Customer Charter

The purpose of the customer charter is to set out the standards of service you can expect to receive from the Department of Education.

We work to continuously improve the quality of the customer service we provide. We do this by applying the 12 Quality Customer Service Guiding Principles for the public service, which are set out in our Customer Service Strategy. We monitor our performance under this strategy.

Customer commitments

We are committed to delivering quality customer service to you. We do this by:

• delivering a service that is professional, efficient, courteous, consistent, impartial, and confidential.
• providing you with information that is easy to understand, accurate, and complete.
• protecting your personal information in line with data protection legislation
• ensuring your rights to equal treatment are upheld in the delivery of our services.
• working to meet any accessibility needs that you may have.
• responding in Irish when you contact us in Irish.

What to expect when you contact us

When you contact the department by letter, or by email we will:

• acknowledge receipt of your communication, within 5 working days.
• provide a response to your communication, within 20 working days, where possible.
• give you a contact name, postal address, email address, and telephone number in our communications with you.
• inform you when we forward your correspondence to another government department or state body.

When you contact the department by telephone, we will:

• answer your call, promptly and courteously, during normal office hours (9.15am to 5.30pm Monday to Thursday and 9.15am to 5.15pm on Friday).
• identify ourselves and our area of work on the call.
• take your contact details and arrange to call you back, if we cannot address your enquiry immediately.
• keep you informed of when you can expect a response from us.
• only transfer your call to voicemail when the person you wish to contact is unavailable.
• respond to your voicemail message promptly.
• provide you with the name of the business area, if we need to transfer your call within the department.

When you contact the department on our website, we will:

• ensure that material on the website gov.ie/educationis up-to-date and accessible.
• use clear, simple language in all our communications.
• make information available in formats that meet your needs.

When you visit the department’s offices, we will:

• greet you politely, be fair and helpful, and deal with your enquiry, privately and confidentially.
• be available to meet with you where appropriate, by appointment, during normal office hours.
• provide a private, safe, and comfortable meeting space.
• make sure our public offices are fully accessible for you and comply with Health and Safety standards. If you require special accommodations, you can contact our access officers who will arrange the assistance you need.

Contact us

Email: info@education.gov.ie

Call(01) 889 6400.

visit the Contactsarea of the website at gov.ie/education.

Services in Irish

We can provide our services through Irish. We will make every effort to facilitate you, if you wish to conduct your business through Irish including access to an Irish speaker, providing application forms and documents.

Help us to help you

To make our service better we ask that you:

• have relevant information ready.
• give full and accurate information.
• treat our staff with courtesy and respect.

Comment, compliment or complaint

Your feedback helps us to improve our customer service. If you want to provide comments, or suggest how we can improve our service delivery, you can contact the department’s customer service office: · email: customer_serviceoffice@education.gov.ie

**Phone*: (01) 889 6690

Postal address: Corporate Governance, Customer Service Office, Department of Education, Marlborough Street, Dublin 1, D01 RC96.

If you are unhappy with the quality of service you received from the department, please bring it to our attention. Our complaints procedure tells you how you can make a complaint.

If it is not possible to resolve your complaint with the person you have been engaging with, you can contact the department’s customer service office for a review.

If you remain unhappy with the outcome of your complaint, or the way it was handled, you may pursue the matter further with the Office of the Ombudsman.