Evidence Guide

Mitigating Circumstances Evidence Guidance

Difficult personal or medical circumstances can affect the quality of your academic work. If this is the case, you can apply for extensions, request to withdraw from exams, or make an appeal on the basis of mitigating circumstances.

If you’ve received a charge of misconduct, and feel difficult personal or medical circumstances might have impacted this, you can also have your mitigating circumstances considered by King’s College London.

However, evidence of the difficult personal or medical circumstances must be provided, so we’ve created this guide to help you do this.

What's appropriate evidence in my case?

Bereavement

Appropriate Evidence

  • Death certificate
  • Or a letter confirming the bereavement from an independent person (usually not a family member), with their contact details provided and comments on the closeness of the relationship.

Notes

If you cannot get a death certificate, we’d recommend providing the following instead: obituary, funeral order of service, newspaper article relating to the bereavement, alongside a letter from an independent person.

Difficult personal and/or family circumstances

Appropriate Evidence

  • Counsellor’s letter
  • Letter from any involved professionals (i.e. social workers, charity support workers etc)

Notes

If you are struggling to get evidence of difficult personal or family circumstances, we’d recommend seeing a GP as they may be willing to provide evidence that you’ve seen them for support.

Divorce/Separation

Appropriate Evidence

  • Solicitor’s letter
  • Official legal documents confirming divorce

Notes

In the case of separation, we’d recommend providing proof of living at different addresses. This could be bills, council tax statements and/or child tax credit statements (showing changes to living situation).

Domestic disruption

Appropriate Evidence

  • Counsellor’s letter
  • Letter from any involved professionals (i.e. the council, social workers, charity support workers etc)

Notes

This is likely only to be considered if the disruption is severe and unexpected.

Family member’s illness

Appropriate Evidence

  • Medical note from a GP or other medical professional
  • Hospital admission and discharge letter

Notes

The medical note should confirm the family member’s condition, symptoms and the impact on the family.

Hospitalisation

Appropriate Evidence

  • Medical note from a GP or other medical professional, including hospital staff
  • Admission and discharge letter

Notes

The dates you were in hospital must be clearly confirmed, along with the condition and symptoms.

Illness, including mental health difficulties

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Appropriate Evidence

  • Medical note from a GP or other medical professional
  • Counsellor’s letter

Notes

Medical notes/letters must state:

the condition (if diagnosed), symptoms, relevant dates (i.e. when it started, when it became worse, when it ended if not ongoing) and the impact it’s had on your work.

Legal difficulties

Appropriate Evidence

  • Letter from a solicitor
  • Court summons

Notes

This should confirm the situation, relevant court dates and impact on your work.

Medication side effects

Appropriate Evidence

  • Medical note from a GP or other medical professional
  • Medication information leaflet (from inside the medicine pack)

Notes

The medical note should confirm exactly what side effects were experienced and when, and the impact it’s had on your work.

Pregnancy

Appropriate Evidence

  • Medical note from a GP or other medical professional confirming pregnancy related illness(es) and/or stress

Notes

The College doesn’t count pregnancy on its own as a difficult personal or medical circumstance. You would have to show that you’re experiencing pregnancy-related illnesses and/or stress.

Specific learning difficulties

Appropriate Evidence

  • Assessment report from an Educational Psychologist or similar professional
  • King’s Inclusion Plan

Notes

The report should confirm the diagnosis, impact on work and recommendations for support.

Victim of a crime

Appropriate Evidence

  • Crime number
  • Letter from a police officer confirming the incident

Notes

If following being a victim of a crime, you’re seeking counselling or assistance from Victim Support, a letter from a counsellor or Victim Support officer should also be provided.


If your case doesn’t fit the mitigating circumstances listed, please contact KCLSU Advice team at kclsu.org/help/advice for specific guidance.

What is indepdendent, 3rd party evidence?

King’s requires evidence from a professional (such as a doctor, counsellor, solicitor, etc.), who is not a friend or family member, and who is not involved in the circumstances. This is so they know it is reliable and unbiased evidence. The evidence must be signed and presented on headed paper to show it is official.

What if my evidence is not in English?

All evidence must be in English, so it will have to be translated. King’s only accepts official translations (not a translation by you or a friend), so you will need to find a translator. They will need to sign and stamp the translation to show it is official. The original evidence should be provided alongside the translation.

Can’t King’s just call my GP/counsellor/solicitor, etc?

King’s does not make contact with other professionals to get evidence. They will not contact members of staff within the KCL Counselling Service or Health Centre. This means you will need to provide all evidence directly to King’s College London.

When’s the deadline for submitting my evidence?

This depends on the type of case, so please contact KCLSU Advice team at kclsu.org/help/advice if you’re unsure. Mitigating Circumstances Forms must be submitted within 7 days after the essay deadline or exam, but your request won’t be considered until you provide evidence, which you can do up to 21 days from the deadline.

What if I didn’t go to see a doctor when I was ill?

If you didn’t see a doctor at the time of your illness, we recommend booking an appointment now and requesting a ‘retrospective note’. This is a note where the GP confirms you’ve had an appointment and were ill on the relevant dates. It should also include well a description of symptoms you reported.

If you didn’t see a GP, due to having flu (or another illness where general medical advice is that you should stay home), we recommend asking the GP to include this in your medical note.

If you still have receipts of medicines brought from a pharmacy,or emails sent to King’s (e.g. to a tutor) saying that ill from that time, you can provide these as supplementary evidence. Be aware that they are not a valid substitute for a medical note.

What if I can’t get any evidence?

If you have problems getting evidence, we recommend seeing a GP. They can often provide notes to explain that you’ve seen them for support, and you’ve explained your circumstances to them. If in doubt, contact KCLSU Advice at [email protected]. We can offer specific advice on what evidence you should provide.

In some situations, it might not be safe for you to seek evidence. If you feel that getting evidence could affect your safety, please contact the KCLSU Advice team, and one of our Advice Caseworkers can offer tailored support.

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