Terms and Conditions JULES DICKINSON, RSLI, FASLI BRITISH SIGN LANGUAGE/ENGLISH INTERPRETER
Definitions 'Interpreter': the person who performs the act of interpreting spoken or signed communication into another language and who is registered as RSLI or TSLI with the NRCPD (National Registers of Communication Professionals working with Deaf and Deafblind people). ‘Speaker’: the person making the original spoken or signed communication. ‘Client’: the party or intermediary engaging the services of the Interpreter and having responsibility for his/her remuneration. ‘Assignment’: any period or set of consecutive periods of interpreting for one specific purpose or event. ‘Circumstances’: any circumstances deriving from any cause, which is beyond the control of the Interpreter or the Client. When you confirm an assignment, you agree to the following Terms and Conditions: 1. Services Provided 1.1 The services provided by the Interpreter will be the interpreting services agreed in writing at the time when an assignment is accepted and/or those specified in these Terms and Conditions of Business. 1.2 Unless there is express agreement confirmed in writing at the time, no additional services will be included. 1.3 If no Deaf sign language users are present for the assignment, the contract will be considered fulfilled. The Interpreter will not be obligated to continue with the interpretation unless it has been expressly agreed in writing that they will do so. 1.4 If on arrival at an assignment the Client or other parties are not present, the maximum time the Interpreter will wait for is 20 minutes. On request, the Interpreter may agree to wait longer but this cannot extend beyond the allotted appointment time. 2. Contracts 2.1 All assignments will be confirmed by a written contract between the Client and the Interpreter, which will include these Terms and Conditions and any variants explicitly agreed. 2.2 If there is no time to confirm the booking by a written contract, the assignment will be entered into on the basis of an oral contract only and these Terms of and Conditions will apply. 2.3 Where the Interpreter’s services have been contracted for in accordance with either of the means specified above, the Client will be wholly liable for:
remuneration of the Interpreter’s services, and
reimbursement of any expenses incurred by the Interpreter in connection with the assignment whether the interpreting services are in fact provided or not.
3. Teams 3.1 Where an assignment requires continuous interpreting for any period of more than one hour, a team of at least two Interpreters must be engaged to provide the interpreting service. 3.2 As an exception to the above, the Interpreter may offer to work alone for the duration of the assignment, but this will be agreed by and explicitly accepted by the Interpreter in writing. 3.3 For reasons of health and safety, the Interpreter is under no obligation to continue with an assignment should their co-interpreter fail to arrive. 3.4 The Interpreter will only work in teams with other professionals registered with the NRCPD unless explicitly agreed otherwise at the time of booking. 4. Working Hours 4.1 A working day will not exceed more than seven working hours during which interpreting will be required. 4.2 The Interpreter will be provided with a midday rest period of at least one hour. 4.3 If the Interpreter has agreed to work solo they must be given adequate opportunity for breaks, ideally 10 minutes every 25 to 30 minutes. 4.4 The Interpreter will not be available for interpreting services during rest periods or breaks. 4.5 If it is found that interpreting services will be required for an additional period after the period of work for which the Interpreter was initially contracted, the Interpreter may agree to*:
continue for a further agreed period on that same day,
continue for a further agreed period on subsequent days. *This will be entirely at the discretion of the Interpreter. 4.6 If the Interpreter consents to the above, additional fees will be paid in accordance with Clause 5.6. 5. Fees and Allowances 5.1 Fees quoted by the Interpreter, or on behalf of a team of Interpreters, in full knowledge of the contents and conditions of an assignment, will be considered contractually binding. 5.2 Quotations will be confirmed in writing. 5.3 All fees and allowances will be freely negotiated. 5.4 Fees will be paid in full no later than 28 days following receipt of the invoice. Interest will automatically be applied daily at 8% over base rate (or such rate as is determined by statute, the latter prevailing), to all overdue sums from the first date on which they become due until they are paid in full. 5.5 Late payments will incur a £40 administration charge for every additional invoice sent. A further fee & interest will be added each and every subsequent time an invoice remains outstanding at the end of a further 30 day period. 5.6 Fees will be charged at a full day, or half day rate. Where the Interpreter has been invited to continue for a further period in extension of the initial contract, (see Clause 4.6), a supplementary fee will be paid at an agreed hourly rate.
5.7 Where travel to and from the Interpreter’s normal place of residence and an assignment cannot reasonably be completed within the same day as the assignment, travel time will be remunerated at the same rate as working time. 5.6 Where travel to and from the Interpreter’s normal place of residence and an assignment involves a total of more than two hours, travel time will be remunerated at 50% of the agreed hourly rate. 5.7 A supplementary fee for working unsociable hours will be agreed between the Interpreter and the Client in advance, for assignments between the hours of 18:00 and 09:00 or at weekends or public holidays. 5.8 Where an Interpreter is required, from the outset, to work longer than the working day a supplementary fee will be negotiated at an agreed hourly rate. 5.9 In circumstances where the Interpreter's co-interpreter is absent, the Interpreter may either continue working with fees charged at an additional 50% of the original fee or remove themselves from the assignment. 6. Travel and Accommodation 6.1 Responsibility for travel and accommodation arrangements will be agreed between the Client or the Interpreter before acceptance of the assignment. 6.2 Travel arrangements will ensure that the Interpreter arrives at an agreed time before the start of the assignment and does not have to leave prematurely. 6.3 Where travel arrangements are made by the Client, these will be such as to ensure that the Interpreter arrives sufficiently rested to fulfil the assignment to the expected standard. 6.4 Where the travel arrangements are made by the Interpreter, they will seek to obtain travel and accommodation at a reasonable cost compatible with satisfactory performance of the assignment. Any expenditure incurred will be reimbursed to the Interpreter within 28 days following receipt of invoice. If any such arrangements made by the Interpreter have to be varied or cancelled, any reimbursed sums recovered by the Interpreter will be immediately repaid to the Client. 7. Cancellation 7.1 If an accepted assignment is curtailed or cancelled either wholly or in part, or performance of the assignment is frustrated for reasons, which the Client or the Client’s principal are responsible, the Client will be liable for payment of a cancellation fee according to Clause 9.4. 7.2 Any expenditure incurred as agreed in the contract and any additional expenditure incurred as a result of the cancellation will also be reimbursed. 7.3 If, however, at the time of cancellation the Client is able to offer an alternative assignment of a similar type under comparable conditions and circumstances for all or part of the period of the original assignment, the Client’s liability to the Interpreter in respect of cancellation fees will be reduced by the amount of the fees payable for the alternative assignment. 7.4 Any cancellation fee will be agreed between the parties prior to acceptance of the assignment and willll be determined in relation to the time between notification of cancellation and the start date, as follows:
7 days or less notice- Full Fee
8 to 14 days notice- Half Fee
15 or more days notice- No Fee 8. Substitution of Interpreters 8.1 Substitution will only be permitted in agreement with the Client. In such circumstances the Interpreter will endeavour to find a suitable substitute of equivalent registration status and skill. 8.2 The Client will reasonably accept this substitute, who will be engaged on the same terms as the Interpreter had previously agreed. 8.3 The Client will notify any other parties as appropriate. 8.4 Acceptance of the substitute by the Client will discharge the Interpreter from any further liability. 9. Unavoidable Circumstances 9.1 The Interpreter undertakes to notify the Client at the earliest possible opportunity if he/she is prevented from undertaking an assignment or if performance is frustrated by unavoidable circumstances. 9.2 In giving such notice the Interpreter relinquishes any right to:
remuneration for the uncompleted part of the assignment;
the reimbursement of any expenses, except those already irrecoverably incurred, or necessarily incurred in returning the Interpreter to his/her normal place of residence by suitable means. 10. Preparation Materials 10.1 The Client will provide the Interpreter with relevant information and preparatory materials in the form of background documentation, (See Clause 11.4), in good time; preferably two weeks in advance of an assignment in order to ensure provision of a quality service. 10.2 If it is not possible to provide preparatory materials, and the Interpreter requests such, the Client will arrange for a briefing meeting.
10.3 Attendance by the Interpreter at such a meeting will be paid as working time.
10.4 Preparatory materials will include such items as:
programs, agendas, Minutes, reports;
briefing papers, speakers notes, motions;
names of participants;
maps, photographs, diagrams and other visual materials;
slides or other materials which will be read out or referred to by participants in the
course of an assignment;
lyrics, scripts, copies of any videos or scripts of films to be shown or any other
performance materials will be supplied to the Interpreter by the Client not less than 24 hours in advance.
10.5 The Interpreter outside the context of the assignment will not disclose information contained within preparatory materials. The Interpreter will be responsible for their safekeeping and immediate return to the Client at the end of the assignment. 10.6 The Interpreter reserves the right to withdraw from the assignment if the requested preparation material is not supplied in a timely manner and they judge that this is will result in a substandard interpretation. 11. Working Conditions 11.1 For BSL to English interpretation, the Client will ensure that speakers are well lit and in clear sight of the Interpreter or made visible by means of an image providing a clear and detailed view of the speaker’s face and body movements sufficient for the Interpreter’s requirements. This may require the provision of audio/visual equipment, which will include a microphone and television monitor, for the sole use of the Interpreter. 11.2 For English to BSL interpretation the Client will ensure that the Interpreter is positioned so that they are sufficiently near to the speaker to be able to hear and can be clearly seen by consumers of the service. This may require the provision of additional lighting and audio equipment in the form of a ‘fold-back’ speaker, for the sole use of the Interpreter. If this is not possible, the Client will ensure that the speaker’s voice orfilm/video soundtrack is in any case clearly conveyed directly to the Interpreter without interfering noise. 12. Office Interpreting 12.1 Office or ‘Access to Work’ interpreting can often require the Interpreter to undertake different functions. The Interpreter reserves the right to negotiate with the Client which tasks they may be required to perform in this domain. In general, in addition to simultaneous interpreting, the Interpreter will undertake:
Telephone/ VRS interpreting
Translation of documentation into ‘plain’ and accessible English
Translation of written English into BSL and vice versa 12.2 The Interpreter will require the provision of appropriate equipment for the above duties, including a headset for telephone calls and ergonomically adjustable computer equipment. 12.3 The Interpreter will not undertake the following:
Duties commensurate with that of a Personal Assistant (PA)
Any form of work where the Deaf client is not present
Interpreting in meetings of over one and a half hour duration without the support of another interpreter 13. Recordings 13.1 No record of an Interpreter’s work will be made without the Interpreter’s prior consent, except where such recording is inherent within legal proceedings. Recordings, which are intended for broadcast or publication, will incur an additional fee. 14. Complaints and Disputes 14.1 Any complaint or dispute in connection with interpreting work carried out will be notified to the Interpreter by the Client (or vice-versa) no later than one month from the final day of an assignment.
14.2 If the parties are unable to agree a resolution, the matter may be referred to the NRCPD in accordance with their complaints policy and guidelines 14.3 In any event these Terms and Conditions will be construed in accordance with English law. 15. Responsibility and Liability 15.1 The interpreting task will be carried out by the Interpreter using reasonable skill and care and in accordance with the provisions and spirit of the Code of Professional Conduct for Interpreters registered with the NRCPD. 15.2 The Interpreter will use their best endeavours to interpret to the best of their ability, knowledge and belief. 15.3 No guarantee can be given as to the absolute accuracy of any interpretation. 15.4 In the event of a dispute or complaint about the work, the liability of the Interpreter will be limited to the value invoiced by the Interpreter. 15.5 Consequential damages and liability are expressly excluded. 16. Unfair Competition 16.1 Where the Client acts as an intermediary and introduces the Interpreter to a third party by way of business, the Interpreter will not, for a period of 6 months, approach the said third party for the purpose of soliciting work, nor work for the third party in any interpreting capacity, without the Client’s written consent. However, this will not apply where
the third party has had previous dealings with the Interpreter;
the Interpreter acts on the basis of information in the public domain;
the Client has failed to pay the Interpreter;
the approach from the third party is independent of the relationship with the intermediary;
the approach to the third party arises as the result of broad-band advertising or
the third party is seeking interpreters on the open market. 17. Applicability and Integrity 17.1 These Terms and Conditions of Business will be construed jointly with the NRCPD Code of Conduct in order to be complete and effective. They will also be subject to any detailed arrangements or any variants expressly specified in the order relating to a particular interpreting task. No waiver of any breach of conditions in this document will be considered as a waiver of any subsequent breach of the same or any other provision.