Investigations and decision-making

The University is committed to ensuring Leeds is an inclusive and respectful space where everyone feels safe, valued and heard. We expect all within our community to treat others with respect, dignity and in line with our values.

Students can, and are encouraged to, raise concerns of bullying, harassment or sexual misconduct under the Student Policy on Preventing and Addressing Bullying, Harassment and Sexual Misconduct (PDF) regardless of how or where the behaviour occurred, and the medium used.

The Student Cases team is responsible for the University committees whose work it is to investigate and decide on matters, including those relating to harassment, sexual misconduct and other forms of violence, abuse and discrimination.

Student Complaints Procedure

Once a complaint is submitted to the Student Cases team, an assessment is carried out to confirm if the complaint is eligible and if it will be taken forward for investigation.

In appropriate instances, the team can offer to try and resolve the complaint informally. A potential solution can be to contact a reported party to make them aware of how their behaviour has impacted another person and remind them of the University’s expectations of how we all conduct ourselves within the University community in line with our policies and procedures.

Once a case is confirmed as eligible, it is transferred to the Student Discipline Procedure (SDP). A risk assessment will take place, and, in some cases, it may be necessary for interim measures to be implemented. These are temporary actions intended to ensure the safety and wellbeing of all students and postgraduate researchers, as well as to protect the integrity of the investigation and decision-making process.

A nominee of the University Secretary (in most cases, this will be a member of the Student Cases team) will contact a reported party and share details of the allegation(s) that have been made. They will be invited to attend a preliminary meeting to ask for their response. The nominee may ask for supporting information from relevant parties and gather information such as witness statements to help them reach a decision on the balance of probabilities. This means determining whether the alleged incident is more likely to have occurred than not.

At a preliminary stage, possible outcomes include: 

• The case does not progress any further. 
• The case is closed at Stage 1 (preliminary stage). 
• The case is closed at Stage 2 (transferred to a University Committee on Student Discipline (UCSD)).

If the case is transferred to a UCSD, the Committee will make a decision(s) on the balance of probabilities. Complainants and reported parties will be invited to attend the hearing to speak with three independent Committee members. Both accounts are heard separately.

A Committee can consider allegation(s) as:

• not proven
• proven and potentially impose a penalty listed within the SDP, or 
• proven and potentially determine a penalty outside of the prescribed list in the procedure and/or impose penalties listed within the SDP.