Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 17 May 2022
497. Deputy John Brady asked the Minister for Social Protection the number of staff members who are currently employed to answer phone calls through the customer care line in the client identity services section of her Department; the number of phone calls that have been received, broken down by month, from January 2021 to date, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24549/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraMy Department provides a centralised phone service for Public Service Card (PSC) and related queries from its Client Identity Services (CIS) office in Carrick-on-Shannon. My Department also provides telephone and in-person service to customers enquiring about the PSCs through its nationwide network of Intreo offices.
In the Carrick-on-Shannon office, there are normally 17 staff assigned to deal with telephone calls from customers, with additional resources assigned to help meet spikes in demand, when required. The number of calls to this centralised phone service has increased substantially since January 2020.
The number of phone calls dealt by the centralised phone service each month from January 2020 to April 2022 is shown in the table below.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
Calls dealt with by centralised Call Centre Per Month January 2020 to April 2022
|
Month |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
|
Jan |
8,301 |
29,577 |
25,289 |
|
Feb |
7,245 |
32,591 |
28,110 |
|
Mar |
10,102 |
28,132 |
26,818 |
|
Apr |
19,849 |
25,456 |
20,990 |
|
May |
13,400 |
28,791 |
|
|
Jun |
18,353 |
30,422 |
|
|
Jul |
17,342 |
28,777 |
|
|
Aug |
9,623 |
25,335 |
|
|
Sep |
21,075 |
31,804 |
|
|
Oct |
23,049 |
29,180 |
|
|
Nov |
30,072 |
29,931 |
|
|
Dec |
24,004 |
20,751 |
|
|
Total |
202,415 |
340,747 |
101,207 |
