Statistical Summary Quarter 2 2022 - Data Hub Citizens Information Services (CISs) Caller and Query Data

The following is a statistical summary of Citizens Information Services caller and query data for Quarter 2, 1st April – 30th June 2022 published on the Citizens Information Board’s Data Hub.

Callers

• There were 96,710 callers to Citizens Information Services (CISs) nationally during Q2, 2022, a 16% increase on the same period in 2021
• In person callers increased to 41% of all callers (an increase of 34% compared with quarter 2 last year) with a corresponding fall in contact by telephone to 55%, as a percentage of all callers. This was because of the increased provision of face-to-face services linked to the decreasing Covid-19 risk.

Nature of Queries - What brought people into CISs?

• Services dealt with 190,867 queries during Q2 2022, an increase of 9% on the same period in 2021
• 44% of queries were related to Social Welfare rights and entitlements (84,052 queries) followed by Housing at 9.7% (18,480 queries)
• Moving Country became the 3rd highest query category, with 14,319 queries, more than double the number for Q2 2021. Almost half of all these (6,758) were queries relating to issues for Ukrainian refugees
• SW - Extra Social Welfare Benefits (which includes household benefits such as free electricity allowance) continued the trend reflected in Q1 this year, increasing by 68%, compared to Q2 2021 from 6,708 to 11,299 related queries
• Housing queries overall increased by 13.5% and there was a significant increase in homelessness related issues – up by over two thirds on the same quarter last year.
• Ongoing affordability challenges faced by citizens and concerns with rises in the cost of living are reflected in increases in the number of queries relating to Medical Cards (58.6%) and applying for Local Authority/Social Housing (26%), as well as the continuing demand for information and assistance in relation to energy and fuel support schemes, and a rise in Supplementary Welfare Allowance related queries – the ‘safety net’ support - and assistance for additional and exceptional needs.

For the full Quarterly Report see link to CIB’s Data HUB.

https://www.citizensinformationboard.ie/en/data-hub/

https://www.citizensinformationboard.ie/downloads/datahub/q2-2022.pdf