Harassment and Sexual Misconduct
The School will not tolerate any form of harassment, bullying or sexual misconduct and is committed to ensuring that staff and students can work and study without fear of harassment, bullying or sexual misconduct, recognising its duty of care to staff, students and visitors under health and safety, equality and employment legislation.
This webpage sets out the NFTS’ policies and procedures relating to incidents of harassment and sexual misconduct, and is the 'single comprehensive source of information' required by Condition E6 of the Office for Students Conditions of Registration.
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Support and Report online: Students, apprentices, staff, tutors and visitors can report any incident of harassment or sexual misconduct anonymously or with their details by using the School’s online reporting tool Support and Report: https://nfts-supportandreport.co.uk/
Student Support and Wellbeing team: Students can also report any incidents and/or seek support and advice from the Student Support and Wellbeing team: swellbeing@nfts.co.uk
HR team: Staff can also report any incidents and/or seek support and advice from the HR team.
More information: Refer to the Bullying, Harassment and Sexual Misconduct Policy for more information, including guidance for any person who has alleged, witnessed, experienced or been accused of harassment or sexual misconduct: Bullying, Harassment and Sexual Misconduct Policy
Confidentiality: The School will take all reasonable steps to protect the confidentiality and privacy of anyone who reports harassment or sexual misconduct. However, there may be circumstances where the School is required to share information externally or internally (for example, to protect an individual at risk). For more information, see the Bullying, Harassment and Sexual Misconduct Policy and the FAQs section of the Support and Report portal.
Data protection: All reports of harassment or sexual misconduct received by the School are dealt with in accordance with the School’s Data Protection Policy.
Harassment: including sexual harassment or discrimination by harassment, includes unwanted behaviour or conduct which has the purpose or effect of violating a person’s dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment because of, or connected to, one or more of the following protected characteristics: age; disability; gender reassignment; pregnancy and maternity; race; religion or belief; sex; and sexual orientation.
Sexual misconduct: is defined as any unwanted or attempted unwanted conduct of a sexual nature. This includes, but is not limited to sexual harassment, sexual assault and rape.
More information: Refer to the Bullying, Harassment and Sexual Misconduct Policy for more information, including examples of harassment and sexual misconduct: Bullying, Harassment and Sexual Misconduct Policy
Policies: Full details of the School’s policies for handling reported incidents, including investigation processes and potential sanctions, can be found here:
Bullying, Harassment and Sexual Misconduct Policy
Student Misconduct Policy
Student Complaints Policy and Procedure
Staff Disciplinary & Dismissal Policy & Procedure
Quick guides: Refer to the Bullying, Harassment and Sexual Misconduct Quick Guide, the Student Misconduct Quick Guide and the Student Complaints Quick Guide for a summary of key points in each of these policies.
In accordance with the Student Misconduct Policy, where it is reasonable and practicable to do so in accordance with its duties and obligations under data protection legislation, the School will provide the student that has raised an allegation of harassment or sexual misconduct with an outcome of the investigation and/or an explanation of any actions that the School has taken, or not taken. However, it may only be possible for the School to provide limited information depending on the circumstances.
Student training: All students are required to attend a webinar on Awareness of Harassment and Sexual Misconduct and complete an online training module on Bystander training shortly after joining the School.
Staff training: All staff are required to complete an online training module on identifying sexual harassment. All staff who are likely to be involved in receiving disclosures about incidents of harassment or sexual misconduct, undertaking investigations and making decisions about disciplinary cases receive specialist mandatory training.
The NFTS has banned all relationships of a sexual nature between its staff, tutors and students/apprentices.
In 2023 the School signed the Can’t Buy my Silence Pledge. This means that the School will not use non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) in relation to complaints of sexual harassment, abuse, misconduct, or other forms of harassment and bullying.