Sharing an experience of a harmful behaviour can be distressing; you may want to access support services available to you which are listed on the Support section of this website.
Disclosing something you have experienced to a friend or to family, or even to staff at UCL, may not necessarily lead to action (unless there is a duty of care). If you report it to the University, for example through Report + Support, you can expect the University to support you. The extent of that action will depend on how you choose to report it, what you have experienced and what you want to happen.
Report with contact details (Students)
Named reports trigger direct support for the student. Our Specialist Advice and Casework Services team reviews the case and routes it to the most appropriate team, including Crime Prevention and Personal Safety, Regulation and Casework (Education Services), or an Independent Sexual Violence Adviser, where needed.
Different types of advisers are trained in handling disclosures and sensitive information and specialise in different types of advice.
One of our relevant support services will contact you by your specified contact method (email, phone call or Teams call). Most responses will be made on the same day or within two working days.
The assigned adviser from Student Support and Wellbeing Services will listen to the issue you have faced and take you through available options.
Formal reporting usually involves stating in writing what has happened to you or what you have witnessed, then an investigation/hearing may take place, followed by an outcome/panel decision.
Report anonymously and remain anonymous (Students)
If you have chosen to report and remain anonymous
We will not contact you directly, unless you have opted for two-way confidential messaging.
Anonymous reports are shared (via our Student Services and Wellbeing Services (SSWS) Business Partners with Faculties for monitoring and trend analysis. These also support data-led insights for Departments.
The report will be read and reviewed to consider if there are formal or informal interventions that can be made. If there is an emerging pattern in several anonymous reports, conversations with the department or area in question will take place to consider what they can do without an identifiable reporting party. Therefore, we recommend you select the area where the incident occurred for us to be able to identify and work with issues clustered in specific areas. The information contained in this report will only be passed on to relevant staff members on a strictly need to know basis. UCL will not disclose any personal or identifiable information to others, except as set out in the duty of care guidance
The information you give us today will help us to provide better support to others and inform prevention work across the university.
Report with contact details (Staff)
Issues that require formal investigation (e.g potential disciplinary matters or grievances) will go to the Employee Relations (ER) team
If the reporter is seeking informal resolution, this will be sent to the HR Business Partnering team to support
If there is a health or wellbeing issue raised, the ER team will work with the Workplace Health teams and appropriate HRBP to ensure that concerns are addressed appropriately.
Where needed, the ER team will help connect individuals with the right UCL services e.g. Crime Prevention, Workplace Wellbeing etc. If the concern involves a student, the case will be jointly reviewed with the Student Casework team to ensure co-ordinated, compassionate support.
Report anonymously and remain anonymous (Staff)
These will be sent to the HR Business Partnering team for monitoring purposes. The Heads of HR will provide monthly data on R + S to Faculties to help identify trends or hotspots of reported behaviours which will help with identifying and determining how best to tackle issues
Please note that reporting on Report + Support does not automatically result in formal action, but you will be provided with support and guidance to make a formal case if you would want to.
Action UCL takes:
When a report is made about a student or staff member, there are procedures that will be followed.
If informal action/resolution is pursued, then the reported person will be contacted by an appropriate manager or tutor in the situation, to try and resolve the matter.
If the matter proceeds formally, the reported behaviour of a student will be investigated under the Student Disciplinary Procedure, and the reported behaviour of a member of staff will be investigated under the Staff Grievance Procedure.
Where behaviour has been found to breach UCL’s policies, disciplinary action may be taken. More information is available on the above links for the respective procedures, including possible sanctions, for both students and staff.