Who can use the LSU Advice Centre?
Any student at LJMU as well as prospective students until the year after they graduate.
How can I contact you?
There are various options:
- email your enquiry to us on lsuadvice@ljmu.ac.uk, including a return address and contact telephone number. We will try to reply to you within 2 working days.
- telephone us on 0151 231 4942 between 10am and 4pm to speak to an adviser or book an appointment. Appointments are 45 minutes - one hour long.
- just drop in to see us. Our drop in times are:
Mon-10-4pm
Tues 10-1pm
Wed. 10-3.30pm
Thurs. 10-1pm
Fri. 10-4pm
- Students who use this method will be seen on a first come first service basis and are allotted slots of approximately 20 minutes. If however an advisers is not available to see you will be offered an appointment at a convenient time.
- we can arrange to visit you at home if you are unable to contact us by one of the above methods
Is the building accessible?
The LSU Advice Centre has recently been refurbished and it is completely accessible. We are located on the 1st floor of the Haigh Building in Maryland Street, opposite the Aldham Robarts library. There is a lift located outside the shop on the ground floor and the Advice Centre is reached by turning right out of the lift along the corridor.
We can provide information and documents in a variety of formats and students requiring alternative formats should speak to one of our advisers who will arrange this.
What will happen when I see the adviser?
You will meet with your adviser in a private room within the advice centre where you will be given time to explain the details of your case. The adviser will then endeavour to inform you of options which are open to you. If any further research or actions are necessary you and your adviser will agree a follow up appointment.
We will not tell you what to do or make any judgements about your situation. Our aim is to empower students to make informed decisions.
What information do I need to bring?
It is useful to bring in any documents which are relevant to your case for example: your course handbook, your transcript, letters from credit card companies, your LEA, your landlord. If you are hoping to submit an appeal or complaint or have been called to a panel following an allegation of cheating or a disciplinary offence it is also useful to bring a written record of your case. All of these procedures will require you to produce a statement outlining your case which the adviser can help you with.
What subjects can you advise on ?
The majority of the enquiries we receive are about housing, funding or problem students experience whilst on their courses. However we can also advise about many other subjects as detailed below. If your enquiry is one which we cannot deal with we will refer you to a suitable specialist and we have links with many local organisations as well as a referral scheme to a local solicitor.
Areas of advice:
Academic : changing courses, withdrawing from courses, PMC process,
Procedures : Complaints, appeals disciplinary, late PMC
Housing : disputes with your co-tenants, disputes with your landlord, disrepair in a property, burglary, eviction. Council tax, TV licenses, contract checking before you sign, how to get your deposit back, how to find a house.
Funding : student loans, busaries.
Who works in the advice centre?
There are four member of staff who are all professional advisers working in the advice centre. We are employed by the LSU executive committee (link for more details) to provide a comprehensive advice service. All staff undergo regular training and updates in order to ensure that we offer the best service possible.
Does it cost anything?
The LSU Advice Centre is a completely free service provided by Liverpool Students’ Union. LSU generates income through a grant from the university and also it’s own commercial operations â€" bars and shops. It then uses the profits to run free services such and the Advice Centre, the training programme, sports clubs and societies and leisure activities.
Who will have access to my file?
All details we ask you for are kept completely confidentially within the advice centre (see policy link). We will not contact anyone regarding your case without gaining your permission first. LJMU staff cannot gain access to any of the advice centre files and LSU is autonomous from the university. There are some statutory obligations for us to breach confidentiality under certain very rare circumstances and these are detailed (link to policy).Our case files are audited to check that the quality of advice is up to standard by solicitors from the Legal Services Commission each year. The LSU Advice Centre has been awarded the Community Legal Service Quality Mark (link) in recognition of our meeting high standards in the advice sector. We will gain you permission for your case to be audited before it happens.