What is an Extenuating Circumstance Request (ECR)?
It is a request to extend or delay your assessment deadline if you cannot meet it due to serious personal issues. Find more important guidance here.
What does it mean to extend my deadline?
An extension gives you up to 5 extra working days to complete your assignment. This is only for coursework, not for exams or other assessments.
What does it mean to defer my deadline?
A deferral is submitting the assessment at the next assessment opportunity without extra teaching. You can’t pick the next assessment date is, so a deferral might stop you from moving on to the next stage of your course or delay your graduation if the next resit is in a new academic year
International Students: An Extenuating Circumstance Request to defer your deadline may
impact your Tier 4, Student, Post Study or Graduate Visa. Contact the visa help
team of your study location for advice: Coventry and CU Group students - visahelp.io@coventry.ac.uk; Coventry University
London students - visahelp.culc@coventry.ac.uk.
Am I eligible?
Your ability to complete an assessment must have been affected by something that you could not control to apply for an ECR. Find a list of what might be considered extenuating circumstances here.
ECRs received after the original submission deadline has passed will not normally be granted.
The University has a 24-hour grace period for submitting coursework. It is not guaranteed, and does not apply to extensions, exams or presentations and only applies to your original submission, not resit attempts.
What type of evidence can I submit?
Every request must be accompanied by relevant evidence which:
- Relates to the relevant period of time and circumstance
- Is from a professional person who is not a friend or family member
- Is written in English or accompanied by a certified translation.
The type of evidence will depend on your circumstances. For example, you might need a letter or email from your doctor, the University’s Health and Wellbeing service, hospital admission record, death certificate or a police report number.
If your evidence is a standard ECR Form issued by Health and Wellbeing for the purpose, and the request falls within the date range covered by the letter, it should be accepted.. Health and Wellbeing will only issue a letter for students who are known to them.
If the evidence is about someone else you must complete a Third Party Consent Form
Download this here for Coventry University and Coventry University London and here for CU Coventry, CU London (Dagenham and Greenwich) and CU Scarborough. Submit this with your application.
How Can Your Advice Service Help You?
We can advise you if you have read the guidelines above and still have questions.
We are happy to proofread your Extenuating Circumstance Request form before you submit it if sent a few days in advance of your submission date. Please send the form and any evidence to us through using our online enquiry form.
We can also help you appeal the outcome of your request if you disagree with it and feel that you meet the grounds. Please send us a copy of your appeal form, evidence and the outcome letter to us using our online enquiry form.
Please note: We cannot track the progress of submitted Extenuating Circumstance Requests.