Mental health disclosure not distinguished from disability in UCAS application
Universities and Colleges Admissions Service received 2 coroners' reports about this hazard between 28 Oct 2019 and 27 Jan 2022.
They came from 2 different coroners in 2 coroner areas. A similar concern was raised again 1 time after the first warning.
A published response was found for 1 of the 1 earlier reports, stating 2 specific actions.
The story, report by report
Spacing grows with the time between reports.
“The application invites them to disclose any history they have of mental health problems, upon being accepted on a course of study this information is provided to the admitting university.”
Original on judiciary.uk ↗ Universities and Colleges Admissions Service responded, stating 2 specific actions.Response (PDF) ↗Response (PDF) ↗
“we have made improvements to our processes for engaging disabled students, including those with long-term mental health conditions, with our support services. At the point that the information in respect of mental health conditions is shared with the university by UCAS, a pre- and post-enrolment email campaign is initiated, asking students to engage with support services. Our Disability Advisers make contact with students who have declared a disability and are requesting support. In addition, Disability”
Stated timescale: 2019/20 academic year
“We have been reviewing the questions we currently ask applicants on the UCAS application, and considering how we can improve the flow of information between the student and the course provider.”
Stated timescale: new year
- 2 years 3 months laterClosely relatedConfidence 0.85 · higha different coroner
“The option for applicants to disclose a mental health illness should be considered separate to them confirming whether they have any 'disability' or 'special needs'”
Original on judiciary.uk ↗ Repeated from the earlier report:disclosementalhealth
Universities and Colleges Admissions Service responded.Response (PDF) ↗
- All reports to Universities and Colleges Admissions Service
Each row is one judged link between an earlier and a later report. Open a row to read both quotes, found word for word in the originals.
2019 → 2022Finnian Kitson2 years 3 months after Julius Little · different coronerClosely relatedConfidence 0.85 · high
Closely relatedConfidence 0.85 · highBoth reports address the design of UCAS application questions regarding mental health disclosure. They note that current wording may deter students from revealing mental health conditions.
Julius Little · 28 Oct 2019
“The application invites them to disclose any history they have of mental health problems, upon being accepted on a course of study this information is provided to the admitting university.”
Original on judiciary.uk ↗ Finnian Kitson · 27 Jan 2022
“The option for applicants to disclose a mental health illness should be considered separate to them confirming whether they have any 'disability' or 'special needs'”
Original on judiciary.uk ↗ Stated action in the response to the earlier report
“We have been reviewing the questions we currently ask applicants on the UCAS application, and considering how we can improve the flow of information between the student and the course provider.”
Stated action · timescale: 2019/20 academic year
“we have made improvements to our processes for engaging disabled students, including those with long-term mental health conditions, with our support services. At the point that the information in respect of mental health conditions is shared with the university by UCAS, a pre- and post-enrolment email campaign is initiated, asking students to engage with support services. Our Disability Advisers make contact with students who have declared a disability and are requesting support. In addition, Disability”
Stated action · timescale: new year
“We have been reviewing the questions we currently ask applicants on the UCAS application, and considering how we can improve the flow of information between the student and the course provider.”
No specific action could be extracted with a verified quote.
- Each report's concerns were extracted by Nemotron 3 Nano on Nebius Token Factory, each with a quote copied from the report.
- Concerns from reports to Universities and Colleges Admissions Service at least six months apart were compared by meaning (Qwen3 embeddings) and wording (TF-IDF).
- The closest pairs were judged by Nemotron 3 Super with reasoning on. Only identical or closely related, with confidence of at least 0.70, are shown.
- Every quote was checked by code as an exact substring of the original text. Names of staff and family are redacted, and the deceased are named by report title only.
| Link | Meaning | Wording | Judge | Coroner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 → 2022 | 0.68 | 0.10 | Closely related · 0.85 | different |
Judge model: nvidia/nemotron-3-super-120b-a12b. How Nemotron did the work · Full methodology.
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This shows that a similar concern was raised again after an earlier report. It does not say why, and it is not a finding about any organisation or person. To report an error, see the corrections route.