych Legal can assist
Adam Hussain’s education experience includes university complaints, disciplinary proceedings and disability-related disputes. As Aldwych Legal’s Founder and Managing Director and principal lawyer, he can help students organise their account, identify communication and support needs and raise focused concerns about the institution’s handling of a report.
Students and parents across England and Wales can contact info@aldwychlegal.com or call or WhatsApp 020 4584 2472. Provide the relevant correspondence, procedure and next deadline, together with a short explanation of the support or procedural issue. Sensitive details can be shared through an agreed secure route where needed.
About Adam Hussain
Adam Hussain is Aldwych Legal’s Founder & Managing Director and head lawyer. His university complaint and disciplinary experience is relevant when a student needs to understand how a report will be handled. He can help organise the account, identify support and communication needs and raise focused concerns about the process. He holds an LL.M. in International Business Law from King’s College London, has completed Bar training and Practical Legal Training, and is a PhD doctoral researcher in Legal Science at Royal Holloway, University of London.
