Help and Support At Christmas

Your Guild of Students will be closed over the Christmas holidays, from 5pm on Wednesday 20th December and will reopen at 9am on Tuesday 2nd January. During this time, our telephone lines, email and social media accounts wont be monitored.

However, we've put together the following information so that if you do need help and support this festive period, you’ll know where to go.

Accessing Services

Guild Advice

As the Guild is closed for Christmas, we will not be monitoring emails or the Advice Request form during this time. If you contact the Advice team just before Friday 15^th December, they may not be able to respond to your enquiry until after the Christmas break, due to current demand.

However, please do not send them multiple emails during this time as they will be responding to all queries upon their return in the order in which they receive them.

If your concern is extremely time sensitive please indicate this in the subject line and advisors will prioritise your query as much as possible on their return.

This does mean that upon their return it may take them a little longer than their usual 3-5 working day response time to respond to any enquiries. They will respond to you as soon as they can.

Academic Help

Extenuating Circumstances

If you have concerns about the upcoming assessment period or coursework submission deadlines please take a look at the below information. Please also email your school regarding your concerns if you feel comfortable to do so.

Extenuating Circumstances Information

Exam dates and timetables

For questions around academic appeals or complaints please visit the below links:

Academic Appeals (birmingham.ac.uk)
Student complaints (birmingham.ac.uk)
Student Conduct (birmingham.ac.uk)

You can also visit our Academic Support Hub for advice on everything from academic integrity to exam guidelines.

Housing Support

If you experience any emergencies with your accommodation over the Christmas vacation please contact the following services;

Birmingham Citizens Advice and Shelter can provide specialist advice in a housing emergency. For opening hours please check their webpages. Birmingham City Council may also be able to help in a crisis.

You can also visit our Housing Hub for general housing information.

Foodbanks

Many agencies that provide foodbank referrals will be closed over the holidays. If you need a food voucher while the Guild is closed, you may be able to contact a local foodbank directly.

Opening hours for Birmingham Central Foodbank are as follows:

Tuesdays: 9:30am-11:15am
Fridays: 10:00am-1:15pm
Christmas opening hours are yet to be published.

Wellbeing

The University offers a 24 hour helpline, UB Heard available at: 0800 368 5819 (Freephone UK*) or 00353 1 518 0277 (International). You can also visit the University's website to learn more about UB Heard and access their online portal..

Call the Samaritans on 116 123. They operate a confidential, free to call service 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Call SANEline, a national out-of-hours mental health helpline offering specialist emotional support, guidance and information to anyone affected by mental illness, on 0300 304 7000 (open 4:30pm to 10:30pm every day).

Text SHOUT to 85258 (24/7 text service), if you’re experiencing a personal crisis, are unable to cope and need support.

In a medical emergency or life-threatening situation, call 999.

If you need help, but it isn’t an emergency, call 111 or visit 111.nhs.uk.

Urgent Mental Health

If you are resident in Birmingham, and are:

Under 25, please contact Forward Thinking Birmingham for 24/7 urgent help

Over 25, please contact Birmingham and Solihull mental health helpline available 24/7.

If you are not resident in Birmingham, please contact 111 (if in England) or your local Doctor, and ask to be provided with the contact details of mental health support in your area.