Personal relationships
We are committed to creating an environment where you can learn, work and socialise in a safe, respectful, and inclusive community.
Personal relationships are a normal part of university life. However, where an intimate or family relationship exists between a student and a member of staff, it may have the potential to create a conflict of interest or perceptions around fairness, impartiality, professional boundaries, and power imbalance.
The University's Personal Relationship Policy helps to:
- Protect students and staff from actual or perceived conflicts of interest.
- Ensure academic decisions and support arrangements are fair, objective, and transparent.
- Maintain appropriate professional boundaries.
- Safeguard the wellbeing and dignity of everyone within the University community.
- Promote trust and confidence in university processes.
What is a personal relationship?
A personal relationship may include either an intimate or romantic relationship, or a family relationship. If any of these relationships exist, it is important that they are disclosed in line with the University's policy so that appropriate arrangements can be made where necessary.
What can I expect if I have a personal relationship with a member of staff?
The member of staff would be expected to declare the relationship and involve you in the process. This information would be shared with their manager to enable appropriate mitigations to be put in place. Depending on the circumstances, this may involve:
- Changing assessment or marking arrangements.
- Adjusting supervision or support responsibilities.
- Putting alternative decision-making arrangements in place.
- Adjusting access to confidential and sensitive information.
- Providing additional support where required.
Once the mitigations have been agreed, a copy of the form will be shared with you for your records. The People Team (HR) will also retain a copy, and this will be shared in line with GDPR guidelines.
The University's approach is focused on ensuring fairness, transparency and the wellbeing of those involved.
Available support
If you have concerns about a personal relationship, boundaries, conflicts of interest, or the impact a relationship may be having on your studies or wellbeing, support is available.
- ENSA runs a free, professional and independent advice service for students, covering a range of education and welfare rights issues. If you run into problems and don’t know where to turn, make an appointment.
- Report and Support allows anyone who has experienced harassment, misconduct, sexual violence, or any form of hate crime to report or disclose incidents to the University. If you have been subjected to any form of misconduct, you can tell us either anonymously or by reporting to an adviser through Report and Support.
- Our Safeguarding Team are experienced in responding to safeguarding and wider 'duty of care' issues raised directly by students themselves or as a result of concerns raised by other members of the University community. Using a risk-based approach, students will be offered a range of support and if necessary, referred to other recognised professional sources of support. In response to assessed risk issues, for example where concerns include issues relating to children and/or vulnerable adults, other external agencies may be contacted by the service on behalf of the University.
- Your Personal Development Tutor (PDT).
Further information
For full details, including disclosure requirements and the management of conflicts of interest, please refer to the Personal Relationships Policy.
If you are unsure whether a situation should be disclosed or would like confidential advice, we encourage you to seek support the earliest opportunity.