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THE NUMBER OF complaints made against front-line staff in social welfare offices has increased six-fold since 2010.
The Department of Social Protection received 171 complaints about named officers in 2013, up from just 27 in 2010.
Some 102 and 103 such complaints were made in 2012 and 2011 respectively.
The number of ‘fairness and courtesy’ complaints received has decreased from 119 to 87 during the same four-year period.
The figures were given by Social Protection Minister Joan Burton to Sinn Féin’s Spokesperson on Education and Skills Jonathan O’Brien in response to a Parliamentary Question on Tuesday.
Burton said: “The Customer Charter and Action Plan 2013-2015 sets out the level of service customers can expect when dealing with the Department and the commitment to provide a professional, efficient, courteous and timely service to all customers.”
She added that all complaints received by the Department would be dealt with “promptly, fairly and impartially” and generally responded to within 15 days.
“If a customer is dissatisfied with the standard of service they receive, they should contact the staff member or section involved to have the matter resolved. If this does not resolve the issue to their satisfaction, they can make a formal complaint to the Quality Customer Service Team in person, by telephone, in writing or online at www.welfare.ie,” Burton noted.
If a complaint remains unresolved, customers can appeal to the Office of the Ombudsman.
Burton said that the Department’s almost 7,000 members of staff “delivered weekly social welfare payments to 1.5 million customers, answered 8.3 million telephone calls, processed 2.1 million applications and carried out 1.1 million control reviews” in 2013.
“The Department is committed to delivering a high quality customer service to all its customers,” she added.
The nature or outcome of the complaints were not divulged.
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A lot of the customer service skills of the social welfare employees is absolutely atrocious.Vast majority of the people visiting the welfare office don’t want to be there,so the last thing they need is to be treated like something off the bottom of a shoe and judged with utter contempt.
If they don’t like it they should change banks.
Wait, we’re talking about the social welfare office? Who brought up customers then?
I’m surprised there’s not more complaints! I hate having to deal with staff of these places they are ALWAYS rude Middle aged women with a chip on their shoulder and superiority complexes. I understand they probably deal with a few undesirables but so do most people who work with the public.
They are well paid with cushy entitlements, get over it or leave. All these public staff (tax and post offices included) need appropriate supervision to make sure the manner in which they deal with the public is monitored and corrected if they are being rude. I had to phone recently for mat leave and I was made to feel like I was doing something wrong.
There should be a massive overhaul and training how to deal with the general public.
There is, just like their appeal process it may take 24 months to get a correct figure.
How much are they paid?
I would have to agree with you. I have been providing customer service for over 11 years now and hold myself and the staff around me to a very high standard. From personal experience I can say that if you offer great customer service your customers will be happy and so treat you and your staff with the utmost respect making for a very happy working environment. But alas about 2 years ago I had the misfortune of having to deal with a few social welfare officers as my PRSI was confused with a family members due to some clerical error. I found them to be rude, arrogant and not at all helpful. They made me feel like I had done something terrible to them and should be punished because of it. I hated every second I had to be in that office.
And the funny thing is as everybody knows,
the Irish don’t complain!!!!!!.
Even Govt ministers defend and take responsibility for ignorant people who abuse their position.
I had a valid complaint, but I was stonewalled by the social for nearly 2 years. Eventually I gave up. The system works!?!
They actually think the own the money I had the privilege to have to ring them one morning only to be greeted by the rudest person ever I stopped her in her tracks wasn’t long changing her tune let her know I wasn’t looking for anything for nothing as I paid into the system for 46 years because they lost my appeals form it only took UK pension 1month to sort pension out even though I didn’t have my insurance no from UK as it was 40 years ago told her that reply was we have a bigger area to cover to me UK is a lot bigger needles to say still waiting
They are not customers or clients and should not be refereed to as such. Stop normalising these kind of welfare payments, it only further diminishes the necessity to work.
@None.. I disagree. .. Anyone that is involved in any type of business transaction is considered a customer. Maybe it’s poor attitudes that relates to respect and common decency, like yours, that creating the problem.
Business transaction? Here’s some money if you’re doing nothing. Welfare should be related to your previous tax payments. Large payments for big earners. Where I’m based now, I’ll get 4k net a month for 6 months if I’m unemployed.
Where are you based?
A rich mid sized country in Western Europe.
Business transaction or no business transaction, people who deal with the public on and who are paid by the public should be able to interact in a civilised manner.
It’s ok to say which country you’re in I’m not going to come and track you down
There’s a few people here that would love to know where i work.
We have no evidence they weren’t civil, only one person’s opinion.
I wonder how many complainants had been turned down ?
Brendan Im coming to get you.i will find you
You don’t say what they should be called?
@Marlon. You totally misunderstood my post. I was not referring to common decency or respect that should be afforded to every human being. I was referring to the normalisation of welfare payments, there SHOULD be a stigma associated with receiving welfare because that is the greatest incentive to get off welfare payments.
Referring to recipients of welfare as clients or customers only makes it acceptable. Welfare is a short term interim until you find suitable employment and not a lifestyle choice.
That was my point.
Brendan gets around ! Today , he is in Switzerland :)
@None… I understand your point. However, I still don’t agree. It’s not the guy/gal in the window that’s making the decision. They’re just the person you have contact with. They should take on the idea of a person as a customer. However, the agent that is handling a case and the administrators that makes the decision that folks should be vexed.
Regardless, calling someone a customer is away of showing respect. There is no reason to denigrate sameone. Regardless of their stupidity, guilt, laziness or honest situation.
If everyone walked around jumping to conclusions and labeling a person this and that…. We’d find more hate and anger than already exists.
I don’t disagree, but WHAT would you call them?
Hey Marlon, Tell us about the DMV in the US? I hear they’re renowned for that great Ametiv Customer Service…
*American
@John…. Each DMV institution is related to the city and state. My personal experiences has involved Wisconsin, Massachusetts and New Hampshire. In my case, the customer service was brilliant. Yes… In Massachusetts there was long lines and you felt like cattle (you had take a number, then wait, speak to submit your paperwork, then wait, then complete the eye test and then wait for your temporary license). However, the persons servicing the counters were brilliant.
New Hampshire was a different extreme…. They were very conversational and helpful.
So the experience you may have had…. Could been isolated or could been a bad day for the individual you encountered.
@none , do you not think that being reliant on sw payment is not a big enough stigma for most people? most of those who are on welfare are not there by choice, they are there thanks to the failings of an inept and totally useless government and political class. most of them had perfectly good jobs and a decent wage, good living standards etc before our cowardly politicians kowtowed to the wishes of the troika and the financial sector. the ‘stigma’ of having to attend a sw office and wait in line to get even the smallest of payments is bad enough, but to have to go to them cap in hand for things that a few years ago you could easily have bought is even worse, im not talking about luxury items here like communion dresses, ot wide screen TV’s im talking about basic needs such as a cooker, fridge, washing machine or bed. there are people out there to who standing in that line or facing those behind the counter is already degrading enough, being rude and abusive could just be the straw that breaks the camels back, far too many people have already taken their own lives due to the financial circumstances this country is in, those working in sw and other departments should be aware of the fact that their attitude towards some one could be the trigger in deciding their fate.
@NOne
“I was referring to the normalisation of welfare payments, there SHOULD be a stigma associated with receiving welfare because that is the greatest incentive to get off welfare payments.”
You know what the greatest incentive to get off welfare payments is? Jobs. Actual physical jobs that pay enough to reflect the cost of living.
At any one time in this country there are 12,000 jobs available. There are 400,000 unemployed.
Now tell me again why they’re on welfare???
Stay there.
Weekly payments to 1.5 million customers? Holy Moly! Is half the country on dole?
No, half the country is in contact with the Department of Social Protection and Children for one reason or another. They handle stuff besides dole.
2 million people in Ireland have a medical card. http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/almost-half-of-us-has-a-medical-card-222522.html. How can you support that on 1.3 milion full time workers?
Has anybody asked the Staff in Social Welfare how much abuse they take on a daily basis???
Don’t be silly Maria, they’re the evil ones in the whole scheme of things, not the people who come in stinking of drink and smoke with the racing post under their arm.
A lot I imagine but that doesn’t excuse them being rude to everyone. I was warned before going to my welfare office that Im going to get looked down on and treated like dirt as I am about to become a single parent (apparently the lowest of the low) and this was from someone that works their. She said even though Im a genuine case that just needs a small hand to get me back on my feet to become self sufficient I will be treated exactly like someone who is there just to rip of the system. Now tonme that’s not right. Each pwrson needs to be judged individually on a case by case basis.
Good one Seanbalfe…good one!
Yeah thats true but I work In a customer facing job and I only was enquiring about the money I didn’t ever recieve for my illness which by the way I pay my taxes for its only for a few weeks. Straight away rude and aburpt. I was friendly and polite. It makes me sick that someone suffering and ill worse than me has to put up with that treatment. Where has the human compassion gone.
As I said before if someone is being nasty to them fair enough but straight off the bat rudeness.
Too be fair most of that was over the phone. The people in my area were I handed in my slips were nice.
Why is it nearly always women working in the SWO ?
There’s one sound one where i live, and then there’s the other one! Like a bulldog chewing its own ball sack whilst being stung by several wasps
Good cop, bad cop
I think its more like bad cop,bad cop.
I agree, in general, customer service skills are needed in all customer facing roles in Ireland. I don’t believe value has ever been placed on this skill in the work place.
However, there are exceptions… For example, AerLingus… I find their customer facing staff to be incredible. I also find organisations that carries an American ethos, tend to be better at customer service.
But then again… I believe the complaints stem from welfare recipients being told “NO”, or having to jump through more hoops to continue receiving welfare. And poorly trained welfare staff. Part of customer service is the ability to defuse a possible issue before it becomes an issue.
Possible Marlon but when you have 2 peiple in the same circumstances and o e has to jump through hoops while the other is told come back in 6month to re sign on its hard not to think that thats unfair.
Welfare shouldn’t be handed out willy nilly but to have such differences in procedure from one staff member to another is not right either…
You should be made to jump through hoops to continue to receive payments.
@Karen… I’m disagreeing with you. However keep in mind, everyone’s situation is different. Though on face value all may appear the same… The truth is we don’t know what is in a person’s confidential file.
The American style of service comes off as false, Irish people are unique in our way of being welcoming and accommodating without the cheesy fake smiles and ‘How are you today? How can I help you sir?”. That being said a lot of waiting and retail staff in Ireland need some sort of training, and that’s having worked in customer-facing roles for over 6 years – there’s a serious attitude problem!
@Zoe….. I agree with you to some degree. Whole point of customer service…. Is sincerity…. You can train a person on to give great customer service…. But you can’t teach a person on how to be sincere.
@marlon for me the difference in circumstances should be reflected in what you get not in the paperwork you have to fill to get it.
@ journal
You guys deleted a post that didn’t breach the comments policy … Yet you leave the post above… I rest my case
Same. ….@journalist are you guys politically driven?
Yes did u not all anit government news is either put on the back burner or water down.
They should be out working and not in social welfare offices
What’s in the Daily Mail today Ian?
Only talking about the career wasters and not those who genuinely need SW and lets not forget the economic immigrants draining the State. Dont be naive!
So, the same stuff as usual eh?
Scroungers and damned foreigners to blame for everything.
Foreigners – no ; scroungers -YES! That pretty much covers economic immigrants.
Lobotomy went well then Ian?
Chris, if I had a lobotomy you can be sure I would be down the social welfare office looking for disability allowance and I’m sure I would deserve it unlike SOME chancers!
Learn to comment more precisely.
Y was my comment removed for mentioning inadequate department or ethnic minorities ?
Prime time or TV3 should do an investigation and show them for who they really are.
I work part time so am still in contact with the social welfare through a casual claim. All I’m required to do is fill In a docket every week saying what days I’ve worked. Twice in the last two weeks they have lost my slip. I was told both times that they never received my slip and that I had to come over and fill out a new one. On both occasions the big garlic faced woman I’ve dealt with proved to be extremely rude and unhelpful. I explained, on both occasions, that I had dropped my slips in. She refused to admit that her office was at fault. She kept saying that I had simply not dropped in my slips. So because she couldn’t admit she was wrong, and because of her offices incompetence, I was left broke for 2 weeks out of three. Obviously, I was paid a double on both occasions, but it was an absolute nightmare trying to feed myself, pay bills for the week. I had to turn down a couple of days work because I simply hadn’t got the price of a bus to get there and back. All the while that horrible c##t with her superiority complex sat comfortably. I actually took a picture of myself handing in my slip today.
I find the staff in SW offices to be courteous, polite and very efficient – this is in spite of the amount of abuse that they receive from a minority of ignorant customers.
Their attitude is “I’ve a job you don’t so I don’t care”.
Does anyone on hear know how must the people at the top who run the social welfare department get paid?
It is all available on line. Google Irish civil service pay scales
Aye and how much do those on the counter get? The starting wage is 20k is on the dept of finance website.
this happens in most so called public service offices not just in the social welfare office. there seems to be a very large ‘attitude’ problem with a lot of frontline staff at our local social services office ,social welfare, community welfare office road tax and driving licence offices, but especially at local government levels . I have had a couple of run in’s with staff at these offices, they seem have an attitude that because they work for the public service and wear a name badge ,they are somehow superior and untouchable to the general public . only last week in our local council office I heard one of the staff tell an old age pensioner that it was “her own fault” if couldn’t provide the information required on a housing form, I reminded her that she was working in the public service the emphasis being on the words public and service. sadly these are the type of people who end up ‘doing well ‘ in such jobs and ultimately end up running a department or worse still a country!
I had an officer call me a loser and to get out of her office all because I refused a CE scheme minding kids on an after school project on the basis I’d never see my own child, she said that wasn’t her problem I’m a loser to get out I’d hear from her in the coming weeks
3 months later I got no response from my complaint which I followed up to receive a letter saying I was lieing and called no such thing, a case of my word against her’s
Anto, that must be the longest nonsensical sentence that I have ever read.
Jeez that’s sad Anto… When I was young my dad worked 12 hr days to keep the roof over our heads. We seen him for an hr in the morning and might not see him again until the next day. So Anto, her assertion was probably right…
Awh boo hoo call the Samaritans they’ll listen
Anto, I doubt very much if even the Samaritans would listen to you. Is it true that you once rang the Samaritans to complain about the Samaritans.
Anto, I think I figured out why you are unemployed.
You lack a primary European Language.
If you google “Learning English in Dublin” you should find a plethora of courses to help you get a skill you can use practically.
Good luck mate.
I have been providing customer service for over 11 years now and hold myself and the staff around me to a very high standard. From personal experience I can say that if you offer great customer service your customers will be happy and so treat you and your staff with the utmost respect making for a very happy working environment. But alas about 2 years ago I had the misfortune of having to deal with a few social welfare officers as my PRSI was confused with a family members due to some clerical error. I found them to be rude, arrogant and not at all helpful. They made me feel like I had done something terrible to them and should be punished because of it. I hated every second I had to be in that office.
Keep digging Ian. Ur trying to claw your way back from your first stupid comment. Without much success.
Where is my comment gone
That’s it I’m off to Irish times app. …
To be honest with you all I dread having to go to the social welfare office. Some officers are ok.but the vast majority are bad.they need to be trained how to deal with people who through no fault of their own can’t find work. In the ression .Most of the time uou feel that your social welfare payments are coming from their pocket. Sometimes you feel worse than when you went in.some dont know what your query is.
Sure they’ll have 20 spare gardai to help them with customer service soon.
I got told by Dundalk social welfare im not available to work because im a mother and intro didnt have to help me in looking for work. I went into the social welfare office for help not for a hand out i basically was told to go home !!!! In 2015 mothers are being told they cant work !!!
Why are they being referred to as customers?
have your say