The NSSO strives to deliver a high-quality standard of service to our customers. If you have an issue or query about the services we provide, you should first contact our dedicated customer services teams (hrcontact@nsso.gov.ie for HR matters or payrollcontact@nsso.gov.ie for payroll matters). Alternatively you can call us directly on 0818 107 100.
After that, if you believe that your issue has not been resolved to your satisfaction, you can then make a formal complaint. We treat all complaints promptly, fairly, impartially and in confidence. We will endeavour to learn from mistakes to ensure that errors are not repeated.
We define a complaint as an expression of dissatisfaction concerning the provision of a service or services by the NSSO, as laid out under the commitments in our Customer Charter.
You can make a formal complaint by submitting a customer complaint form to the National Shared Services Office team and we will investigate it.
This form can be submitted via email or post. A complaint will not be accepted unless it is submitted on the complaint form.
Complaints must be submitted by the officer making the complaint. Forms submitted on behalf of an officer by HR unit or by a manager, will not be accepted.
- By email: support@nssocomplaints.cloud.gov.ie
- By post: Customer Complaints, National Shared Services Office, Block 5, Belfield Office Park, Beech Hill Road, Clonskeagh, Dublin 4, D04 A9P2
Information to provide
You will help speed up the examination of your complaint by providing the following details:
- your name
- PPS number
- e-mail address
- a brief description of the transaction or service you are dissatisfied with
- The NSSO Service Management team will acknowledge your complaint within three working days.
- We will investigate your complaint and issue a reply to you within 15 working days.
- Where a reply is not possible within this time frame, we will give an interim reply explaining why and advising when you should receive a final response.
If after completing step 1 you are not satisfied with the outcome, you can request an appeal to be carried out by completing a complaint appeal form. You must meet at least one of the criteria listed on the appeals form in order for your complaint to be progressed:
New relevant information has become available, which you believe may impact the findings of your complaint.
You believe there was a failure on the part of the NSSO to examine a relevant and substantial issue in relation to your complaint.
You believe there was a failure by the NSSO to obtain relevant and necessary information regarding the issue(s) listed in your complaint.
You believe that your complaint has been misunderstood or misinterpreted by the NSSO. In this case you will need to provide evidence to support this.
You believe that the decision of the NSSO was incorrect or unreasonable in the context of the complaint. In this case you will need to provide evidence to support this.
We will acknowledge receipt of your appeal request within three working days and a response will issue to you within 15 working days. If we need more time to investigate your complaint appeal we will be in contact with you to explain why, and when you should receive a final response.
You cannot appeal to the Office of the Ombudsman. The legislative basis for excluding the NSSO from the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction is set out in Section 5 of the Office of the Ombudsman Act, 1980, paragraph (d)(i)(a) which outlines that “The Ombudsman shall not investigate any action taken by or on behalf of a person- relating to or affecting the terms of conditions- upon and subject to which a person- holds any office.”
Note:
The NSSO Customer Complaints Procedure does not affect existing Circular appeals processes.
Also, the NSSO is committed to protecting the rights and privacy of individuals and the Customer Department/Public Service Body fully. This is in compliance with the Data Protection legislation and in line with accepted good industry practice. To find out more on data protection in the NSSO, please see our Data Protection Policy on this website.
Persistent complaints
We would like to remind you of our mutual obligations under the relevant workplace code of practice for your Public or Civil Service organisation or department, with respect to our correspondence with each other. The NSSO are committed to incorporating consistent customer service standards to ensure a good customer experience for all customers. Unfortunately there are instances where the frequency of contact is excessive, which can have an effect on the ability of the NSSO to respond to other customers in a timely manner.
Examples of unreasonable persistence include:
- Insisting a staff member looks again at the complaint after an appeal has been completed.
- Changing the wording of a complaint to present it again as a new complaint, or continuing with an issue that has already been addressed.
- Continuing to correspond about a complaint that has already been investigated by the Customer Support Manager.
If persistent correspondence continues, we will write to you explaining that an appeal has been carried out, that the office will not be taking any further action, and that your case will be closed. We may take further action to ensure this type of behaviour does not continue.
This includes:
- Asking you to contact us by letter only.
- Informing you that any new complaints relating to issues that have already been addressed will not be recorded as complaints. This does not limit the right of a person to complain about other issues of the NSSO.
- Advising you that no future phone calls will be accepted by the NSSO concerning issues already dealt with.
The NSSO will decide to limit contact with an individual only after careful consideration of the circumstances.
