How It Works

Here are a few links explaining fees, co-working, and ATW.

This one is from ASLI, the Association of Sign Language Interpreters. This is my professional organisation (the same as for all of the registered BSL Interpreters in the region). Under Booking an interpreter or translator it says “Two interpreters will be required for assignments over 1 hour in length. Video or remote interpreting is not suitable for assignments over 40 minutes in length.” This is because after 35-40 minutes, the mental and physical exhaustion of processing two languages simultaneously creates a significant level of interpretation error. Two co-working interpreters prevents against this, and improves the interpretation more generally as even when one is not actively interpreting, they are still assisting the other interpreter’s decisions.

On the same link, under Who pays for the interpreter or translator it states “It is the responsibility of the service provider under the Equality Act 2010,  however, some funding is available such as Access to Work (DWP)” This is important. Access to Work do not set interpreting fee levels – they just have a policy on how much they are willing to assist the employer to pay the fees of the interpreter. The employer has the responsibility under the Equality Act 2010; ATW just assists (see on the same page under What rights do deaf people have to an interpreter or translator?.

This link is from NUBSLI – my professional union under Unite. It sets recommended fees per region and my fees are the same as they recommend.

This link is my Terms and Conditions, where I state that I will charge 50% extra on the regular fee if working without an interpreter. The reason for this is the physical and mental toll of working for that long in a large business meeting.