Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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196. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she will provide details of each step of the internal processes in her Department that take place, when a person wishes to make, and escalate, a complaint through the various levels, before going to the Ombudsman. [7960/15]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The Department’s Customer Charter and Action Plan 2013-2015 sets out the level of service customers can except when dealing with the Department and its commitment to provide a professional, efficient, courteous and timely service to all customers. The Customer Charter is displayed in all public offices and is also available on the department’s website .

If a customer is dissatisfied with the standard of service they have received from the Department, they can contact the staff member or section involved to have the matter dealt with. All business areas within the Department have resources dedicated to the management of comments and complaints received.

If this does not resolve the issue to their satisfaction, they can make a formal complaint in person, on line, by telephone, by e-mail or in writing. The complaint will be dealt with promptly, fairly and impartially. Receipt of the complaint will be acknowledged and the complaint will be referred to a complaints officer for investigation. A response to the customer normally issues within 15 working days of the date of receipt of the complaint. If the complaint will take more than fifteen working days to resolve, the customer is contacted to explain the delay and given a timeframe for resolution of the complaint.

If the customer is not satisfied with the response they receive, they can seek to have the complaint reviewed. Following this further review by a manager, if the complaint remains unresolved to the customer’s satisfaction they are advised by the Department that they can refer the matter to the Office of the Ombudsman.