1. Learn about reasons to appeal

The Social Security Tribunal – Appeal Division (SST – Appeal Division) can look at only certain types of mistakes. These are called grounds of appeal.

The legal wording for the grounds is complicated. But in simple terms, they're mistakes that the first level of appeal made including:

• not following a fair process
• dealing with an issue it did not have the power to deal with
• refusing to deal with an issue it should have dealt with
• not following the law correctly
• getting important facts wrong because it did not look at or understand the evidence

You must be able to do things like:

• explain the mistakes made at the first level of appeal
• explain how to fix the mistakes and why
• talk about the law and appeals that are like yours

Starting April 1, 2026

As well as the mistakes above, the SST – Appeal Division can deal with constitutional law questions. These are about the Constitution Acts and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

And in the past, you needed permission to make an appeal to the Appeal Division. You no longer need this.

When to send in your appeal

You must file or send in your appeal application within 30 days, which starts on the day after you get your first-level appeal decision. The 30 days include weekends and holidays.

For more information, contact the SST by email at info@sst-tss@canada.gc.ca or by phone at 1-877-227-8577. For TTY, call 1-866-873-8381.