Severe weather: university guidance
In the event of severe weather affecting campus, or the local area, there are a number of steps the university will take to inform staff, students and visitors to campus. Please find an overview below. Should severe weather occur, this page will be updated with further guidance.
Staff and students should always check local travel and weather reports to inform their own decisions on getting to or leaving the university campus. While members of the university are expected to make every reasonable effort to attend work or studies on campus, health, safety and wellbeing considerations are key, and people should not take unnecessary risks.
If weather conditions are such that we invoke our severe weather policy, we will notify staff and students via the Staff Portal, the Student Portal, and an all-staff email. Messages will also be shared with relevant leadership teams for onward cascade into faculties and professional services teams. Managers of non-PC-based staff are expected to notify their teams through locally agreed routes.
Academic departments are expected to notify students of changes to teaching arrangements through local dissemination routes – such as Aula, departmental websites, SMS, email or phone calls.
Where severe weather coincides with university-wide events, such as Open Days, updates will be shared via our main social media channel @covcampus
Departments hosting visitors will be expected to liaise with them directly on whether events/meetings will progress as planned.
If you feel you are unable to travel safely to or from campus, or that you should leave work/studies early due to weather conditions, please liaise with your head of department/line manager (staff) or School (students).
Staff and students are expected to resume normal working/course arrangements the following working day unless notified via the channels above that severe weather conditions remain in place.
Useful links
The Met Office
BBC weather
Get ready for winter (advice from the Met Office)
Winter driving advice from the AA
National Express
Stagecoach
Highways Agency: Traffic
