Customer Action Plan 2025 - 2027

Our Customer Charter sets out our commitment to Quality Customer Service. The Customer Action plan provides further information on how these commitments will be achieved and delivered. The Customer Charter and Action Plan will be published on the Departments website and service delivery targets in respect of customer service will be reported on each year in the annual report.

We will:

• Publish an updated Customer Charter and display it in all public offices.
• Notify all staff of the new Customer Charter and Customer Action Plan to ensure all staff are aware of the commitments to customer service laid down in the customer charter and action plan and are committed to the goals set out.
• Review Department publications to ensure all publications are clear, understandable, relevant and accurate. Publications will be monitored and kept up to date to ensure the most current information is available to our customers.
• Ensure the Department website is maintained and further developed with customer service and accessibility in mind.
• Ensure services are available through Irish and English where possible, including responding to correspondence received in Irish.

We will:

• Host public information sessions (both in-person and by webinar) to provide new and relevant information to our customers as appropriate.
• Continue with public outreach events to assist and inform customers (e.g. BISS Clinics).
• Engage in consultation with customer representative groups to streamline the application process for schemes.
• Further expand the use of various social media platforms.
• Where possible communicate directly with scheme participants (e.g. farmers, forest owners, processors) in cases where there are significant changes to any scheme
• Further develop the resources available to staff to ensure accessibility, plain language and best practice are followed when developing documents and content for customers through the Department website.
• Regularly survey our customers on the quality of the services we provide and report on our performance in our Annual Report.

In addition to the current commitments set out above, the Department will continue to deliver projects which place customers at the heart of the services we provide to improve the customer experience. We are committed to continually streamlining, simplifying, and improving customers interactions with the Department. These projects include:

• The launch of a new MyAgFood portal to improve farmer’s online experience. The current Agfood.ie portal has been a key component of service delivery with over 5.5 million logins in 2024. The Department will modernise and improve the service with the phased launch of the new MyAgfood.ie in 2025. The new MyAgfood.ie will offer a more customer specific experience to ensure the Departments system is more co-ordinated and better tailored to the individual needs of customers.
• The continued development of the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. The CRM system is currently in place to provide the best customer experience when engaging with the Department. This unified solution provides consistency and full visibility of client’s interactions with the Contact Centres, which in turn drives higher customer satisfaction and increased productivity. Further enhancements will be sought to ensure we are being responsive to our customers’ needs through improved monitoring of customer queries, especially at peak application/payment times.
• An expansion to the range of digital services offered by the Department.
• Online and text services. We will continue to improve our online and text (SMS) services for best customer service. Customers can register for these services on the Agfood Portal.
• Further develop and expand the “Chatbot” facility as an additional channel of communication for customers which operates on a 24/7 basis and allows customers to access information outside of office hours (and to request a ‘call back’).
• An expansion of the volume and variety of data and information available via the Open Data portal to ensure the re-use of public sector information.
• The continued development of new IT systems to support and enhance the digital delivery and security of various schemes.