What support should the university provide to a witness in

Overview

Witnesses are often overlooked in harassment and sexual misconduct investigations, but under the current regulatory framework in England they are entitled to meaningful support in their own right, not just as sources of evidence. The key driver is the Office for Students (OfS) condition of registration E6 on harassment and sexual misconduct, which applies to registered higher education providers in England and came into force on 1 August 2025. Beyond that, general principles of fairness, the university’s own policies, equality law and data protection law all shape what support should be available.

It is worth noting at the outset that the precise entitlements depend on which document you are looking at. Condition E6 sets the regulatory floor, but each university publishes its own single comprehensive source of information (CSI) and disciplinary procedure, and those internal documents are where a witness’s specific rights will be spelled out. If you are a witness, the university’s own CSI and student conduct or complaints procedure are the first documents to read.

What Condition E6 requires

Condition E6 expressly names witnesses as one of the categories of people to whom a provider must offer appropriate support, alongside students who have alleged or experienced harassment or sexual misconduct and alleged or actual perpetrators. The core expectations that flow from the OfS guidance include the following.

Support should be available at all relevant stages, meaning before any formal investigation begins, throughout the investigation, and after the outcome is known. It should not be switched off once a witness has given their account.

Support should be targeted at the individual’s needs rather than generic. For a witness this can include emotional and wellbeing support, access to counselling or specialist services, and practical adjustments.

Universities should signpost witnesses to relevant academic support, such as extenuating or mitigating circumstances processes and support with assessment, recognising that involvement in a distressing investigation can affect a student’s ability to study and be assessed.

Providers should take steps to ensure the continued academic engagement of any student involved in an investigation or disciplinary process, including witnesses, where the student wishes to continue studying. It may be appropriate to make changes to academic or assessment arrangements during or after the process.

The support offered must not be conditional on the witness making or supporting a formal complaint. A student who witnesses an incident is entitled to support regardless of whether they choose to report it or take part in a formal process.

Types of support a witness should expect in practice

Drawing the regulatory requirements and good practice together, a witness in a live investigation can reasonably expect the university to offer the following kinds of help.

Wellbeing and emotional support, including access to the university counselling service, the wellbeing or student support team, and signposting to specialist external services. Giving evidence about harassment or sexual misconduct can be re-traumatising, particularly if the witness has any personal connection to what they saw.

A clear explanation of the process, including what will be asked of them, how their statement will be used, who will see it, what the timescales are, and what happens after they give evidence. Uncertainty is a major source of anxiety for witnesses.

The option to be accompanied. Most university procedures allow a witness to bring a supporter, such as a students’ union adviser, a friend or a member of staff, to any investigation meeting or interview. The supporter’s role is usually limited to support rather than acting as an advocate, but this varies between institutions, so check the specific procedure.

Reasonable adjustments where the witness has a disability, mental health condition or other need, so that they can participate on an equal footing. This is reinforced by the Equality Act 2010 duty to make reasonable adjustments.

Practical safety and welfare measures where the witness has ongoing contact with the parties. This can include changes to timetables, accommodation, teaching groups or campus arrangements, and measures to prevent victimisation or retaliation for having given evidence.

Academic mitigation, including access to extenuating or mitigating circumstances procedures, deadline extensions, or alternative assessment arrangements if involvement in the investigation has affected study.

Protection from victimisation. A witness who gives evidence in good faith should be protected from any detriment as a result. Retaliation against a witness would itself normally be a conduct matter and, where the witness has a protected characteristic or the underlying complaint concerns discrimination, may also engage the victimisation provisions of the Equality Act 2010.

Clear information about confidentiality and data handling, explaining how their personal data and statement will be stored and shared, consistent with UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018. Witnesses often worry about the alleged perpetrator seeing their statement; the university should explain the position honestly, because fairness to the person under investigation may require disclosure of the substance of witness evidence.

Fairness and the limits on witness anonymity

It is important to be realistic about one area of tension. A witness may want their identity or statement kept from the person under investigation. Universities must balance that against the requirement, also emphasised in Condition E6, that investigations be credible, fair and reflect established principles of natural justice. A person facing potentially serious findings is usually entitled to know the case against them and to respond to the substance of the evidence. In practice this means a university may be able to offer sensitive handling, redaction of irrelevant personal detail, or measures to reduce direct contact, but it may not be able to promise complete anonymity if that would make the process unfair to the respondent. A witness should be told honestly what can and cannot be guaranteed before they give a statement.

Where the witness is also affected

The right support depends heavily on the witness’s actual situation, and it is worth identifying which category they truly fall into. Someone described as a witness may in fact be a secondary victim, for example a housemate or partner of the person who experienced the misconduct, or may themselves have experienced related conduct. If so, they may be entitled to the fuller support offered to reporting parties. Conversely, a bystander who saw a single incident may need less. The support should be matched to the individual’s real needs rather than to the label attached to them in the paperwork.

If the support is inadequate

If a witness feels the university is not providing appropriate support, there is a sensible order of escalation.

1. Ask the investigating officer or student support team directly, in writing, for the specific support needed, referring to the university’s own harassment and sexual misconduct policy and its Condition E6 single comprehensive source of information.

2. If that does not resolve matters, raise it through the university’s internal complaints procedure. Keep it factual and specific about what was requested and what was refused.

3. If the internal complaint is exhausted and the witness is dissatisfied, a student can bring the matter to the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education (OIA), which reviews student complaints against providers in England and Wales.

4. Separately, concerns that a provider is not meeting Condition E6 can be notified to the Office for Students, although the OIA and not the OfS is the route for resolving an individual student grievance.

Where the underlying conduct is criminal, a witness can also report to the police independently of the university process, and the university should not obstruct that choice.

Key points to check

To give more tailored guidance it would help to know whether the witness is a student or a member of staff, since staff support runs through HR policies and employment law rather than Condition E6, and whether the witness is at a registered English provider or a Welsh institution, since Condition E6 is an OfS condition applying in England. It would also help to know whether the witness has any disability or wellbeing need, whether they have ongoing contact with the parties, and whether they are worried about their identity being disclosed. The most reliable single document to consult is the university’s own published harassment and sexual misconduct policy and its student conduct or disciplinary procedure, which should set out the witness support offer in detail.