Report and Support Annual Report 2025

Report and Support Annual Report 2025

Introduction

Queen Mary University of London, launched the Report + Support platform in October 2019, following a pilot during September 2019. Report + Support is a secure online platform which allows students, staff and visitors to report issues of bullying, harassment, hate crime or sexual violence. Reports may be anonymous, or may request contact with staff. This report covers the sixth year since Queen Mary launched Report + Support, covering the period from the 20 October 2024 to the 19 October 2025.

Insights from this report support the work of the Preventing and Addressing Harassment and Sexual Misconduct Working Group (PHASE). Informing intervention and prevention approaches to make Queen Mary a safe and inclusive community. The working group is jointly chaired by Alex Prestage, Associate Director of Culture and Inclusion and Simon Jarvis, Head of Student Wellbeing. The group has representation from across the Queen Mary Faculties, HR, Student Experience and the Directorate of Governance and Legal Services, as well as partnership with Queen Mary Students' Union. The group reports to the Queen Mary Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Steering Group (EDI-SG) and is informed by the Office for Students Condition E6: Harassment and Sexual Misconduct and sector guidance.

It is our aim to increase awareness of the Report + Support platform and to encourage reports, because reports are essential to effective prevention and response. We expect to see increases in reports following communication campaigns and events, and consider an increase in incoming reports to be an indicator of trust and confidence in the reporting process and subsequent response. Specifically, an increase in contact requests (i.e. non-anonymous reports) over time is an indicator of increased trust in the university process.

Changes and updates to Report + Support in 2024/25

We have created and published our single, comprehensive source of information on Report + Support. This page outlines relevant policies and processes alongside the services and training that we provide to prevent and address harassment and sexual misconduct.

Data insights

Overview

The data reported here comprises anonymous and named reports received through Report and Support from the 20 October 2024 – 19 October 2025. It does not include data on reports made directly to another department or service at Queen Mary. In this period a total of 314 reports were received (duplicate reports or inappropriate reports have been removed).

This is an decrease of 332 reports compared with the previous reporting period 20 October 2023 - 19 October 2024 when we received 646 reports.

It is important to note that we received 290 reports between 21 and 28 May 2024 following a specific incident that accounted for the higher number of reports in the 2023/24 reporting period.

To compare the current reporting year with other years in 2022/23 we received 293 reports.

Total number of reports compared to previous time period

Number and % of anonymous v named reports for the period

As a University we do not take direct action based on an anonymous report. If there is a cluster of anonymous reports relating to a particular department or a particular type of incident, some generalised action can be taken (e.g. making HR aware of a trend in reporting, highlighting to Senior University colleagues when there has been an increase in an incident type being reported).

For action to be taken on a specific report, we require the individual(s) to report with their contact details so that we may request more information and provide advice on options for further investigation and/or support.

As shown in the chart below, we received 184 named reports and 130 anonymous reports.

% of anonymous v named reports year on year comparison

In 2022/23 we received 171 (58.4%) named reports and 122 (41.6%) anonymous reports.

As noted above we received 290 reports between 21 and 28 May 2024. Excluding these reports to see the general trend in anonymous vs named reporting, we received 194 (54.4%) named reports and 162 (45.5%) anonymous reports.

There is a slight increase of 4.2% in the proportion of named reports and a small decrease of 4.1% in the proportion of anonymous reports this year.

Students continue to report providing their details more frequently than reporting anonymously. This year 63.7% of reports from students were named compared to 53% in the previous reporting period, an increase of over 10%. However, this figure is consistent with previous years such as 2022/23 where 67% of reports from students were named.

For staff, we saw 52.6% of reports were named, compared to 53.8% in the 2023/24 reporting period. For the second consecutive year, staff were more likely to submit named reports than anonymous ones, continuing the upward trend from 44.3% named staff reports in the 2022/23 reporting period.

The number of staff reports continues to rise year on year. In 2024/25, 116 reports were received, compared with 41 in 2021/22, 66 in 2022/23, and 78 in 2023/24.

Who is reporting?

Relationship to organisation

The majority of reports we receive are made by the person who has experienced the issue (75.3%). Reports made on behalf of someone else accounted for 23.3% of reports. This is consistent with previous reporting periods.

We received 160 reports from all student groups (UG, PGT, PGR). As shown in the table below, Undergraduate students are the largest reporting group, this is consistent with previous years.

For staff we received 116 reports in total and there are a similar number of reports from academic and professional services staff. This remains consistent with previous reporting periods.

We received 38 reports (12.1% of all reports) from those who selected their connection to the University as: Other, Friend or Family, Visitor or Alumni. 18 of these reports were anonymous and we are unable to verify if these reports were relating to an incident connected to the University.

Departments

Chart 6 shows the number of reports we had from each faculty or department of the University and if they were anonymous or named reports. The reporting party and reported party may not be in the same faculty or area of the University and some reported parties are not a member of the Queen Mary community. Where reports are made anonymously it is not possible to rule out multiple reports made by one person. When possible we have sought to remove duplicate reports.

Incident types

Please note that the reporting party selects the incident type rather than the University categorising the incident reported.

Chart 7 shows the overall number of reports received by incident type. Bullying was the most reported incident type for the 2024/25 reporting period. This was an increase of 54 reports compared with the previous reporting period.

The number of Hate crime/hate incident reports decreased by 75 compared with 2023/24 when we received 98 reports in this category. The number of reports of harassment are consistent with 2023/24, (43 reports).

The figures for Sexual Harassment (27 reports in 2023/24), Sexual Violence (13 reports in 2023/24) are consistent with the figures shown below for 2024/25.

Number of reports received per incident type

Number of anonymous/named reports for each incident type

Incident type reported split by relationship to organisation

The table below provides a further breakdown of the type of incident per group.

Bullying remains the top reported issue by staff, accounting for 71.5% of all staff reports. This is a notable increase from 2023/24 where bullying accounted for 52.5% of all staff reports (41 reports). Harassment was the second most commonly reported incident type by staff accounting for 9.4% of reports. There was a decrease in the number of reports in the Hate Crime/Incidents category from 17 reports in 2023/24 to 6 reports in 2024/25.

Students most frequently reported bullying during this period, accounting for 56 reports (35%), a level consistent with 2023/24, where 52 reports were received.

Student reports of harassment accounted for 19.3%, and Hate Crime/Hate Incidents for 8.1%, a reduction from 31.3% in 2023/24. 'Other' incidents comprised 14.3% of reports.

Grouped together, reports of Sexual Misconduct, Sexual Violence, and Sexual Harassment made up 16.8% of student reports, rising from 12.6% in the previous year.

Reports from students about another student accounted for 55.6% of reports. 23.2% of reports from students were regarding a member of staff.

Reports from staff about another staff member accounted for 84.5% of reports. 7.8% of reports from staff were regarding a student.

In the remainder of reports from staff of students, the reporting party did not know the connection of the reported party to the University or they were reporting an incident by someone external to the University.

Reasons for reporting anonymously

Please note that people can select more than one reason

Our anonymous reporting form includes a question about the reasons for choosing to report anonymously. This helps to identify common barriers to named reporting and allow us to consider strategies to overcome these barriers. We want to increase people’s confidence in coming forward with their contact details, so that action can be taken on specific reports.

Concerns about retaliation, that nothing would be done if a report was made and concerns about impact on current or future career continue to be the top reasons given for reporting anonymously.

Number of each reasons for reporting anonymously

Reasons for reporting anonymously by relationship to organisation

For staff, fear of retaliation, concerns that making a report may impact their career, a belief that nothing would be done if they made a report and fear of being called a troublemaker were the most commonly selected reasons for reporting anonymously. This is consistent with previous reporting periods.

For students, fear of retaliation, a concern about not being able to prove something happened, worrying about not being believed and a belief that nothing would be done if I made a report were the most commonly selected reasons for reporting anonymously.

Contributing factors

Our reporting forms offer the reporting party an opportunity to reflect on and tell us if they feel that the victim was targeted because of any protected characteristics (please note, the victim may not be the same as the reporting party). It is also important to note that multiple options could be selected in a single report.

The categories most selected by reporting parties were Other (29%), Being a woman (27.4%) None (25.5%). Ethnicity (16.6%) and Age (14%) were also commonly cited as the factors perceived relevant to the victim being targeted across all incident types.

For Bullying, the categories of Other (36.5%) and None (34.5%) were most commonly selected. Ethnicity (18.9%) and Being a woman (16.9%) were the third and fourth most selected contributing factors.

For Harassment, Other (30.6%) and Being a woman (28.6%) were most commonly selected. Ethnicity (24.5%) and Age (18.4%) were the third and fourth most selected contributing factors.

For Hate Crime/Hate Incident, we have sub-categories which allow reporting parties to select the type of hate incident they experienced or witnessed. 60.9% of reports selected Religion or belief and 21.7% of reports selected Ethnicity.

When the categories of Sexual Violence, Sexual Harassment, Sexual Misconduct are grouped, Being a woman (75%) was the most selected perceived contributing factor. Age was selected in 20.5% of reports and None in 18.2% of reports.

Demographic data

Please note, to avoid identification of individuals we have grouped categories where suitable or not published where the number in a category is less than 5.

Gender

Age

Sexual orientation

Ethnicity

Disability

Religion

Case outcomes

Number of cases per outcomes

When reports are closed they are marked with an outcome on the system, the table below details the outcomes of cases in this reporting period split by reporting party category. Please note, some cases remain open and in some cases more than one outcome was selected.

Of the 184 reports which provided contact details, 81 requested to be referred to support services and 123 requested an investigation by Queen Mary. (It was possible to choose one or both options.)

52 reports from students and 21 reports from staff requested to be referred to support services and 71 reports from students and 35 reports from staff requested an investigation by Queen Mary.

On average incoming reports were triaged to the appropriate support in less than 1 working day.

Project Evaluation

Training for students

Over the past two years we piloted a micro-learning course, 'Harassment and Sexual Misconduct on Campus' for incoming undergraduates, we had intended to continue with this offer in 2024/25 however, the course provider ceased trading.

This was the sixth year of providing the e-learning module on sexual consent, Consent Matters. In the academic year 2024/25 we introduced this as our mandatory training for all new students in line the Office for Students Condition E6 requirements. Between August 2024 and 31st October 2025, 6,972 students had completed the training, compared with, 1573 students in 2023/24.

As part of year two of our training pilot we held four in-person workshops in 2024/25, delivered by specialist organisation, Beyond Equality. We worked with Queen Mary Students' Union to include these as part of the QMSU Skills Award. The workshops were on Inclusive Leadership and focused on four topics: Communication & boundaries, Consent culture (sexual violence and harassment), Inclusion & belonging and Supporting & reporting.

Training for staff

Report + Support briefing sessions were held for staff in Library Services, Research Services, the AskQM team in 2024/25. An overview of prevention work and Report + Support was delivered as part of the 2025 Student Support Officer conference.

Since January 2025 , the Sexual Assault and Harassment Advice Service has delivered seven sessions of “OfS Condition E6 and Responding to Disclosures”  training to student-facing colleagues across the University. These sessions have included a wide range of professional services and academic staff, as well as Security colleagues, who are often required to respond rapidly to live or recent incidents of sexual misconduct.

In addition to the core training offer, the Service has delivered four bespoke workshops tailored to teams whose roles mean they encounter disclosures of sexual misconduct more frequently. These sessions aimed to build confidence, strengthen trauma-informed practice, and equip colleagues to respond.

Awareness campaigns

16 Days of Activism Against Gender Based Violence (Nov 2024 - Dec 2024)

During the 16 days we ran an open workshop for students on Inclusive Leadership, delivered by Beyond Equality. We held an information stall raising awareness of support services for gender-based violence at Queen Mary and externally.

Sexual Abuse and Sexual Violence Awareness week (Feb 2025)

We held an information stall with an interactive activity on red and green flags in relationships to raise awareness of support services for sexual harassment and sexual violence at Queen Mary and externally.

During this week we held another workshop for students on Inclusive Leadership with Beyond Equality.

Welcome week - FRIES Campaign (Sept 2025)

We held our first campaign of the 2025/26 academic year during Welcome week. We ran an event giving away free fries to students. Each box given away contained a sticker using the FRIES acronym that raises awareness of consent. There was a QR code on each box linking to information about completing the mandatory Consent Matters course on QMPlus. This event complemented our email campaign to students to ask them to complete this course.

Welcome week - Report and Support awareness (Sept-Oct 2025)

As part of our work to raise awareness of support available we produced a 5 minute animated video depicting scenarios of harassment and sexual misconduct based on real student experiences. We consulted with students in the video design process. The video directs audiences to visit the Report + Support website for further information. We worked with schools who included this video into their school induction sessions during welcome week.

We held stalls promoting Report + Support at the Wellbeing fair during welcome week, the International Student Welcome event and the Postgraduate Research Induction event sharing information on Report + Support and support services.

National Hate Crime Awareness week (Oct 2025)

We held an information stall for staff and students, asking people to share what makes a good ally. The information we provided was to raise awareness of what Hate Crime is and providing guidance on how to access support and how to report it to Queen Mary and to external services.

Awareness of Report + Support

The Report + Support website received 8,151 unique visits in this reporting period. This is consistent with last year where we received 8,823 visits. We continue to receive disproportionally high visits to articles when they are shared on third party sites, excluding these pages we received 7,127 views which is an increase on last year's figure of 6,153.

For the third year we included a question about Report + Support in the arrivals survey sent to new students following Welcome week. 53% of respondents (653 students) said they had heard about Report + Support.

As listed in the campaigns above, we work throughout the year to raise awareness of Report + Support in our annual campaigns and we work with internal communications teams to ensure it is referred to in University communications for staff and students.

Action plan

This report is shared with the Preventing and Addressing Harassment and Sexual Misconduct working group (PHASE) and approved for publication by the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Steering group (EDISG).

Data and insights from this report are used by PHASE and the Policy & Campaigns Manager (Tackling Sexual Violence, Harassment and Hate Crime) to prioritise areas of work.

In the remainder of the 2025/26 academic year we will continue our comprehensive programme of work to prevent and address harassment and sexual misconduct. This includes the monitoring of mandatory 'Consent Matters' training for students.

We continue to offer student workshops on topics such as consent and boundaries, these are delivered by Beyond Equality. We continue to run events as part of our awareness raising campaigns and to improve the visibility of Report + Support.

We continue to work closely with colleagues in PHASE and across the University as we implement initiatives in line with the Office for Students Condition E6: Harassment and Sexual Misconduct which was introduced on 1 August 2025.

We welcome suggestions and feedback, please contact reportandsupport@qmul.ac.uk to share any thoughts.