Harassment & Sexual Misconduct

Harassment and sexual misconduct are defined in the Trinity Laban Harassment & Sexual Misconduct Policy. You will find the following information when you click this link:

• Trinity Laban’s statement on harassment and sexual misconduct
• Who and what is covered by the policy
• Definitions of Harassment, Bullying, and Sexual Misconduct
• How to seek support & guidance
• Options available to those who feel they have been the victim of harassment and/or sexual misconduct

We encourage all students, staff & visitors who feel they have been subject to harassment or sexual misconduct to seek support and guidance as soon as possible. This can help ensure you get appropriate support early and it may help prevent unacceptable behaviours from being repeated.

If you feel you have been subject to harassment or sexual misconduct or have witnessed it happening to somebody else, you can report this via our online Report + Support portal. This portal is available for students, staff & visitors.

You can make a report anonymously, if you just want to tell us what has happened. Choosing to report anonymously means we might not be able to help you directly, but can help others. The information you give us today will help us to provide better support to others and inform prevention work across the Conservatoire. However, disclosing anonymously will not lead to formal action being taken and neither will we be able to contact you to provide you with support.

You can also make a named report where you include your name and contact details. This means that we will be able to reach out to offer you the support and guidance you need. You will be able to tell us what happened, and the type of support you are looking to receive.

Making a report does not commit you or Trinity Laban to taking action (unless the person experiencing the harassment or sexual misconduct is under 18; is a vulnerable adult; or we assess there is an imminent risk of serious harm).

If you do not wish to use Report + Support, you can use other methods for making a disclosure or a formal report. These methods are set out in the Trinity Laban Harassment and Sexual Misconduct Policy.

If you are a student and you have been a victim of harassment or sexual misconduct, there are a range of support options available for you.

The easiest way to access that support is to file a named report using Report + Support and request to be contacted by a Student Services Advisor. They will be in contact with you and can give you advice on what options are available to you in respect of reporting the behaviour and what support is available to you. They will also be able to signpost you to relevant external sources of support. If you want more information about general sources of support available to victims of harassment or sexual misconduct you can find this here.

Trinity Laban operates a counselling service to which all students are eligible to self-refer for an assessment session, even without making a report. For more information about how to get in contact with counselling services, please visit this link.

If you are a student who is facing an allegation of harassment or sexual misconduct, you are entitled to receive support. When you are notified of any allegations against you, you will be assigned a Support Officer from our Student Services Department. They will be able to advise and support you during and after the investigative process. They will also be able to signpost you to external sources of support.

Students who have been the victim of harassment or sexual misconduct and students who are facing allegations, may find it challenging to keep on top of their studies. There are a number of options for academic support which may be available to help support students. These include:

• Being granted permission to be absent from certain classes
• Consideration of alternative assessments
• Additional consideration requests
• Tailored personal study plans
• Interruption of studies

Our Student Services Department is able to discuss these options with you and help you determine what support is appropriate for your needs.

Trinity Laban Students’ Union may also be able to provide you with support.

The Trinity Laban Harassment and Sexual Misconduct Policy contains the definitions of harassment and sexual misconduct which we use when we investigate allegations.

The procedure we follow for investigating allegations of harassment and sexual misconduct depends upon which category the person making the report and the person who is responding to the report fall into. We set out the relevant procedures below:

1. A student reporting another student: Trinity Laban Student Disciplinary Procedures
2. A student reporting a member of staff: Trinity Laban Student Complaint Procedures
3. A student reporting a visitor: Trinity Laban Student Complaint Procedures
4. A member of staff reporting a student: Trinity Laban Student Disciplinary Procedures
5. A member of staff reporting a member of staff: Complaints/Grievance Procedure for Staff
6. A member of staff reporting a visitor: Complaints/Grievance Procedure for Staff
7. A visitor reporting a student: Trinity Laban Student Disciplinary Procedures
8. A visitor reporting a member of staff: Customer Complaints Procedure
9. A visitor reporting another visitor: Customer Complaints Procedure

When you click on these links, you will be directed to the relevant procedure. These procedures set out how we investigate reports of harassment and sexual misconduct and how decisions are made in respect of those allegations.

We handle all disclosures, reports and investigations with appropriate levels of confidentiality, releasing information only to those who need it to investigate or respond to the complaint. There may be some circumstances where we are required to inform outside agencies, such as when a victim is under 18, a vulnerable adult, or if there is an imminent risk of serious harm.

You can find further information about how we handle matters of confidentiality and data protection in our Trinity Laban Student Disciplinary Procedures ; Trinity Laban Student Complaint Procedures ; Data Protection Policy; and the Privacy Notice for Report + Support.

Cases considered under the Trinity Laban Student Disciplinary Procedure

At all stages of an investigation, we provide the student who has reported an allegation of harassment or sexual misconduct with a letter detailing the evidence that has been considered, the decision(s) reached, the reasons for those decisions, any sanctions placed on the student responding to the allegations*, and details of any available next steps.

Students who are responding to allegations of harassment and sexual misconduct also receive a letter which details the same categories of information at every stage.

*in certain circumstances we may not be able to provide full details of any sanction if this would breach relevant data protection legislation.

Cases considered under the Trinity Laban Student Complaints Procedure

Student complaints of harassment or sexual misconduct against members of staff are investigated under the Trinity Laban Student Complaints Procedure. Investigators making decisions are unable to place sanctions on members of staff if they uphold a complaint, as members of staff have statutory rights and rights under their contracts of employment. If allegations are upheld against a member of staff, investigators are able to refer members of staff to the relevant Staff Disciplinary & Dismissal Procedure for further investigation.

At all stages, we provide the student who has reported an allegation of harassment or sexual misconduct with a letter detailing the evidence that has been considered, the decision(s) reached, the reasons for those decisions, and details of any available next steps.

In relation to outcomes of the relevant Staff Disciplinary & Dismissal Procedure, students will be informed of the outcome of that procedure and any sanction placed upon the member of staff when this does not interfere with Trinity Laban’s obligations under the relevant data protection legislation.

Our Student Code of Conduct, which forms part of the contract between the Conservatoire and our students, sets out that all students are required to engage in mandatory training.

Beginning in September 2025, all students will have to complete training which includes the information contained within the Single Comprehensive Source of Information; our definitions of harassment and sexual misconduct; and the prohibiting of intimate personal relationships between staff and students.

We also run relevant Report + Support campaigns which raise awareness of matters relating to harassment and sexual misconduct throughout each academic year.

There are a number of ways we train our staff:

• All staff are informed annually of the information contained within the Single Comprehensive Source of Information; our definitions of harassment and sexual misconduct; and of the ban on intimate personal relationships between staff and students (for more information see below).
• Members of staff involved in receiving disclosures of harassment and sexual misconduct or those in specific roles (such as Student Services Advisors; and Investigators) receive specialist training appropriate to those roles.
• Salaried staff are required to complete mandatory training, beginning in September 2025.

We include relevant members of staff from Partner Institutions in our training programme.

Trinity Laban prohibits intimate personal relationships between staff and students. We believe that this is the best way to protect students from any actual or potential conflicts of interest and/or abuse of power.

This excludes any relationships which pre-existed either before the 31^st July 2025 or before the relevant student or member of staff begins their studies or employment at Trinity Laban.

You can find the full details of this prohibition by viewing our Staff Personal Relationships at Work Policy, which you can find here.

If you are aware of an intimate personal relationship between a member of staff and a student which you think is in breach of the Staff Personal Relationships at Work Policy, you can report it by emailing Pamela Thompson, Head of Human Resources at p.thompson@psychraph.online.

It is important to note that the Staff Personal Relationships at Work Policy is designed to protect students. If Trinity Laban is notified of a relationship that breaches this policy, the student will not be penalised for entering into that relationship.

We are committed to taking steps that will make a significant and credible difference to protecting students from harassment and sexual misconduct. These include:

• Reporting on and analysing data we receive from complaints relating to harassment and sexual misconduct and on the use of our Report + Support portal
• Taking feedback from students and staff who have been involved in reporting or responding to incidents of harassment and sexual misconduct
• Using findings and themes to improve our policies and procedures
• Forming working groups to consider how best to protect students and staff who hold protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010
• Ensuring students are involved in changes to policies and procedures either directly through consultation; or via their representatives on relevant boards, committees and working groups.

Trinity Laban is a signatory to the Can’t Buy My Silence pledge. This reflects its long-standing practice to never use non-disclosure agreements (“NDAs”) in relation to complaints involving sexual harassment, discrimination, other forms of misconduct and/or bullying. The pledge is intended to ensure that victims can speak about what has happened to them to whoever would be appropriate; and that any harmful behaviour is not hidden, thereby allowing opportunities for repeat offences and further victims.

The Office for Students has now prohibited all higher education institutions in England and Wales from using NDAs in relation to student allegations of harassment and sexual misconduct.