How to appeal to the Civil Service Appeal Board
Updated 15 June 2023
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This guidance explains how to appeal against:
- non-payment of compensation or the amount of compensation paid on dismissal from the Civil Service on inefficiency grounds for unsatisfactory attendance or poor performance
- forfeiture of superannuation
- refusal of permission to participate in political activities
1. About the board
The Civil Service Appeal Board (CSAB) is an independent body. Its members are retired civil servants with many years’ experience of dealing with human resource issues. Some of them have also been senior trade union officials. They are all selected fairly by open competition.
Each board hearing consists of 3 board members:
- a chair
- a retired senior civil servant
- a retired senior trade union official
The board decides whether the decision being appealed against was fair.
2. How to appeal
If you want to appeal, let us know as soon as possible. Don’t wait for the outcome of any internal appeal because this could be too late. Read all the guidance first, then fill in the Notification of intention to appeal to the CSAB template and email or send it the CSAB Secretariat.
Email: ccas.civilserviceappealboard@dwp.gov.uk
When we receive it, we’ll check that it’s a case the board can consider. We’ll ask the department or agency for more information, if necessary. If there’s a problem, we’ll tell you as soon as we can.
If you can appeal, we’ll ask you to send us a statement of your case and any supporting documents by email. The time we allow for this depends on the type of appeal as explained in the table. If it’s late, the board may not be able to consider your appeal.
| Type of appeal | Notify intention to appeal within | Send statement within |
|---|---|---|
| Compensation | 21 days of the effective date of termination or, if terminated without notice, the date employment ceased | 21 days of CSAB allowing your appeal to proceed |
| Superannuation | 21 days of the decision about your superannuation | 21 days of CSAB allowing your appeal to proceed |
| Political activities | 8 weeks of the employer’s final decision following the end of any internal appeal process | 4 weeks of CSAB allowing your appeal to proceed |
You can be helped at any time by a representative of your trade union, a friend, a colleague or a solicitor, but do not leave this to the last minute – get your representative involved at the very start of the appeal procedure.
3. Your statement (if you are the appellant)
Your statement should be concise and contain only relevant information set out clearly in chronological order.
Please number all the pages of your statement and evidence consecutively – A1, A2 and so on. This is so the board can easily distinguish between your documents and those of the department or agency.
When we get your statement, we’ll send a copy to the relevant department or agency for their response and write to tell you when and how your appeal will be heard.
The department or agency then has 3 weeks to send us their statement. When we get it, we’ll send you and your representative a copy before the date of your hearing.
3.1 Your copy of the department’s or agency’s statement
The department’s or agency’s statement should explain the reason for the decision and contain all the facts they consider relevant. It will include copies of any relevant documents.
If you want to respond to the department’s or agency’s statement, you can do so before the hearing date. You cannot provide any new evidence or other documents at this point.
4. The department’s or agency’s statement
The department’s or agency’s statement should include:
- the reason for the decision
- all the relevant facts
- any evidence that contradicts or confirms any relevant views that the appellant has expressed about the case
The statement should not include any allegation or comment that has not been put formally to the appellant.
4.1 Examples of what the department’s or agency’s statement should include
In compensation appeals, the board needs to know whether it was a long term absence dismissal or a short term, intermittent one.
In long term absence cases, the board needs to know the length and nature of the illness – because the nature of the illness may have prevented the individual from fully co-operating with efforts to get them back to work.
The Board needs to know the reasons for withholding compensation, or the rationale applied when setting compensation at any specific level. This should be supported by documentary evidence – for example, any medical evidence (for example from an occupational health service or GP letters) and any evidence that the appellant had not followed advice or had refused offers of help. The board needs copies of any guidance and advice for managers that relates to compensation.
In performance cases, if someone may have been over promoted or appeared unable to cope with radical changes in the working environment, the statement should include details of the training provided and their response to it.
4.2 Medical and welfare information
The department or agency should provide copies of any information provided by medical advisers or welfare officers that has been taken into account in reaching the decision. This information will be disclosed to the appellant.
Medical and welfare notes and personal records which have been kept exclusively for medical or welfare purposes, and have not been communicated to management, should not be sent to the board. If there are special circumstances which mean it would be undesirable to disclose any documents, the department or agency should tell the board.
4.3 Preparing the statement
The department or agency should number all the pages in their statement and evidence consecutively – D1, D2 and so on. This is so the board can easily distinguish between the appellant’s documents and those of the department or agency.
4.4 The appellant’s copy and right to respond
The appellant will receive a copy of the department’s or agency’s statement before the hearing and can submit written comments on it to the board.
The department or agency has a right to respond to your additional comments in writing.
5. The hearing
The hearing date will, as far as possible, take account of the wishes of both the appellant and the department or agency. Hearings are held Monday to Friday. They usually begin at 11am or 2pm and last for between 1 and 2 hours.
5.1 Hearing type
All appeal hearings are held as paper boards by default. However, as an exception an alternative method can be considered as a reasonable adjustment. Please note, this is at the discretion of the board and all requests will need to be put in writing and evidence provided as to why you cannot appeal by paperboard.
Hearings are confidential to the people involved and are conducted as informally as possible.
A paper board considers the written information provided by the appellant and the department or agency. The appellant and the department or agency do not attend.
6. When the board has made its decision
Within 24 hours of the hearing, the secretariat will send a copy of the board’s decision to you, your representative and the department or agency by email. Within a further 20 working days they will send the official hearing report – the detailed reasons for their decision by post.
If a decision is found to be correct, the secretariat notifies the parties and takes no further action.
If a decision is found to be unfair, the table explains what happens.
| Type of appeal | If the board finds the decision was unfair |
|---|---|
| Compensation | The board decides the level of compensation to award. The department or agency arranges for any payment to be made. |
| Superannuation | The board may reject the minister’s proposal or reduce the extent to which the benefits are withheld. The minister must comply with the board’s decision. |
| Political activities | The board recommends that permission to undertake the activity be granted or that there should be specific conditions applied to the granting of permission. |
7. Complaints about the CSAB Secretariat
If you are unhappy with the service provided by the CSAB Secretariat or the way they’ve handled the administrative aspects of your case, write to the Secretariat Manager at the secretariat’s postal address.
Civil Service Appeal Board Secretariat
Level 3, Zone C
Caxton House
6-12 Tothill Street
London
SW1H 9NA
Email: ccas.civilserviceappealboard@dwp.gov.uk
7.1 What is a complaint?
We treat any written or spoken expression of dissatisfaction with the service that we’ve provided as a complaint. We aim to:
- treat complaints seriously and deal with them properly
- resolve complaints promptly
- learn from complaints and take action to improve our service
7.2 How we deal with complaints
If you complain in writing or by email, we’ll try to reply within 15 working days. If we can’t, we’ll explain why and say when we can reply.