How to Prepare
for Your Appeal
Appeal Parties
The Tribunal is not the Ministry. You must contact the Tribunal about your appeal not the Ministry.
The Tribunal can only determine if the Ministry’s decision was reasonable. The test for this set out in the legislation is:
Whether the ministry’s decision is a reasonable application of the legislation in your circumstances or whether the facts reasonably support the decision.
Preparing for your hearing
9 Steps to help you prepare:
Step 1
Review the appeal record that we send you. This record includes the material the ministry had when it made its decision.
Step 2
Review the ministry’s decision and prepare to tell the panel why you disagree with that decision.
Think about whether you might want help from an advocate. You can find out more about advocates on the Advocates, Interpreters and Other Supports page.
Step 3
Think about whether extra evidence would help your case. Extra evidence must be relevant to the issues in your appeal.
Step 4
Think about whether a witness would help your case. Any witnesses will remain outside the hearing room until it is their turn to speak to the panel. Afterward, they will leave the room unless you ask that they stay. If the witness stays, they can only support you and cannot provide further evidence.
Step 5
Review the legislation that applies to your appeal.
Step 6
Read other decisions made in other hearings. Reading other decisions will give you a sense of what the Tribunal has decided in other cases. The Tribunal might not make the same decision in your hearing though as each case is different.
Step 7
Review the Tribunal Practices & Procedures (pdf) for more information on the appeal process.
Step 8
Watch videos to learn about the hearing process.
Step 9
Download tribunal forms.