In line with our commitment to continue to keep students and staff informed of continuous improvements to safety and wellbeing at Warwick, we’re able to share a number of updates on our progress this academic year.

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You can see previous developments and improvements on our safety hub page, covering areas including inclusion, report and support awareness-building, training and prevention, lighting and safety on campus and disciplinary processes.

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Prevention

As outlined on our safety hub page, there is extensive awareness-raising and training already in place to help prevent any forms of harassment taking place in our community and we are committed to continuously improving.

We have a number of initiatives already in place (such as the Warwick Values Moodle which over 10,000 students have already completed, and sessions on consent and active bystanders) and we’re committed to further initiatives from the start of the 2021/22 academic year. These include additional training, making values, consent and bystander training mandatory, the provision of personal alarms and increased signposting to support:

• Introduction of compulsory sessions on consent for all students.
• Online Warwick Values course will be mandatory for all students.
• All new foundation, UG and PGT students will participate in mandatory, timetabled, 'Introduction to Active Bystander' workshops.
• ‘Flip the Script’ training which focuses on the empowerment of women.
• A White Ribbon Campaign and accreditation Scheme for Male Allies.
• Peer-to-peer Toxic Masculinity project training.
• Increased signage to support on campus is being displayed in key campus spaces to ensure members of our community can easily access support if they need it.
• Personal alarms and information on support and consent will be shared via campus residences at the start of the new academic year and available to all students not resident on campus. Alarms are available on demand in the meantime via the SU.

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Wellbeing

We have put a significant package of wellbeing support in place for our student community. This package is supported by increased investment, which has grown over the last five years from £1,683,000 to £2,770,000 (64.5% per annum).

This support is provided across four services: Wellbeing, Disability, Counselling and Psychology Interventions and Togetherall digital mental health service. It is delivered by over 50 registered professionals, supported by further ‘frontline’ staff in a range of key roles. In addition:

• Individuals who contact Wellbeing Support Services via WID, our online wellbeing portal during working hours have a current average wait time of 15 minutes before speaking with a wellbeing professional.
• If you’re in need of urgent professional support you will receive it that day, and people wishing to see a counsellor will have an appointment within an average of three weeks. This is below both the sector average and the statuary services (NHS) average waiting time of 12-18 months.
• We’re working with the Students’ Union to review how we can further strengthen out of hours wellbeing provision for the benefit of the whole University community and expect to report back on this process by the start of the 21/22 academic year.

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Safety and security

Everyone has the right to feel safe and supported at Warwick.

Report and Support

We strongly encourage anyone who has experienced sexual misconduct, bullying, harassment, hate crime or discrimination to contact Report and Support so that we can support them – whether or not they choose to make a formal complaint. Students and staff can report anonymously if they prefer. Further:

• As well as using the web tool itself, there are multiple routes to reaching Report and Support – you can use the dedicated tile on the MyWarwick app, and individuals can be signposted via contacting personal tutors, wellbeing support staff, resident tutors, campus security or SU staff.
• It doesn’t matter if the incident(s) took place on or off campus, or when it happened.
• As soon as you contact Report and Support, a trained Liaison Officer will get in touch with you within two working days (currently within a few working hours) to talk through the support available and they will remain a dedicated point of contact.

Campus Security

We’ve made a number of improvements to the operations of Campus Security:

• For transparency, all Campus Security officers’ photos, names and numbers are available to view by anyone in the University community (using a University log-in).
• An online form is now available for students to provide feedback.
• The Students’ Union will now be involved in the recruitment of new Campus Security team members, and have already participated in one selection panel.
• Updated the interactive campus map to include the location of emergency help towers.

We know there is more to do and we are working to address further issues of concern – we’ve committed to complete the following activities by the start of the new academic year:

• Reviewing the number and location of emergency help towers to increase them where needed.
• Reviewing the name and uniform of our Campus Security team to reflect the changing needs and expectations of our community.
• Planning Domestic and Sexual Violence and Higher Education Mental Health First Aid training for our Campus Security team.
• Reviewing our CCTV policy.

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Student engagement

Your feedback is essential to continuous improvement. We improve by listening to our students and understanding your concerns and ideas. We work in partnership, working together to ensure everyone feels safe and supported at Warwick.

There are a number of ways for students to share your views: through Student-Staff Liaison Committees, through student surveys, through online feedback and through regular focus groups (our dialogue page sets out how to get involved). We work with student representatives and the Students’ Union through the Student Advisory Group on Sexual Misconduct to understand and address concerns collectively around this issue.

You can also give your feedback via the University's complaints and feedback pages.

Update on 7 June 2021

The University is in a mediation process with the Protect Warwick Women (PWW) group. As part of the independent mediation process, the University has agreed not to discuss any of the detail surrounding the process itself, and any discussions which are held will be treated as confidential. We will respect these conditions and will therefore not be commenting further on the mediation process.

We believe that working in partnership is the most effective way of finding long-term solutions. Ultimately, we all share the same determination to tackle sexual misconduct and to ensure all members of our community feel safe.

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