Customer charter

If you contact us by phone we will:

• Answer your calls promptly
• Give you our name when we answer the call
• Be courteous and helpful to you at all times
• Answer your query in full
• If we cannot do so immediately, we will take your details and call you back as soon as possible
• Respond to all voicemail messages promptly

If you send us a letter, email or online enquiry we will:

• Acknowledge your correspondence within three working days
• Ensure you receive a full reply to your written correspondence within fifteen working days
• If we cannot provide a full reply within fifteen working days, we will contact you with an interim reply within fifteen days
• Give you a contact name and contact details as well as a reference number (where appropriate)
• Process your statutory requests within the required timeframes

 

If you make a complaint to the Commission under section 8 of the Code of Practice we will:

• Acknowledge your complaint within 3 days
• Provide you with details of the person who will be dealing with your complaint 
• Keep you advised of progress on your case
• Inform you as soon as possible and as clearly as possible of the outcome of our examination
• Undertake to deliver a decision within the timeframes and standards outlined in the Codes of Practice

If you make an application to the Commission for a recruitment licence, to be a listed agency or for an excluding order we will:

• Acknowledge your application within 3 days
• Keep you advised of progress on your application
• Inform you as soon as possible and as clearly as possible of the decision on your application

 

If you wish to meet in person by prior appointment we will:

• Be available to meet during office hours (9:15 am – 5 pm) and where necessary, be as flexible as possible outside of these hours
• Treat you with courtesy, be fair and helpful to you, and deal with your enquiry as soon as possible
• Provide clean, accessible public offices that ensure privacy and comply with health and safety standards

We are committed to:

• Ensuring all information is accurate and up to date
• Ensuring that all key publications are available
• Ensuring that our website complies with disability access requirements
• Availing of new technology to continuously improve our services

We are committed to:

• Providing accurate, up to date information in plain English
• Providing information and documentation in a timely manner
• Ensuring that all generally available information is accessible in both electronic and printed formats
• Ensuring that information is available in an accessible format for customers with special needs

• We are committed to dealing with our customers in a respectful, courteous way without discrimination or prejudice
• We will respect equality and human rights in accordance with public sector duty principles
• We will respect your right to privacy
• We will aim to have our services and facilities easily available and accessible to you
• The contact email for our access officer under the disability act is: accessofficer@cpsa.ie

We will assist people who wish to carry out their business with us through Irish

• Correspondence received in Irish will be answered in Irish
• We will publish key documents including our annual reports in Irish and English
• An Irish version of our website will mirror as far as practicable the English version
• We will meet our other commitments under the Official Languages Act 2003 and the office’s official languages scheme as published on our website

To assist us in meeting our service standards it would be helpful if you could provide as much information as possible when we are dealing with your request.  In particular, we would request that you:

• Complete the section 8 review process with the relevant public body before making a complaint to this office
• When making a complaint, outline clearly why you believe a breach of the Codes of Practice occurred
• Quote any relevant reference numbers in your correspondence and/or communications with us
• Ensure that application forms are completed fully, accurately and legibly
• Provide up-to-date contact details

We welcome and encourage suggestions on how we can improve our service

• We welcome customer feedback on all of our services and invite you to contact us with any complaints, compliments or comments that you may have
• If you want to make a complaint about the customer service you received you can contact our customer services manager 
• If you wish to provide feedback on any issue in relation to this charter and our commitments to you as a customer please contact our customer services manager
• We guarantee that if you make a complaint or provide feedback on our services it will not affect how we treat you in the future
• We undertake to respond to complaints and feedback in a timely manner, when requested to do so

Most people who complain to our office act in a calm and reasonable manner. We understand that making a complaint against a public body can be stressful and that, from time to time, this stress may show in how you interact with this office. Our staff members know that managing these interactions is part of their job.

Our staff are not expected to tolerate behaviour that is abusive, offensive, threatening or, due to the frequency of contact, takes up too much time and resources that could be spent dealing with other complaints and investigations.

The following types of behaviour are not acceptable:

Unreasonable persistence

If a complaint has been examined and closed by the Commission, the following is unreasonable persistence: insisting another caseworker looks again at the complaint after an appeal has been completed, changing the complaint to present it again as a new complaint or continuing with an argument that has already been looked at.

Unreasonable demands

An unreasonable demand can include a demand for an investigation into a matter the Commission is not allowed to examine, looking for a solution that is not realistic or is disproportionate, or telling the Commission how to carry out the investigation.

Unreasonable lack of co-operation

You must present your complaint in an organised manner. Unreasonable lack of co-operation can include: not identifying the complaint clearly, presenting too much information and expecting a fast response, changing your complaint in the middle of the investigation and being dishonest about the facts.

Unreasonable arguments

You may not make unreasonable arguments. Examples include exaggerating issues, presenting irrelevant or unreasonable arguments, focusing on small details, insisting your version of events is accepted as fact where there is no objective evidence to support it, refusing to consider other versions of events, or being guided by unfounded conspiracy theories or by desire for revenge or a grudge against another person or public body.

Unreasonable behaviour

Unreasonable behaviour includes threats of violence, abuse of staff, and rude or aggressive conduct.

If we consider your behaviour to be unreasonable, we will tell you why and ask you to change it. If it might be useful, we will consider changing our service in a way that may help you avoid unreasonable behaviour in the future.

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 investigator (or above) has reviewed the situation. Restrictions will be appropriate and in line with the nature of the behaviour. The options we are most likely to consider are:

• asking you to contact us by letter only
• asking you to only make contact with a named staff member
• asking you to call by telephone only on certain days and times
• limiting your access to the office
• asking you to enter an agreement about your future conduct
• as a final option, terminating all contact with you if this behaviour shows no signs of stopping (the Director General will make this decision)

In all cases, we will write to tell you why we believe your behaviour is unreasonable and what action we propose to take. If the behaviour is so extreme that it threatens the immediate safety and welfare of staff or others, we will consider other options. These could include, reporting the matter to An Garda Síochána or instigating legal action. In such cases, we may not give you prior warning of that action.

Regardless of your behaviour, our staff will act respectfully towards you and take an impartial attitude to your complaint.

This document is available on our website. You can also find details of our other services, policies and contact information on our website

Customer Services Manager

Office of the Commission for Public Service Appointments

6 Earlsfort Terrace

Dublin 2

+353 1 639 5750

info@cpsa.ie

Our data protection officer can be contacted at dataprotection@cpsa.ie

Our full contact details are available on the contact us page