GOOD PRACTICE FRAMEWORK: HANDLING REPORTS ABOUT HARASSMENT AND SEXUAL MISCONDUCT  - Working with student representative bodies (SRBs)

48Although there are some common models across the tertiary education sector in England and Wales, the relationship between an SRB and its provider is varied. Many are legally independent entities, but other models include semi-autonomous advice services operating within the provider. The roles that an SRB can carry out are dependent on their constitution, resources and capacity. Providers have discretion to work with their SRB to identify an approach to responding to disclosures and reports of harassment and/or sexual misconduct which best suits their specific operational context.

49SRBs often play an important role in supporting students who are unhappy with something they have experienced at their provider. This can include supporting a reporting student to make a disclosure or report of harassment and/or sexual misconduct to their provider. SRBs may also support responding students once they have been told by their provider that a report has been made about them. In both instances, SRBs may support students through any subsequent processes and help them to understand their options once those processes have been concluded.

50Disclosures of harassment and/or sexual misconduct may be made in the first instance to members of staff or officers within the SRB. Where the incident or behaviour did not take place within the SRB context, it is likely that the person receiving the disclosure can follow similar steps to a member of provider staff receiving a disclosure, to signpost the student to further support and the provider’s reporting processes (see paragraphs 105 - 106). Providers should consider what steps are needed to ensure SRB staff know what steps to take in response to a disclosure.

51Providers should work with their SRB to decide whether the SRB will offer a separate route for students to formally report harassment and/or sexual misconduct directly to it, where incidents or behaviours have taken place in the context of a club, society or other function or space under the SRB’s remit.

52Providers and SRBs should work together to decide which organisation will consider any reports about harassment and/or sexual misconduct that may have taken place within an SRB context. For example, providers and SRBs may decide that the SRB will focus on providing support and will not take on any investigatory or decision-making roles; providers and SRBs may decide that the SRB will operate the first stages of a process with an opportunity for the provider to engage at a review stage; providers and SRBs may decide to design and operate a joint process. Providers and SRBs may decide to consider reports about harassment and/or sexual misconduct in the same way as other disciplinary concerns or may decide to establish a distinct process.

53In deciding what the respective roles of the SRB and provider will be in responding to a report, factors that may be relevant to consider include:

a.    The resources/capacity available to the SRB to undertake either/both supportive and investigatory roles, including whether there is an appropriate level of knowledge about harassment and/or sexual misconduct and skill to carry out the different roles.

b.    Managing perceptions of bias within an SRB where there may be relationships between reporting or responding students and the SRB staff or officers.

c.    The level of impact that the behaviour may have had and the capacity of the SRB to take steps to address it. For example, SRBs may be well equipped to undertake mediation or facilitated dialogue between students where a student is unaware of the impact their behaviour has had on another student. This may also be appropriate where the impact of the reported behaviour is limited to a particular club, society or function of the SRB and a risk assessment identifies that any risk to the welfare of the provider’s community can be suitably managed by the SRB.

d.    The level of action required to safeguard the welfare of the student and staff community.

54SRBs that do undertake roles beyond provision of support and advice may find the procedural guidance outlined in the rest of this section useful. Providers should support SRBs in training their staff, to ensure that SRBs are equipped to properly evaluate the risk and know when it is appropriate to refer information about harassment and/or sexual misconduct to the provider to consider. Where an SRB continues to consider a report under its own processes, any identified risks may need re-evaluating on a regular basis. Providers should encourage the SRB to refer the report to the provider if it decides it can no longer suitably manage the risk as the case progresses. In these circumstances, providers should take account of the steps already taken by the SRB when deciding what stage of its procedures to use. 

55Providers should work together with their SRB to establish information sharing protocols so that each can effectively manage any restrictions of access to facilities that may arise from any precautionary measures, non-contact arrangements or disciplinary penalties. It may be helpful to include information about any circumstances in which an SRB or provider would share information with the other without the consent of the reporting person, to appropriately manage risks and support the wellbeing of their communities.

56It is good practice for providers and SRBs to share information about trends and patterns in disclosures and reports about harassment and/or sexual misconduct to identify learning. Providers and SRBs should be careful to protect the identities of individuals involved, which may limit what can be shared at providers with smaller student communities.