Short answer first: usually yes for the spelling and grammar checks, and usually no for the rewriting. Reading calls grammar and spell-checking software common practice, and lets a tool identify or highlight errors for you to fix yourself. Hull says a proofreader does not have to be a person, and that software and AI tools fall under the same rules. Those rules, set out by Nottingham, let a third party identify spelling, typographical and grammar errors but not rewrite passages, change words except to correct spelling, or contribute any additional material. Swansea does not permit paid proofreading for taught students at all.
This article is about language help on work you wrote yourself. What you may use to produce the work in the first place is a separate question, answered in the rules on ChatGPT at UK universities.
What is a proofreader actually allowed to change?
Most UK universities publish a two-column list, and they agree on the shape of it even where they differ on the details. Nottingham's regulation and code of practice on proofreading is the clearest written of the ones we read, and it covers everything from a first-year essay to a PhD thesis.
A proofreader may identify spelling and typographical errors, identify poor grammar such as tense use, verb form, sentence structure and word order, highlight formatting errors or inconsistencies, spot repeated phrases or omitted words, and draw attention to sentences or paragraphs that are unclear.
A proofreader may not rewrite passages of text to clarify the meaning, change any words or figures except to correct spelling, contribute any additional material to the original, alter diagrams, charts or figures, change your argument or logic, or implement or alter referencing systems.
Notice the verbs. Identify, highlight, draw attention to. The proofreader tells you where the problem is. You are the one who fixes it. That is the whole principle, and every rule below is an application of it.
Universities do differ at the edges, which is why your own policy is the one that counts. Hull's academic integrity guidance lists referencing errors, incorrectly cited or in the wrong style, as something a proofreader may flag. Nottingham draws the line one step later: a proofreader may identify errors in the referencing system but may not correct them, implement or alter a referencing system, or add references. Both rule out translating text you drafted, and Hull adds one thing Nottingham does not spell out: a proofreader must not check your work for plagiarism.
Can you pay someone to proofread your essay?
At some universities, not at your level. Swansea's proof reading policy states that the University does not permit the use of professional third-party proofreading services for taught undergraduate and taught postgraduate students, unless specifically approved, for example as a reasonable adjustment. Postgraduate researchers may use one for a thesis, provided they inform their supervisors and the service does not share the work further.
Reading's policy bites from a different angle. It names the people it means: a friend, a family member, a classmate, or a professional proof-reading or editing service. None of them may rewrite or restructure your sentences to improve style or clarity, or correct grammar, spelling or punctuation errors on your behalf. They may identify or highlight the errors for you to address yourself. The same list applies to automated tools and to generative AI.
Swansea also makes a point that gets lost in the integrity argument: paid services expose you to risk as well as to penalty. Your unpublished work is in someone else's hands, and the market that advertises proofreading to students overlaps with the market that sells essays.
If you are at the thesis end of this, the supervision and submission process around a long piece of work is set out in writing a dissertation at a UK university.
Where does a spellchecker stop and a rewrite begin?
Hull answers this in a single sentence that deserves to be on every reading list: a proofreader does not have to be a person, and software and AI tools are available to help with proofreading, but the same guidance applies to them as well.
So the question is not whether a tool is allowed. It is which button you pressed.
Grammarly's own product features page is the fastest way to see the split, because it describes each feature in its own words. Grammar and spelling correction catches typos, missing punctuation, grammatical errors and commonly confused words. That is a checker, the kind of grammar and spell-checking software Reading says has become common practice. Reading's condition is about who makes the change: the tool may identify or highlight an error, and you are the one who corrects it.
Then the page keeps going. Paragraph rewrites let you instantly accept full-paragraph rewrites so you can go from first draft to final document. Paraphrasing keeps your ideas intact while adjusting your writing to sound more creative or more professional. Clarity offers revisions, and tone adjustment moves the register from formal to friendly. Grammarly's support pages describe generative AI assistance that helps you compose, rewrite, ideate and reply, and let you prompt the generative AI to change the text in any way you prefer, including help with an outline or ideas.
Those are not proofreading under any UK policy we read. They are the thing Nottingham calls rewriting passages of text and contributing additional material.
| Feature | What the vendor says it does | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Grammar and spelling | Catches typos, punctuation, grammatical errors, confused words | Checker, generally permitted |
| Clarity and conciseness | Offers revisions to make writing clear and concise | Borderline, depends on how much it changes |
| Tone adjustment | Moves the register from formal to friendly | Borderline, and rarely needed in academic work |
| Paraphrasing | Rewords your text to sound more creative or professional | Rewriting, declare or avoid |
| Full-paragraph rewrite | Replaces a paragraph with a generated version | Rewriting, treat as prohibited unless the brief allows it |
| Compose from a prompt | Generates text, outlines and ideas | Generative AI, governed by the assessment's AI category |
One more fact worth knowing before you assume the free tier is the safe tier. When we read Grammarly's plans page in September 2026, the free plan included 100 AI prompts a month, and Pro, priced there in euro at EUR 12 a month, added full-sentence rewrites and 2,000 prompts. The generative side is switched on for everyone. Being on the free plan is not a defence.
How do assessment categories treat this?
Directly, and more strictly than most students expect. Bristol's guidance on using AI in assessment defines its default Category 2, Minimal, as using spell and grammar checkers to help identify mistakes but not rewrite chunks of text. That is the same line Nottingham draws for a human proofreader, written for software.
Category 1, Prohibited, goes further: no generative AI at all, not even spell- and grammar-checkers, for example in an in-person invigilated exam. If your assessment is Category 1 or its equivalent elsewhere, the checker is off too.
So the practical order of questions for any given piece of work is: what category is this assessment, then what does the tool actually do, then does my university require me to say I used it.
| The change to your text | Status | The rule behind it |
|---|---|---|
| A misspelled word corrected | Fine | Nottingham lets a proofreader identify spelling and typographical errors |
| A missing comma flagged by a checker and added by you | Fine | Reading lets a tool identify or highlight errors for you to address yourself |
| A formatting inconsistency flagged | Fine | Nottingham allows formatting errors to be highlighted |
| An unclear sentence marked for you to fix | Fine | Nottingham allows attention to be drawn to unclear sentences |
| A human proofreader used at all | Declare | Nottingham expects a declaration at the point of submission |
| Clarity or conciseness suggestions accepted across a draft | Check your policy first | Reading does not let a person or a tool rewrite sentences to improve style or clarity |
| Paraphrasing or tone rewriting of your sentences | Declare, and check the category first | Bristol's default allows checkers but not rewriting chunks of text |
| A paragraph replaced by a generated rewrite | Misconduct unless the brief allows it | Nottingham forbids rewriting passages to clarify meaning |
| Content, argument or order changed by someone else | Misconduct | Nottingham forbids changing argument or logic; Hull forbids changing meaning or order |
| Work translated into English by a person or a tool | Misconduct | Hull lists translation as something a proofreader must not do |
| A paid proofreading service used as a taught student | Misconduct at Swansea | Swansea does not permit professional third-party services at taught level |
The two-minute check before you submit
- Open the assessment brief and find the AI category.
- List what actually touched the text: which tool, which feature, and any person.
- Ask of each one whether it identified a problem or solved it for you.
- If anything solved it for you, either undo it or declare it.
- Save the draft from before the editing pass, next to the one you submit.
Do you have to declare language help?
At Nottingham, yes, every time. The regulation states that at the point of submission students are expected to declare whether or not they have had their work proofread, and that students who submit work where proofreaders acted outside the limits of the policy will be investigated under the academic misconduct procedure. The policy covers credit-bearing and non-credit-bearing work, and notes that some disciplines, language courses among them, may prohibit proofreading entirely.
Swansea handles it through the submission cover sheet: a declaration of academic integrity on each assessment asserting that you are the sole author.
Where your university has no box, write the sentence yourself. One line in the acknowledgements naming who or what checked the text, and what they checked, takes thirty seconds and removes an entire category of later argument. It also matters because heavy editing can change how a piece of text reads to a detection model, which is a separate problem covered in Turnitin and AI detection at UK universities.
What if you have dyslexia, or English is not your first language?
These are two different situations, and UK policies treat them differently.
For a specific learning difficulty, the route is an approved adjustment rather than an informal arrangement. Swansea's policy already carries the hook, allowing an exception where the University has specifically approved third-party proofreading, for example as a reasonable adjustment. Proofreading and other non-medical help can also be funded, and how that funding is assessed and paid is set out in Disabled Students' Allowance. Reading has the same route for software: a tool may be used where the Disability Advisory Service has recommended it as a reasonable adjustment and it is recorded in your Individual Learning Plan, and even then it must not change the meaning or argument of the work. The order matters: get the adjustment agreed with your disability service, in writing, before you use a proofreader, not after a question is raised.
For English as an additional language, the answer is support rather than substitution. Reading's policy points students who want to improve their written English to their Academic Tutor, to the Study Advice service, and to its Academic English Programme, which offers communication skills support for international students. Hull rules out translation for the same reason. The distinction is that teaching you to write the sentence is allowed and writing it for you is not. What the rest of studying in English looks like day to day is in studying in English as an international student in the UK.
What actually helps, if not a rewrite
- Read it aloud. Most tense and article errors are audible before they are visible.
- Use the checker as a teacher. When Grammarly flags the same construction six times, that is a pattern to learn, not six clicks to make.
- Book the writing service early. University writing centres comment on a draft; they do not fix the final one the night before.
- Build a glossary for each module. The technical vocabulary is the part a general tool will get wrong anyway.
What do you do when your department says nothing?
Assume the narrow end, then ask a narrow question.
Bristol's default is the safest assumption to travel with: checkers may identify mistakes, nothing may rewrite chunks of text, and a human may point at problems without solving them. Work that way and you are inside every policy we read.
Then send one email, and make it specific. Not "am I allowed to use AI", which invites a cautious no. Ask instead whether you may accept Grammarly's clarity suggestions on a draft of assignment two, and whether the module wants that declared. A named feature and a named assessment get a usable answer, and the reply goes in the folder with your drafts.
If the module leader does not answer, the school office or the programme director will, and their answer binds the module. Silence from everybody is not permission, but a written reply from anyone in that chain is the thing you produce later if the question ever comes up.
Where Notibo fits
Notibo does not edit your writing, and it is not a proofreader in the sense any of these policies mean. It records a lecture, or takes an audio file you upload, and returns a transcript, structured notes and flashcards with spaced repetition. It turns PDF, PPTX and DOCX files into notes and flashcards too. That sits before the writing, on the input side, where none of the proofreading rules apply, and it works in 89 languages with the transcript in the language that was spoken.
The data answer. Files are stored in the EU, on Supabase in Frankfurt, while transcription and the AI notes run on US processors under standard contractual clauses. Uploads are capped at 50 MB, and long recordings are saved in smaller parts as they run and joined back into one transcript. You can try Pro free for 14 days, with 240 minutes of recording and no card. After that the free plan covers 30 minutes of recording a month. Pro is EUR 9.99 a month or EUR 88.99 a year. Ask before you record a lecture, and keep the draft you wrote before anything else touched it.