National Shared Services Office, Government of Ireland

The National Shared Services Office (NSSO) is part of the Government of Ireland. It is a Shared Services provider for HR, pensions and payroll administration and finance services for Government Departments and Public Service Bodies. The NSSO has over 800 civil service staff in 6 offices: in Galway, Tullamore, 2 in Killarney, and 2 in Dublin. Established under the NSSO Act 2017, it was originally set up in 2014 within the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, and became a separate statutory office on 1st of January 2018. The NSSO started providing HR, pension and payroll shared services in 2013 and now has over 43,000 civil service customers in receipt of HR and pensions services from 47 Government Departments and PSBs. It also has over 148,000 payees receiving payroll and related services, of which 60,000 are pensioners, from 56 public service organisations. The NSSO is directly responsible for delivering Shared Services within the Irish civil service and also provides guidance to other public service sectors. The NSSO applies the Government’s HR, pension and payroll as well as Finance policies and procedures on behalf of its customers and all decision making, control and accountability remains with the client Government Department or office. The NSSO carries out routine HR administration (processing annual leave, sick leave, providing reports on absence, calculating promotion or pension entitlements, and more) and payroll administration (payroll, issuing salary and pension payments, tax certificates, travel and subsistence administration and related functions) for all its customers in one single Shared Services operation. In April 2022 the NSSO launched its finance service and over the next three years 48 Government Departments and PSBs will transfer the administration of their finances into the NSSO's Finance Services.