Last Updated on 18/10/2023

2018 cohort and onwards

Introduction & aims of the policy

This policy was developed with the following aims in mind:

  • To bring us in line with best practice – most degree programmes at Lancaster University and Clinical Psychology programmes across the country have a clear deadline policy.
  • To clarify what constitutes grounds for an extension and formalising a process for obtaining an extension. This will also enable us to clarify the consequences of late or non-submission without an extension.
  • To provide a consistent policy that would be fairer to trainees and also would be seen to be fairer.
  • To set clear and reasonable boundaries around deadlines that mirrors the expectations that trainees are likely to have placed upon them in the workplace.
  • To ensure that trainees are meeting the competencies of good time management and professional behaviour in their academic as well as placement activities.
  • To reduce the number of extensions requested by trainees, and as a result reduce the workload for the programme team.
  • To help reduce the culture of submission ‘at the last minute’. This has contributed to many of the extension requests that had previously been made by trainees as a result of circumstances that should be avoided by appropriate time management. Reducing this culture will not only help trainees develop more helpful habits for their professional careers, but may also resolve any difficulties which could arise around teaching attendance near deadlines.

Scope of the Policy

The policy applies to the submission of all coursework on the programme excluding the Thesis.

Supporting Trainees and Encouraging Early Submission of Work

The programme wants trainees to feel supported, and if any trainees find themselves struggling with a piece of assessed work for any reason, they are encouraged to approach their individual tutors at the earliest opportunity to discuss this and obtain help and support from the programme. Having to continue to devote time to an assessed piece of coursework beyond the normal deadline can create substantial additional pressure for the trainee and disrupt their path through training. This deadline policy, therefore, has strict boundaries relating to the submission of work, and significant penalties for the late submission of work. In order to avoid trainees failing due to late submission, staff should encourage trainees at every opportunity to plan to submit their work well in advance of the deadline.

Single Extensions

Deadline date is less than a week away. Trainees can ask for an request an extension the week of the deadline date up until, and including, the Wednesday before the Friday deadline. Trainees will not be able to request an extension after the Wednesday before the deadline. If after the Wednesday (i.e. Thursday), the trainee will need to go through the exceptional circumstances process if appropriate.

Trainees  should speak to speak to their individual tutor pair regarding an  extension request. The individual tutor pair will help the trainee to decide if they want to apply for a single extension or require an Individual Training Plan adjustment. A tutor will then  make the request if appropriate via Teams and this  will be considered at the weekly directors’ meeting for approval. If the request is being made at short notice (i.e. after 10am on the Tuesday or on the Wednesday prior to the deadline) the  tutor should also alert the directors to the request  via email to ensure it is considered. In all cases the programme directors will either 1) not grant an extension; 2) grant a single extension- 1 week; 3) grant a single extension- to next deadline.

Individual Training Plan (ITP)

In some instances, a single extension may not be sufficient for a trainee. This is when there is a significant interruption to training, which is likely to affect more than one deadline. At these times, trainees and their individual tutors should discuss a revised overall deadline schedule at an ITP meeting. This is an alternative to obtaining an extension and takes account of the trainee’s overall progress through the programme. The revised deadlines schedule must be approved at the Directors’ meeting prior to it taking effect.

The Process of Submission of Work

Written work must be submitted online via the programme’s Moodle submission mechanism. The exact details of what constitutes a ‘complete’ submission for each assignment can be found in the programme’s “Guidance on Assignment Submission” information. At all times, it is the responsibility of the trainee to ensure that they make a complete submission.

Trainees should note that submissions which exceed the specified word limit will not be accepted. After the deadline has passed, submitted work will be checked, and any work which is over the maximum word count or declares that it is, will be returned to the trainee with no extension to the deadline. The trainee will be required to re-submit a version of the work that is within the word limit. This submission will then be late, and considered in accordance with the ‘Consequences of Late Submission’ section below. Please note that the maximum word count for each piece of assessed coursework is as specified in the assessment handbook of the programme. There is no leeway above this limit. The inclusion/exclusion of tables and figures from the word count varies from assignment to assignment and individual guidance is available in the handbook.

If a trainee is on sick leave on the due date of a piece of work and has not already submitted the work nor has an approved extension, they must submit their work by no later than 9.30am of the day AFTER the end of their period of sick leave (not including weekends). They must also submit a doctor’s note covering the sickness period to the DClinPsy programme office within one week of the submission of the coursework (even if the sickness was for only one day). This reflects the university’s position on assessment.

Consequences of Late Submission

Moodle automatically classifies any submission that is after the deadline as late. Under all other circumstances than those listed above, work that is submitted late without an approved extension shall be dealt with as follows. If a complete submission of the work is up to three calendar days late, then:

A concern will be raised about the trainee’s behaviour. Concerns can lead to fitness to practise or disciplinary procedures being implemented.

If a complete submission of work is not made within three days following the deadline, this will constitute a fail, with a mark of zero or fail being recorded for the first submission.

If a trainee considers there are exceptional circumstances that have led to the late submission, they should submit these by the appropriate deadline to the programme’s exceptional circumstances committee, which will consider any such submissions prior to the mark being ratified by the programme examination board.

Obtaining an Extension

For all pieces of assessed work (except the thesis), a single extension would be granted for immediate and temporary issues which have been appropriately reported to the programme. This includes submitting evidence as to the reason for the extension. Examples for a single extension include:

  • Self-certified sickness
  • Caring responsibility resulting in loss of study day
  • Accident/ injury to self of significant other than resulted in loss of study day
  • Adverse Event, which has temporary impact (e.g. flooding)
  • Any other significant life events of a similar degree of severity which are beyond the trainee’s control and are judged by the Directors to have a deleterious effect on their ability to submit work by the current deadline.

Reasons a single extension would not be granted include:

  1. Technology issues
  2. Poor organisation by trainee

Deadline Policy Flow Chart

2017 cohort and earlier

Introduction & aims of the policy

This policy was developed with the following aims in mind:

  • To bring us in line with best practice – most degree programmes at Lancaster University and Clinical Psychology programmes across the country have a clear deadline policy.
  • To clarify what constitutes grounds for an extension and formalising a process for obtaining an extension. This will also enable us to clarify the consequences of late or non-submission without an extension.
  • To provide a consistent policy that would be fairer to trainees and also would be seen to be fairer.
  • To set clear and reasonable boundaries around deadlines that mirrors the expectations that trainees are likely to have placed upon them in the workplace.
  • To ensure that trainees are meeting the competencies of good time management and professional behaviour in their academic as well as placement activities.
  • To reduce the number of extensions requested by trainees, and as a result reduce the workload for the programme team.
  • To help reduce the culture of submission ‘at the last minute’. This has contributed to many of the extension requests that had previously been made by trainees as a result of circumstances that should be avoided by appropriate time management. Reducing this culture will not only help trainees develop more helpful habits for their professional careers, but may also resolve any difficulties which could arise around teaching attendance near deadlines.

Scope of the policy

The policy applies to the submission of all coursework on the programme. Thesis and placement documentation submissions are excluded.

Supporting trainees and encouraging early submission of work

The programme wants trainees to feel supported, and if any trainees find themselves struggling with a piece of assessed work for any reason, they are encouraged to approach their Individual Tutors at the earliest opportunity to discuss this and obtain help and support from the programme. Having to continue to devote time to an assessed piece of coursework beyond the normal deadline can create substantial additional pressure for the trainee and disrupt their path through training. This deadline policy, therefore, has strict boundaries relating to the submission of work, and significant penalties for the late submission of work. In order to avoid trainees failing due to late submission, staff should encourage trainees at every opportunity to plan to submit their work well in advance of the deadline.

Single Extensions

Deadline date is less than a week away. Trainees can request an extension the week of the deadline date up until, and including, the Wednesday before the Friday deadline. Trainees will not be able to request an extension after the Wednesday before the deadline. If after the Wednesday (i.e. Thursday), the trainee will need to go through the exceptional circumstances process if appropriate. When requesting a single extension, the trainee will need to email both programme directors, copying in the Programme Administrator and their tutor team into the email as well. The trainee may choose to request a weeklong single extension or an extension until the next scheduled assignment deadline date. It is the trainee’s responsibility to follow up a response if necessary. Trainees must submit evidence for the extension. The evidence can be submitted after the request but any granted extension will be subject to the receipt of evidence. The programme directors will either 1) not grant an extension; 2) grant a single extension- 1 week; 3) grant a single extension- to next deadline or 4) single extension awarded and a recommendation that an Individual Training Plan meeting is considered by the tutor pair.

Deadline date is more than a week away. If the deadline date is more than a week away, trainees are encouraged to speak to their individual tutor pair. The individual tutor pair will help the trainee to decide if they want to apply for a single extension or require and Individual Training Plan (ITP [see below]). Either option would need to be submitted to the weekly directors’ meeting for approval. The programme directors will either 1) not grant an extension; 2) grant a single extension- 1 week; 3) grant a single extension- to next deadline

Individual Training Plan (ITP)

In some instances, a single extension may not be sufficient for a trainee. This is when there is a significant interruption to training, which is likely to affect more than one deadline. At these times, trainees and their individual tutors should discuss a revised overall deadline schedule at an ITP meeting. This is an alternative to obtaining an extension and takes account of the trainee’s overall progress through the programme. The revised deadlines schedule would need to be approved at the Directors’ meeting.

The process of submission of work

Work must be submitted online via the programme’s Moodle submission mechanism. The exact details of what constitutes a ‘complete’ submission for each assignment can be found in the programme’s “Guidance on Assignment Submission” information. At all times, it is the responsibility of the trainee to ensure that they make a complete submission.

Trainees should note that submissions which exceed the specified word limit will not be accepted. After the deadline has passed, submitted work will be checked, and any work which is over the maximum word count or declares that it is, will be returned to the trainee with no extension to the deadline. The trainee will be required to re-submit a version of the work that is within the word limit. This submission will then be late, and considered in accordance with the ‘Consequences of Late Submission’ section below. Please note that the maximum word count for each piece of assessed coursework is as specified in the assessment handbook of the programme. There is no leeway above this limit. The inclusion/exclusion of tables and figures from the word count varies from assignment to assignment and individual guidance is available in the handbook.

If a trainee is on sick leave on the due date of a piece of work and has not already submitted the work nor has an approved extension, they must submit their work by no later than 9.30am of the day AFTER the end of their period of sick leave (not including weekends). They must also submit a doctor’s note covering the sickness period to the DClinPsy programme office within one week of the submission of the coursework (even if the sickness was for only one day). This reflects the university’s position on assessment.

Consequences of late submission

Moodle automatically classifies any submission that is after the deadline as late. Under all other circumstances from those listed above, work that is submitted late without an approved extension shall be dealt with as follows:

  1. If a complete submission of the work is up to three calendar days late, it shall be penalised by having ten marks deducted from that awarded by the examiners of the piece of work. Examiners shall not be informed as to whether the work they have been asked to mark will be subject to such a penalty.
  2. If a complete submission of work is not made within three days following the deadline, this will constitute a fail, with a mark of zero being recorded for the first submission and any subsequently submitted work being marked as if it were a re-submission. This means that if such late-submitted work is also marked as a fail, then the trainee will have two fails marked against their record and will not be permitted to submit the piece of work again.

If a trainee considers there are exceptional circumstances that have led to the late submission, they should submit these by the appropriate deadline to the programme’s exceptional circumstances committee, which will consider any such submissions prior to the mark being ratified by the programme examination board.

Obtaining an extension

For all pieces of assessed work (except the thesis), a single extension would be granted for immediate and temporary issues which have been appropriately reported to the programme. This includes submitting evidence as to the reason for the extension. Examples for a single extension include:

  • Self-certified sickness
  • Caring responsibility resulting in loss of study day
  • Accident/ injury to self of significant other than resulted in loss of study day
  • Adverse Event, which has temporary impact (e.g. flooding)
  • Any other significant life events of a similar degree of severity which are beyond the trainee’s control and are judged by the Directors to have a deleterious effect on their ability to submit work by the current deadline.

In addition, the following are also considered acceptable grounds for application for an extension for THE SRP ONLY:

  • Issues of delay in data collection which are beyond the trainee’s control. During any such delay, the trainee must be able to evidence having made all possible efforts to continue with aspects of the assignment,

Reasons a single extension would not be granted include:

  • Technology issues
  • Poor organisation by trainee