Civil Service Appeal Board

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Guidance notes for officers appealing

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Preparing your main statement

Your main statement of case should consist of the following:

  1. A narrative explaining the events leading up to dismissal (including any internal appeal).
  2. The reasons why you feel that the Department/Agency were unfair to dismiss you.
  3. Any documentary evidence that you consider to be relevant and which you wish the Board to consider.

The statement should be paginated and annotated (e.g. with the letter A, i.e. A1, A2, etc). Remember that 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.

When your full statement is ready you should send it to the Secretariat as quickly as you can together with any supporting documentation you wish the Board to consider. It must not arrive later than the given deadline. Getting your statement and supporting documentation in on time is very important. Failure to do so may result in your appeal being struck out and the Board will take no further action with your appeal. Any documents submitted in plastic wallets or folders will be returned to you.  

You do not have to prepare a main statement if you feel that you have said what you wanted to say in your letter of appeal to the CSAB and that it includes all supporting documentation you wish to rely on. If you have nothing to add to your letter of appeal, you should indicate this on the CSAB97.5 form. It is important that you keep a copy of your statement.

When your statement is received a date for the hearing will be scheduled so it is essential that you notify the Secretariat of any dates when you and your representative are unavailable within a given eight week period. Any such dates must be provided on the CSAB97.5 form to avoid any problems occurring when hearing dates are booked as it is difficult to re-arrange hearings and once booked hearings are only postponed in very exceptional circumstances.