Internal Disclosures Form FAQs

Generally, we are asking for any information you may not have included on your application form which may impact on your eligibility to study at St George’s, University of London. The questions are simple to answer, and this form should take no longer than 10 minutes to complete.

Under each section below, there is more detail on what information we require from you.

All of our clinical courses are required to complete the IDF. These are:

• Diagnostic Radiography BSc
• Healthcare Science BSc                                  
• Medicine MBBS (5 year, 4 year, CTs)               
• Occupational Therapy BSc                             
• Paramedic Science BSc
• Physician Associate Studies MPAS
• Physiotherapy BSc
• Physiotherapy MSc                  
• Radiotherapy & Oncology BSc

The courses listed above are all healthcare courses that allow students access to the general public, and because of this, we need to check there are no reasons why our applicants might not be permitted to continue with the course. We also need to ensure we are putting in place any support an applicant may need based on a disclosure they've made. There are very few reasons why an applicant could not proceed with their application, so it’s best to disclose anything that might need discussing at this point.

The information declared on your IDF will be treated confidentially, and will only be viewed by the Admissions team, and if necessary, members of our Student Conduct and Compliance team. Your IDF will be attached to your application form which will be kept in line with the Admissions retention policy.

There are two questions in this section which relate to criminal convictions. Please list all unprotected criminal convictions and cautions you may have, and include those outside of the United Kingdom. Admissions will organise police clearance through the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) for all applicants after an offer has been made and accepted. This disclosure will reveal all unprotected convictions and cautions received at any time whether as a juvenile or an adult, so listing them now will allow us to process your application more efficiently.

Your chosen route of study will have early and frequent contact with children, vulnerable adults, and patients of all types within clinical settings. In other words, your studies bring you into the same contact as if you were employed by the NHS already.

The programme of study that you are applying for leads to provisional registration as healthcare professionals. Accordingly, our admission to study practice is informed by The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (SI 1975/1023) (“Exceptions Order”).  Under the Exceptions Order (as amended), a person may be asked whether they have any unprotected convictions (an exceptions question), provided the questions are asked for the purpose of assessing the applicant's suitability for the occupation, office or profession that they are applying for. The IDF form and the FAQs on this page serve to inform you that you are obliged to disclose unprotected convictions (Article 3, Exceptions Order). A failure to answer an exceptions question will be a valid reason to withhold a place on our programmes of study or to potentially exclude someone already registered and enrolled, as will a failure to give truthful information. This is because, in those programmes where this approach is taken, students will have regular contact with children, vulnerable adults, and patients within a clinical setting.

The Criminal Convictions and Cautions section of the IDF will be viewed only by the Admissions team and members of our Student Conduct and Compliance team. If you have nothing to disclose, please select ‘No’, at which point no further action will be taken. If you have something to disclose, please select ‘Yes’ and provide details when prompted. Once we have reviewed your IDF, we may convene a DBS Panel to assess whether the offence is likely to present a barrier to you attending clinical placement or working in a registered profession. DBS panels are usually made up of the a member of the Student Conduct & Compliance team, Admissions Tutor, Associate Dean for Admissions, and a neutral member of professional staff. In order to do this, we will ask you to complete a DBS check earlier than other applicants. We will contact you if this is necessary, so there is no need to do anything until you hear from us. A list of convictions that will never be filtered from your DBS certificate can be seen here. There are very few occasions when a criminal record has presented as a barrier to study, but we ask you to complete a DBS check and convene a DBS panel earlier in the process so you are informed of the outcome as early as possible.

Please note that any disclosures are not part of the admissions decision. However, your entry onto your chosen programme is conditional on satisfactory clearance. If you answer ‘Yes’ to any of the questions, please provide further details as indicated. We may need to ask you for more details about any declared offences and will do so via the email once you have submitted your IDF.

In the four questions in this section, please list any misconduct or disciplinary action taken against you whilst in employment. This includes issues with fitness to practise, or disqualification from a profession.

Your chosen route of study leads to a trusted profession that has contact with children, vulnerable adults, and patients of all types. We are obliged to ensure the safety of all patients and members of staff, and understanding issues with previous employers can provide insight to this, particularly if the previous employment was in a similar role.

This section will be viewed by the Admissions team and members of our Student Conduct and Compliance team. Once the Admissions team have reviewed your disclosure, a decision will be made as to whether there is cause for further investigation. Occasionally, we will convent a Professional Suitability Panel to assess whether the situation is likely to present a barrier to you studying or working in a registered profession. In most cases, your declared information will not disrupt the admissions process. If we do need to discuss your circumstances with you further or contact a previous employer for verification, we will contact you directly, and may request full copies of related documentation.

If you have previously studied at another University, or Higher Education Institution (HEI) in the UK or any other country, please provide further information in three questions in this section. This includes any courses that have not been completed.

For some of our courses, our admissions policy does not allow applicants to have studied the same course before. Other courses will not be able to consider applicants who are in the middle of another course. Moreover, we use this information to understand if there have been any issues within education before that we may need to be aware of, or provide support for going forward.

This section will be viewed will be viewed by the Admissions team and members of our Student Conduct and Compliance team. Once the Admissions team have reviewed your disclosure, a decision will be made as to whether there is cause for further investigation. Occasionally, we will convene a Professional Suitability Panel to assess whether the situation is likely to present a barrier to you studying or working in a registered profession. In most cases, your declared information will not disrupt the admissions process. If we do need to discuss your circumstances with you further or contact a previous institution for verification, we will contact you directly, and may request full copies of related documentation.

This section gives you an opportunity to disclose any further information that you have not previously mentioned, but you feel may prevent you from studying at St George's. There are very few reasons why an applicant could not proceed with their application, so it’s best to disclose anything that might need discussing at this point.

Healthcare courses allow students access to the general public, and because of this, we need to check there are no reasons why our applicants might not be permitted to continue with the course. We have asked about the areas we usually need more information on in the other sections, but would be happy to review anything you wish to disclose at this point too.

Any disclosures listed in this section will be viewed by the Admissions team. Depending on the disclosure, members of the Student Conduct and Compliance team may also view this information, and a Professional Suitability Panel may be convened to assess whether the situation is likely to present a barrier to you studying or working in a registered profession. In most cases, your declared information will not disrupt the admissions process. If we do need to discuss your circumstances with you further, we will contact you directly, and may request full copies of related documentation.

Your IDF will be reviewed as stated in each section above, and will be attached to your application form. We will contact you if we require any further information.

The process remains the same. If you declare a criminal conviction, we will ask you to complete a police check early. We will require you to obtain an in-country policy check, and we will contact you at the time with full instructions on how to do this.

When you submit your IDF, your data is held securely on the University's servers. The IDF is then attached to your application form which will be kept in line with the Admissions retention policy.

If you realise you have made an error whilst completing your IDF, please email admissions@sgul.ac.uk to let us know. Please ensure you include your full name, SGUL ID, and the course for which you are applying. We will instruct you over email of anything further we might need.