b'FORGING TRANSFORMATION. FOSTERING SUSTAINABILITY. APPEALS Claimants continued to exercise their right of appealpartly of fact and from the High Court to the Court of whenever they felt aggrieved by decisions of theAppeal.Board in respect of their claims for benefits. ThisFor the financial year, 249 appeals notices were is in accordance with Section 62(1) of the Nationalreceived by the Appeals Tribunal, of which 174 or 70% Insurance Act (NI Act) which states that: of the appellants were issued responses. The table Appeals from decisions of the Board shall lie to thebelow records the appeals received and responses Appeals Tribunals on questions of fact only and to theissued for financial years 2016, 2017 and 2018.High Court on questions of law or partly of law and Financial YearNo. of Appeals ReceivedResponses Issued201621515320172132072018249288Total677648Appeal Hearings accessing Trinidad and Tobago benefits and 28 There were no appeal hearings this financial year. Theenquiries were received from CARICOM member term of the members of the Tribunal expired duringoffices in respect of Trinidad and Tobago benefits. the previous financial year and a quorum remainsThere were no applications received in Trinidad and pending to date.Tobago from persons wishing to access benefits in other CARICOM jurisdictions, and 37 applications were made through the Service Centres accessing RECIPROCAL AGREEMENTSTrinidad and Tobago Benefits. Responses are awaited from 34 persons who applied for Trinidad and Tobago Canada and Trinidad and Tobago benefits under this agreement. During the financial year, 77 applications were madeREVENUE by persons in Canada accessing Trinidad and Tobago benefits through Service Canada and 45 applicationsContribution Income were made through the Service Centres. A total of 101 enquiries were received for persons in CanadaDuring the reporting period, a total of $4,669.61Mn accessing benefits there. For the financial year,was paid in contributions, an increase of 1.33%, there were no applications received from personscompared to the $4,608.24Mn paid in the last in Trinidad and Tobago wishing to access benefitsreporting period. The number of employers, however, in Canada. As at June 30, 2018, there were 192fell by 2.22% from 21,342 at the end of FY2017 to applications awaiting responses from Canada for20,869 employers at the end of FY2018. Income from persons applying for Trinidad and Tobago benefits. penalties and interest for the period amounted to CARICOM and Trinidad and Tobago $18.91Mn.During this financial period, 1 application was madeA comparison of contribution income for the financial through CARICOM member offices by personsyears 2014 to 2018 shows a measure of fluctuation in the contribution income figure over the last five years.Contribution Income for FY2014 to FY2018FY2014FY2015FY2016FY2017FY2018ContributionIncome$3,624.03 $4,261.47 $4,251.70 $4,608.24 $4,669.61 % Increase/Decrease-17.6%-0.2%8.4%1.3%25'