Citizensinformation.ie had over one million users per month viewing 47 million pages in 2018
Citizens Information Board publishes Annual Report 2018 and launches Citizens Information recruitment campaign
The Citizens Information Board has published its 2018 Annual Report with highlights that include over a million monthly users of citizensinformation.ie and over a million queries to the nationwide network of Citizens Information Centres.
A further significant milestone was achieved in 2018 with the restructure of the CIS and MABS networks which involved the transfer of staff, assets and liabilities from 93 to 16 regional companies: 8 CIS and 8 MABS.
As a result, a current national recruitment campaign for Citizens Information Services is now live with 59 posts, including 23 new posts, advertised across 40 locations.
Angela Black, Chief Executive of the Citizens Information Board, said:
“I am delighted to see the benefits of the CIS restructure. The network of services is now better aligned with new governance requirements for organisations in receipt of State funding.”
She added: “The introduction of new grades of staff will increase the number of Information Officer posts and introduce the Senior Information Officer and Regional Administrator grades. As a result, overall staffing levels in the CIS will increase by 7%, with frontline staff increasing by 10.6%”
The advertisement for posts in the CIS network is available online.
2018 Annual Report Highlights
- Citizensinformation.ie had more than 13 million users in 2018. During the year, the website recorded just under 47 million page views.
- “Irish citizenship through birth or descent” was the most visited document during the year. This reflects the continued interest in Irish citizenship among website visitors, many from the UK.
- The most popular documents in ranked order on citizensinformation.ie in 2018 were:
- Irish citizenship through birth or descent
- State Pension (Contributory)
- Working Family Payment
- Rest periods and breaks
- Medical cards
- Carer’s Allowance
- Visa requirements for entering Ireland
- Illness Benefit
- How your tax is calculated
- Registering to vote
- The Citizens Information Phone Service (CIPS) dealt with 140,195 telephone enquiries and responded to 1,839 Live Adviser enquiries in 2018
- A total of 574,096 people called to Citizens Information Services, with over a million queries. The majority of queries from the public in 2018 related to social welfare (45%), housing (9%), health (9%), employment (7%) and money and tax (6%). The number of queries recorded as complex continued to rise and represented 64% of all queries last year
- 5,922 social policy cases were documented by Citizens Information Services and the Citizens Information Phone Service
- 9,579 Citizens Information clients received an advocacy service
- Money Advice and Budgeting Services (MABS) dealt with 15,387 new clients last year, while the MABS Helpline received 26,292 calls. The problem of mortgage arrears, though reduced in 2018, is a source of continuing concern
- Abhaile, the mortgage arrears support scheme, issued more than 10,000 vouchers for professional assistance and Dedicated Mortgage Arrears advisers helped 5,498 borrowers in late-stage mortgage arrears
- The National Advocacy Service for people with disabilities (NAS) provided representative advocacy to 916 people and supported 2,619 people with information, advice and other advocacy supports
- The Sign Language Interpreting Service (SLIS) handled 6,412 interpreting assignments in 2018 – an increase of 58% over 2017
- A key objective of CIB’s strategic plan 2015 – 2018 was to revise the structures of the CIS and MABS networks. During 2018, the staff, assets and liabilities of 93 companies were transferred to 16 new regional companies: 8 CIS and 8 MABS
The Annual Report is available online.
Hard copies can be requested by contacting the Citizens Information Board at 0761 07 9000 or at info@ciboard.ie.
Angela Black, Chief Executive with members of staff and CIS information providers at the National Ploughing Championships 2019.