3. Find out what happens if your appeal is late

If you send in your appeal to the General Division of the Social Security Tribunal after the 90-day deadline, you need to explain why your appeal is late, and ask the Tribunal to accept it late. You do this on your Notice of Appeal. The Tribunal can’t accept your appeal if it is more than one year after you get your reconsideration decision. 

You need to include:

• the reason your appeal is late
• any proof you have that shows you always planned to appeal
• the arguments you’ll use in your appeal that show that your appeal might succeed

The Tribunal decides whether or not to accept your appeal, based on what you’ve written.

If the Tribunal refuses to take your appeal because it’s late, you can seek leave to appeal this decision to the Tribunal’s Appeal Division within 90 days.

You will need to get legal help to do this. A community legal clinic may be able to help you or refer you to someone who can.