Important changes in our approach to harassment and sexual misconduct

We are making these changes to strengthen our approach towards tackling harassment and sexual misconduct, as well as ensuring that we meet the requirements of the OfS Condition E6. All universities in the UK will be complying with the new conditions.

The changes will come into effect from 1 August 2025.

Staff from across the University and York Students’ Union have been working together as part of an implementation group to review and strengthen every element of our approach towards tackling harassment and sexual misconduct, as well as ensuring that we meet the requirements of the OfS Condition E6. 

We’ve identified a number of enhancements that will improve our approach and also ensure we are compliant with Condition E6. These were ratified by the University Teaching Committee, Student Life Committee, University Executive Board and the University Senate and will come into effect on 1 August 2025. 

Our Respect at York campaign will raise awareness of these changes with students and staff throughout the academic year. New students will be informed in their Welcome and Induction talks in September and returning students will be made aware through our existing University communication channels.

The policy aims to ensure a safe, positive, and supportive environment for everyone at the University. It clarifies expectations around personal relationships, especially concerning power imbalances, to prevent abuse, conflicts of interest, and protect both students and staff.

This policy applies to all University of York staff. This is a broad term that includes employees, casual workers, honorary staff, emeritus staff, visiting staff, contractors and relevant associates.

Where students are working with third parties (eg on a placement or year abroad) we may not be able to extend our Personal Relationship Policy to these situations, but we would expect that those individuals will abide by the HR policies laid out by their own employer. University of York staff involved in supporting these arrangements may also wish to make the third parties aware of our policy. Students taking part in placements, internships, year abroad arrangements etc will always be able to access support from the University: any student who has a concern over a potential abuse of power on a placement can contact (or be referred to) teams in Student Life and Wellbeing for support and advice.

A close personal relationship is with a relative or friend, or where there's a significant personal bond, or financial dependence. An intimate personal relationship refers to all sexual or romantic contact, whether in person, online or by other means and whether this contact is one-off or repeated.

No, this policy generally prohibits all intimate personal relationships between students and 'relevant staff members'. A relevant staff member is anyone who has, or is likely to have, direct academic or professional responsibilities over a student (eg power over their success, progression, wellbeing or safety).

These are called 'excluded relationships' and are an exception to the prohibition. However, if you are in such a relationship, you must notify your Head of Department/School/Service (or next appropriate level manager). Failure to do so will likely result in disciplinary action. Your Head of Department will then make arrangements to ensure you have no involvement in the student's assessment and, as far as practicable, will separate you from other responsibilities in respect of the student, and will keep a record of the arrangements put in place. This is important to protect the integrity of the supervision or evaluation provided and to avoid allegations against you of perceived or actual harm, abuse of power, exploitation, favouritism, bias or sexual misconduct.

Where you have a close personal relationship with a student who wishes to take a module, attend a class or engage in another activity organised by or delivered by you, you must notify your Head of Department/School/Service (or next appropriate level manager) so arrangements can be made to accommodate the request if there is a case for the student to engage in that activity, or the interaction is limited. Where the student’s work is to be marked or feedback on their performance provided, alternative arrangements will be made for this.

You should always:

• Exercise self-reflection and prioritise the student's experience.
• Maintain appropriate professional boundaries.
• Avoid creating special or secretive friendships.
• Use University-approved channels (email, phone, software) for online communication.
• Be cautious about giving out your personal mobile number.
• Set an example by writing and communicating with students in a professional style
• Be aware that emails about students may be disclosed under data protection law.
• Adhere to these guidelines during fieldwork, conferences and other University activities away from campus.
• Do not connect with students or actively seek student connections on dating apps.

For more detailed guidance, please refer to section 5.1 of the Personal Relationships policy.

Yes, if this is your primary role, you should:

• Ensure meetings occur on campus or University-approved premises, or in neutral public venues.
• Refer students with support needs to relevant University support services, limiting your personal support role to your employment duties.
• Refrain from contacting students outside reasonable working hours unless it's an urgent or emergency situation.
• Only seek personal information relevant to University processes and always follow the Data Protection Policy.

No, relationships between consenting staff members are not prohibited. However, certain relationships are discouraged and must be declared to your Head of Department/School/Service (or next appropriate level manager). See below for more information.

You must declare a close personal or intimate personal relationship if:

• A new relationship begins that could create a real or perceived conflict of interest, exploitation, favouritism or bias (eg manager and direct report, mentor and mentee).
• An existing relationship leads to a new situation that could create a real or perceived conflict of interest, exploitation, favouritism or bias (eg two staff members in a relationship changing to work in the same department).

Your Head of Department/School/Service (or next appropriate level manager) will consider how to prevent conflicts of interest or unfair advantage. This might involve alternative line management arrangements.

You are expected to continue conducting yourselves professionally and avoid personal disputes that impact the working environment. Some of the arrangements put in place during the relationship may also continue for a reasonable period afterward.

All reports and disclosures should be made via the Report + Support tool.

• If you include your contact details, an appropriate staff member will follow up.
• If you have concerns about another staff member's conduct, speak to your Head of Department, another senior manager, or HR first, then ensure a report is also made via Report + Support.
• Students can seek confidential advice via Report + Support or contact the Conduct and Respect team (conductandrespect@york.ac.uk).

Yes, you can make anonymous reports via Report + Support. However, if you do, support departments won't be able to contact you directly, and the University typically won't be able to initiate an investigation or formal process based solely on an anonymous report.

• An intimate personal relationship between a relevant staff member and a student is a breach, and the staff member will be investigated under the Staff Disciplinary Procedure. The weight of responsibility and the policy breach lies with the staff member.
• Failure to disclose an 'excluded' intimate personal relationship with a student will also be investigated under the Staff Disciplinary Procedure.
• Failure to declare a staff-staff relationship that requires declaration may also lead to investigation under the Staff Disciplinary Procedure.
• Students will not be disciplined for a breach of this policy.
• Any non-consensual contact will be referred into the Staff Disciplinary Procedure as sexual misconduct.

Where a relevant staff member discloses an ‘excluded’ intimate personal relationship with a student, that is, the relationship existed before 01 August 2025 and it remains in existence, you are responsible for ensuring that the member of staff will have no involvement in the student's assessment and, as far as practicable, will separate the member of staff from other
responsibilities in respect of the student.

Information and advice on planning and executing this may be sought from Jen Wotherspoon, Head of Student Administration and Academic Affairs, or Professor Steve King, Associate Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Teaching, Learning and Students), who can also help assess whether the staff member involved is a ‘relevant’ staff member.

In order to maintain a reliable record of these disclosures and interventions, so that there is an institutional knowledge of how many relationships are being actively managed through such arrangements, as well as to protect staff who may be later accused of failing to declare a relationship, you will also need to log the case with your HR Adviser by contacting hr-operations@york.ac.uk.

Upon receipt of a report or a disclosure about an intimate personal relationship between a relevant staff member and a student that commenced after 1 August 2025, you should contact a member of the HR Operations team for an initial discussion on fact finding and next steps. This may include seeking advice on whether the staff member is deemed to be a ‘relevant’ member of staff. The disclosure should also be logged on Report+Support. Should your preliminary fact-find establish that there may be a breach of the Personal Relationships policy, you will need to initiate a formal investigation under the staff disciplinary procedure to fully establish the facts.

Relationships between members of staff are not prohibited but where one party has direct authority over another such as in this case, you are responsible for implementing appropriate interventions to prevent a conflict of interest. You should contact a member of the HR Operations team for an initial discussion, to log the case and determine next steps. This will include finding alternative line management arrangements for the Research Assistant. It is important that a confidential and reliable record of the relationship and interventions is kept (within HR) to retain institutional knowledge (should you move on) that the relationship is being actively managed, as well as to protect staff who may be later accused of failing to declare a relationship. 

The training is mandatory for you and all your staff, including casual workers, temporary staff and department associates. You do not need to assign the training, this will happen automatically. This guide for managers details how you can review your team’s training records on a Tableau report.

For a full list of mandatory training for staff, please refer to the statutory and compliance training page. A list of mandatory training for associate staff can be found on the mandatory training for associate staff page.