Making a report

• Staff members employed by the University of Oxford will be able submit a report using the tool, on behalf of themselves or a colleague, as well as third party staff working (i.e. contractors) on University premises.  

• There will be two options for you to report: a) to submit a report anonymously, or b) submit a report with your name and email address.

• When users report anonymously, whereby no name or email address is provided, the University will not be able to contact you directly to provide direct advice or support. 
• Although submitting an anonymous report will not lead to an investigation into a person's conduct, nor to action being taken in relation to any person, reports will be reviewed within the EDU (in accordance with the Harassment Policy) to consider if there are any risks that need action, in consultation with relevant teams (where appropriate) to determine the action that may be taken.  

• The option for making a named report requires you to provide your name and contact email. 
•  If you chose to report with your contact details, the report will be reviewed by the EDU and assigned to a Harassment Advisor.  The Harassment Advisor will then contact you by email to discuss your situation and offer support and guidance about your next options. You will have the option to state whether you’d prefer to speak to an Advisor from your department, external to your department, or who identifies as LGBT+ or BME.
• A copy of case details of the report will be shared with the Harassment Advisor designated for initial response. Any demographic data provided in the report will not be shared with the Harassment Advisor and only used for monitoring purposes. 
• Speaking to an Advisor does not mean you are making a formal complaint but rather that the Advisor will outline the options for resolving the situation informally (where appropriate) or making a formal complaint to help you decide what further action you may want to take. 

• No. Submitting a report through the tool does not initiate a formal complaint. Instead, the tool will connect you with a Harassment Advisor if you chose to share your contact details. If you report anonymously, you will not be contacted. 
• If you would like to make a formal complaint please read the Harassment Procedures for staff.

• No. You will be provided with support and guidance on how to raise the issue informally or submit a formal complaint. Reporting through this tool will not automatically create a formal action.

• Currently the Report + Support tool doesn't provide you with a copy of the report at the point of submission. The tool doesn't have that technical capability.  We recognise that this would be beneficial, as it would reduce the need for you to repeat your experience and therefore in the event it becomes a feature of the tool we would introduce this capability.  
• If you submit a named report with your name and contact email, you would be able to request a copy of the report. The privacy notice provides guidance on how to request a copy of the report. 
• If you submit an anonymous report, it will not be possible to provide a copy of the report. 

Confidentiality and safeguarding

• We want to ensure people reporting through the system stay in control of the reporting process as far as possible.
• The University will keep information confidential, meaning that only people dealing with a report would see it. There may be circumstances when the University considers the implications for the reporting party or others actually, or potentially, affected are serious (based on the information provided in the report) judges that action is required even if the person reporting is not requesting any, or willing or able to make a formal complaint. This will be done in accordance with the University Harassment Policy 

Data

• The information contained in a report will only be passed on to relevant staff members on a strictly need to know basis (please see the privacy notice for more information). 
• The Equality and Diversity Unit at the University working on harassment prevention (the Harassment Prevention Advisor and Harassment Prevention Coordinator) can see the report (all the data that the user provides in the report) in the first instance. 
• Where a person provides their name and contact email, the report would be accessible to the Harassment Advisor to whom it has been assigned. The demographic data provided will not be shared with the Harassment Advisor. 
• There may be circumstances, as noted in the Confidentiality and safeguarding section, where the University judges that action is required even if the person reporting is not requesting any, or willing or able to make a formal complaint. The EDU will follow the relevant Harassment Procedures sharing the information on a strictly need to know basis with the Head of Employee Relations or third parties to determine what action can be taken.

• The data is stored in the Report + Support software licensed by Culture Shift.  Culture Shift do not have access to the data stored. We have conducted a DPIA and Third-Party Security Assessment to ensure that we are following the relevant data protection standards.

• The EDU will use the anonymised, aggregated data to help understand experiences of staff in relation to bullying and harassment to inform preventative work across the University and improve the support we provide staff through the Harassment Advice Service.