Guidance

Appeal against a grant decision

Published 6 September 2024

Applies to England

• Publication for Northern Ireland
• Publication for Scotland
• Publication for Wales

Use this guide to appeal against a grant decision made by the Forestry Commission.

What you can appeal against 

You can appeal against a decision we have made, which you feel is unjust or incorrect. For example, we may have made a decision: 

• which resulted in a reduction in the money due to you, for example a penalty or refusal to pay a claim 
• which resulted in the recovery of grant we have already paid, for example a reclaim 
• to refuse a request for force majeure which you applied for due to unforeseen circumstances affecting your scheme 
• to not award grant funding  

You can appeal to the Forestry Commission against a decision made under the following grant schemes: 

• England Woodland Creation Offer  
• English Woodland Grant Scheme  
• Farm Woodland Premium Scheme  
• Farm Woodland Scheme  
• HS2 Woodland Fund  
• Local Authority Treescapes Fund  
• Seed Sourcing Grant  
• Tree Production Capital Grant  
• Tree Production Innovation Fund  
• Urban Tree Challenge Fund  
• Woodland Carbon Fund  
• Woodland Carbon Guarantee  
• Woodland Creation Planning Grant  
• Woods into Management Forestry Innovation Fund  

Appeals for Countryside Stewardship schemes should be sent to Rural Payments Agency’s (RPA) customer services. You can find more information on the RPA complaints procedures page. 

Late claim reductions  

If you wish to appeal against our decision to impose a reduction due to a late claim, you must fully explain how your ability to submit a claim (within the required timescale) was affected by exceptional circumstances. You must provide any supporting evidence. 

Exceptional circumstances that might be relevant in these circumstances may include: 

• unforeseen death of the main applicant 
• prolonged unforeseen period of incapacity (not usually a planned, extended period in hospital) 
• a history of post not having been delivered and clear evidence that contact has been made with the Post Office

How to appeal a grant decision 

You must submit your appeal within 20 working days of receiving our decision that you wish to appeal against.

You need to provide all relevant evidence to enable us to respond to your appeal. You will need to provide evidence to show:

• what has happened and why
• support for your views
• why you feel that our decision is unjust or incorrect
• any other information that you feel is relevant

There are 2 internal stages to our appeals process. You should start your appeal at stage 1. 

Stage 1 

To submit a stage 1 appeal: 

1. Complete our grant appeal form. In section B, ensure you tick the ‘stage 1’ box. 

2. Send your completed form and any supporting evidence (for example photos or maps) to the National Compliance team by email or post.  

3. We will review your appeal to make sure it is complete. We may ask you for more information. Once we have all the information, we will send you an acknowledgement email or letter and send it to the relevant team.  

4. We aim to respond to your appeal within 20 working days of acknowledgement. We will contact you to advise if we are unable to complete our review within this time.  

5. Stage 1 appeals will be managed according to the nature of the appeal:

   • technical decisions considered by the Operations Manager or Area Director 
   • policy decisions considered by the Grant Manager or Incentives and Compliance Manager 
   • transactional decisions considered by the Operations Team Manager or Head of Operations 

Stage 2 

If you have received a response from your stage 1 appeal and you are not satisfied, you can make a stage 2 appeal.  

To submit a stage 2 appeal: 

1. Complete our grant appeal form. In section B, ensure you tick the ‘stage 2’ box. 

2. Send your completed form and any supporting evidence (for example photos or maps) to the National Compliance team by email or post.  

3. We will review your appeal to make sure it is complete. We may ask you for more information. Once we have all the information, we will send you an acknowledgement email or letter and send it to the relevant team.  

4. We aim to respond to your appeal within 28 days of acknowledgement. We will contact you to advise if we are unable to complete our review within this time.  

5. Stage 2 appeals will be managed according to the nature of the appeal: 

   • technical or transactional decisions considered by the Head of Forest Services Delivery 
   • policy decisions considered by the Head of National Grants and Regulations 

How to complete the grant appeal form

All forms should be completed electronically, where possible, but if you are completing by hand:

• use black ink
• do not use pencil or felt-tip pen
• use capital letters or ensure that any handwriting is legible
• make sure you have written within the boxes

Where appropriate, you should provide photographic evidence. Photographs should be labelled with a GPS location (‘geo-tagged’) or grid reference and inserted into a word document if submitted electronically.

Independent appeals process 

For all grants except Farm Woodland Premium Scheme and Farm Woodland Scheme, you can request an independent appeal. This is where you ask for your appeal to be reviewed by an arbitrator. An arbitrator is chosen from a panel of arbitrators agreed by us and the Institute of Chartered Foresters. 

The cost of this process is shared equally between the parties. To request an independent appeal, please contact the National Compliance team.  

Appointed persons process 

If you have an agreement approved under the Farm Woodland Premium Scheme (FWPS) or FWS (Farm Woodland Scheme), you may have the right to seek an independent appeal against our decision through the appointed persons process.  

1. Please complete our appeals form and ensure you tick the ‘Appointed Persons process’ box. 

2. Send your completed form and any supporting evidence (for example photos or maps) to the National Compliance team by email or post.  

We will advise whether your request for an appeal is deemed appropriate or not. There will be some circumstances where the appointed person appeal process would be inappropriate, such as the imposition of a penalty on a claim where, due to EU regulations, it would be impossible for us to take any other decision. 

We will meet the cost of this appointed person, but the person making the appeal must meet their own costs. 

The independent appointed person will consider the details of the case and provide a report for our consideration. We will then take this into account when the decision on the case is retaken. We are not obligated to accept the recommendations of the appointed person.

National Compliance team contact details 

Compliance team 
620 Bristol Business Park 
Coldharbour Lane 
Bristol  
BS16 1EJ  

Email: fs.compliance@forestrycommission.gov.uk 

We recommend you include the words “Appeal” in the subject title of your email.

You are advised to keep a copy of your appeal form.

Acknowledgement of your appeal

If you choose to post your appeal form, we recommend you use a postal facility that allows you to track it. We will acknowledge receipt of your form within 5 working days by post. If you do not receive an acknowledgment within 10 working days of posting your form, please contact the National Compliance Team. We will not be held responsible for applications that are delayed or lost in the postal system.

If you email your form, we will acknowledge receipt within 3 working days. If you do not receive an acknowledgement within 7 working days of emailing us, then please contact the National Compliance Team.