Here’s how students and grads can claim compensation if Covid impacted their university years

University College London (UCL) reportedly paid out £21.25 million to ex-students whose uni years were impacted by the pandemic and strikes. So, it is absolutely possible for students and grads to get compensation from their university if Covid affected their experience. Here’s an easy-to-read guide as to how you could go about doing this.

Option one: You could just make a complaint to the university yourself

Your university will have a formal complaint system. If you feel that Covid-19 really ruined your university experience, you could start by complaining to the uni. Your specific uni’s website will explain where to send the complaint. The guidance might be hiding in the depths of the student handbook, or a webpage called “procedures” or “regulations”.

The main argument for students receiving compensation is that they didn’t get the experience which they paid for. Many students signed onto courses expecting that they would get a particular amount of in-person teaching, and would be able to access certain facilities. Did you end up with fewer hours of teaching than you were promised? During the 2020s, did your uni limit access to libraries, labs, studios, and workshops with specialist equipment? Were lectures were pre-recorded, or on Zoom, or did some just never happen? How did your uni deal with exams?

A York Uni student in a library during the pandemic

If you believe your uni should pay you compensation, then it may help your case to point out how much you paid for each part of the course that was affected by Covid. You could also list any evidence you spent more money as a result of the uni’s decision-making. For instance, say you needed a very particular book to complete your degree. The library was shut, and you couldn’t access a pdf version online. You had to buy that book yourself. That could count as an unexpected additional cost.

Option two: You could contact the organisation responsible for student complaints

If you don’t think the uni responded to your complaint fairly, then the next step would be to complain about the complaint. You would have 12 months to escalate the complaint to the independent body responsible for student complaints in the area. The websites for these organisations each have detailed instructions for how to do this.

If you went to uni in England or Wales, you would go to  The Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education (OIA). If your uni is in Northern Ireland, you’d contact he Northern Ireland Public Services Ombudsman. For Scotland, it’s the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO).

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This might all sound daunting. But we do have evidence of students actually getting back money from their unis by doing this.  About 450 Royal College of Art (RCA) students got £600,000 of compensation over their teaching during the Covid pandemic, according to Wonkhe.

Your uni room isn’t exactly the same as an art studio

In 2024, students got £1,809,805 in settlements through OIA complaints. Students were also offered £677,785 of financial compensation after OIA’s recommendations. This money relates to all sorts of things, not just Covid – but it shows you that real students do get compensation from their unis.

Option three: You could join the Student Group Claim

This is the organisation that just reached a huge settlement with UCL. The university reportedly paid out £21.25 million in compensation to 6,500 current and former students in relation to Covid and strikes.

UCL didn’t accept liability, but said it chose to settle out of court “so the matter could be resolved amicably and without further expense, which would have meant diverting valuable resources away from teaching, research, and supporting our students”.

After this settlement, Student Group Claim fired off letters to 36 other UK unis, warning them students were after compensation. The 36 unis facing legal action are:

• University of Bath
• University of Birmingham
• Birmingham City University
• University of Bristol
• Cardiff University

Cardiff Uni students attempting to entertain themselves during lockdown

• City St George’s, University of London
• Coventry University
• De Montfort University
• University of East Anglia (UEA)
• University of Exeter
• Imperial College London
• University of Kent
• King’s College London (KCL)
• University of Leeds
• Leeds Beckett University
• University of Liverpool
• Liverpool John Moores University
• London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)
• Loughborough University
• University of Manchester

Manchester Uni students with some very pretty face masks

• Manchester Metropolitan University
• Newcastle University
• University of Nottingham
• Nottingham Trent University
• Northumbria University
• University of Portsmouth
• Queen Mary University of London
• University of Reading
• University of Sheffield
• Sheffield Hallam University
• University of Southampton
• Swansea University
• University of the Arts London (UAL)
• University of the West of England Bristol (UWE Bristol)
• University of Warwick
• University of York

If you’re uni isn’t one of those 36, then fear not! The Student Group Claim’s site lists many other UK unis where students are encouraged to sign up. The organisation hasn’t started legal action against these unis yet, but may very well do in the future. You can read the complete list of unis, and a guide to who can sign up, here.

Student Group Claim believe university students affected by Covid and strikes could get about £5,000 in compensation. International students (who pay way higher fees) may get more money than UK students. If people win a claim through Student Group Claim, then up to 35 per cent of the money would go to the lawyers. Based on this, it seems the UCL students ended up with about £2,125 each, on average.

If you want to join the Student Group Claim (as 230,000 people already have), then it’s not too complicated. You don’t need to pay anything to sign up. Start by completing this pre-registration form. 

The Student Group Claim pre-registration form

You’ll need to fill in details such as which uni you went to, and which academic years from 2018 to 2022 you were there. If your university isn’t on the form, then don’t panic – you can still put “other” and list it.

If you have questions about all this legal stuff, then all the specific details are on this information sheet.

There are deadlines for when you could ask for compensation from your university over the Covid years. The Limitation Act means that claims relating to the 2020-2021 academic year will start expiring in September 2026.

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