Customer charter

Our values, building on the Civil Service Code of Standards and Behaviour, are:

• People First: The key to our success is our people, and we are committed to putting people, performance and development at the centre of what we do.
• Process and Digital Innovation Next: We strive for process simplicity, and we foster a mind-set that is alive to continuous improvement.
• Service Excellence Always: Our aim is to deliver operational improvements and an agile customer experience, rooted in our desire to be better and to meet our customers’ needs.

Our vision for the NSSO is to be a customer-focused, innovative, and learning organisation, providing consistently high standards of shared services that support business needs. Trusted by others, we will build a strong culture that is collaborative, performance-driven, and people-focused.

We are committed to developing, promoting, and providing a high quality customer service to our customers and staff. We do this by having regard to the 12 Guiding Principles for Quality Customer Service provided by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.

The NSSO will take a proactive approach in providing information that is clear, timely and accurate. Information will be provided on the NSSO website and where appropriate e-mail alerts and letters will be sent to you. We aim to ensure that the NSSO website is easy for you to navigate and the content informative and current.

The NSSO will accommodate diversity and treat all customers fairly and equally. We aim to accommodate the needs of all of our customers by providing a service that complies with relevant legislation, guidance and good practice.

We try to make reasonable accommodations and follow National Disability Authority accessibility guidelines where possible. We are mindful that some of our systems, due to their age and limitations, may not fully meet all of our customers’ needs. The NSSO, in acknowledgement of our current system limitations, will keep the importance of fully accessible services at the forefront of our agenda for any replacement of our current self-service systems.

For further information on accessibility in the NSSO, please go to: https://www.nsso.gov.ie/en/corporate-information/accessibility/

We will fulfil our obligations under the Official Languages Act 2003 by conducting business through Irish, where this is the preferred language of our customer. Currently this is done through written and oral correspondence. NSSO content, standard forms and template letters are also available in Irish. We provide an Irish language service.

To avail of this email teagmhail@nsso.gov.ie

The NSSO, in acknowledgement of our current system limitations, will keep the importance of full bi-lingual services at the forefront of our agenda for any replacement of our current self-service systems.

When dealing with the NSSO you can expect us:

• to be professional, courteous and helpful to you at all times
• to give you a contact name and contact details as well as a case number (where appropriate)
• to answer your call, email or letter promptly
• to write to you in simple and clear language without using technical terms (Plain English/ Irish)

Our first Customer Satisfaction Survey was carried out in late 2019, where we engaged with over 36,000 customers. We also engage with our client Public Service Bodies on a very regular basis. Feedback is taken on board with a view to implementing continuous improvement initiatives, to enhance our performance as a customer-focused service provider.

Where service standards have not been met, we will continue to identify improvements to be implemented to try and ensure those standards are met in the future.

Information on how to make a complaint can be found here.

We understand that our customers can be experiencing some difficulties or stress but if callers become abusive, offensive or aggressive to staff members during a telephone call, staff may advise the caller that the call will be terminated if the unacceptable behaviour continues.

If the unreasonable behaviour continues, we will take action to put limits on your contact with our office. This decision will only normally be taken after a senior manager has reviewed the situation. Restrictions will be appropriate and in line with the nature of the behaviour.

Further details can be found on our complaints page (see above).

Our services can be accessed online through the NSSO website. We also provide a call centre service (see contact details) and information in both English and Irish. We will ensure our website complies with universal access requirements and an Irish version of our website will mirror as far as practicable the English version. The NSSO uses available and emerging technologies to ensure maximum access and choice, and quality of delivery.

We will treat all information provided by our customers confidentially and protect all data from unauthorised access. In line with the data processing agreement we have with your employer, we will exclusively use your personal data for the purposes authorised by your employer. For further information on our data protection policies please visit our data protection page.

You will find all of our contact details on this page.