Claimant Assistance

Becoming an Approved Client of the Trust

The Trust was established to assist Māori in the preparation, presentation and negotiation of Treaty of Waitangi claims, which involve, or could involve, Crown forest licensed land.

To ensure the Trust’s resources are used in the most efficient and effective way possible, the Trust has established criteria for claimants to be recognised as approved clients of the Trust.  These requirements are in accordance with the Trust Deed.  The Trust also assesses the organisational capability of prospective clients and their business plan or funding proposal for the work that they wish to undertake.

The Trust has a three-step application process:

1. Establish Eligibility as a client of the Trust.
2. Assess Capability of the applicant seeking funds to undertake the work they propose.
3. Approval of Funding for assistance from an eligible and capable claimant group. 

Establishing Eligibility and Capability

To be eligible for assistance, an applicant must be Māori and must have registered a claim, or propose to register a claim, which involves, or could involve, Crown forest licensed land.

Groups seeking the Trust’s assistance can advance their claims through either:

• Waitangi Tribunal process, or 
• the settlement negotiations (Office of Treaty Settlements) process.

The Trust’s criteria is set out in the Eligibility and Capability Application Forms for the Waitangi Tribunal and Settlement Negotiations processes which claimants must complete before they can be considered for funding assistance. 

Waitangi Tribunal Process

To be eligible for Trust funding assistance for the Waitangi Tribunal process, claimants must meet the following four requirements - registered, clustered, engaged and capable.

A registered claim
The applicant must have a claim(s) registered with the Waitangi Tribunal, which involves, or could involve, Crown forest licensed land.

A cluster of claimants
The applicant must represent a ‘cluster’ of claimants.

Engaged in the process
The Waitangi Tribunal must acknowledge their preparedness to engage in an Inquiry District and indicate that the claims represented by this cluster will be heard.

Capable of managing the work
The applicant group must have the ability to manage the work that will be required to get through the process.

Direct Negotiations Process

To be eligible for Trust funding assistance to engage in negotiations and conclude a settlement, claimants must meet the following three requirements - grouped, mandated and engaged, and capable.

A Large Natural Grouping
The Office of Treaty Settlements policy is to negotiate with a claimant group that has clear kinship links and a sizeable membership and claim area.  This is known in the business as a “Large Natural Grouping” (LNG).

Mandated and engaged
Both of these requirements are best shown by the following:

1. The applicant group possesses a Crown-recognised mandate to negotiate on behalf of the claimants.
   Or
2. The large natural grouping has a comprehensive, realistic and achievable plan for carrying out the mandating process supported by the Office of Treaty Settlements.
   And
   The group is ready to engage, and fits with the work programme of the Office of Treaty Settlements within the next 12 months.

Capable of managing the process
The applicant group must have the ability to manage the work that will be required to get through the process.  This is especially the case with settlement negotiations where claimants are responsible for managing most of the process themselves and can be responsible for considerable sums of money at any one time.

Early stages of claims preparation

Claimants currently choose either between the Waitangi Tribunal and the Office of Treaty Settlements processes; lower down the Waitangi Tribunal/the Office of Treaty Settlements priority list or; in the early stages of claims preparation, can be considered for some assistance.  The Trust is able to provide limited funding to these groups for early preparation work where the Trust judges that funding will prepare the claimant groups for settlement negotiations later.

Approval of Funding

The applicant group is required to prepare a business plan which sets out the intended work as well as a detailed budget.  For claimants seeking funding for either preparing for Waitangi Tribunal hearings or settlement negotiations with the Crown, this will mean a sound, robust business case, focused on progressing the settlement process to the next stage and setting out the eligible activities and costs that the applicant is seeking funding for from the Trust.

More details on how the Trust is able to assist claimants through the settlement process is available in the Claimant Assistance booklet.