By confirming an assignment booking you agree to the following terms and conditions:

1. Definitions

‘Interpreter‘ shall mean the person who performs the act of interpreting spoken or signed    communication into another language.

‘Speaker’ shall mean the person making the original spoken or signed communication.

‘Client’ shall mean the party or intermediary engaging the services of the Interpreter and having responsibility for his/her remuneration.

‘Assignment’ shall mean any period or set of consecutive periods of interpreting for one specific purpose or event.

‘Circumstances’ shall mean any circumstances deriving from any cause, which is beyond the control of the Interpreter or the Client.

2. Services Provided

2.1 The services provided by the Interpreter shall comprise the interpreting services agreed in writing at the time when an assignment is accepted and/or those specified in these Terms and Conditions.

2.2 They shall not (unless expressly agreed and confirmed in writing at the time) include any additional services.

2.3 In the event that no Deaf sign language users are present for the assignment, the contract will be considered fulfilled and the Interpreter shall not be obligated to continue with the interpretation; unless it has been expressly agreed in writing prior to the event that they will do so.

3. Contracts

3.1 All assignments shall be confirmed by a written contract between the Client and the Interpreter, which shall include these Terms and Conditions and any variants explicitly agreed. This should contain: date, time, place, nature of assignment, fee, contact person and telephone number.

3.2 If an interpreter is commissioned for an assignment and there is no time to enter into a written contract, the assignment shall be entered into on the basis of an oral contract only and these Terms and Conditions shall be deemed to apply.

3.3 Where an Interpreter’s services have been contracted for in accordance with either of the means specified above, the Client shall 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.

3.4 If an interpreting assignment is not confirmed in writing within three working days, the Interpreter may accept other work for that date.

3.5 If a provisional booking has been made, and another Client makes a request for the same period, the Interpreter will give the initial Client the opportunity to confirm before accepting the latter request.

4. Teams

4.1 Where an assignment requires continuous interpreting for any period of longer than one hour, a team of (minimum two) Interpreters shall be engaged to provide the interpreting service.

4.2 As an exception to the above, one Interpreter alone may be responsible for all the interpreting services in the assignment if this is explicitly accepted by the Interpreter in writing.

4.3 Where three or more Interpreters are engaged for an assignment, one Interpreter shall be designated Team Leader.

4.4 The Team Leader shall be responsible for organising the work of the interpreting Team and liaising with the Client.

4.5 No persons who are not members of the Team may be used as Interpreters to complement the Team.

4.6 For reasons of health and safety, the Interpreter shall be under no obligation to continue with an assignment should their co-interpreter(s) fail to arrive.

4.7 The Interpreter shall only work in teams with other professionals registered with the NRCPD; unless explicitly agreed at the time of booking.

5. Working Hours

5.1 A standard working day shall comprise no more than seven hours during which interpreting will be required.

5.2 Interpreters shall be given a midday rest period of at least one hour.

5.3 If an Interpreter has agreed to work alone, they shall be given adequate opportunity for breaks, of at least 15 minutes after each 30-minute interpreting session.

5.4 No demands shall be made on the skills of the Interpreter during rest periods or breaks.

5.5 If, in the course of an interpreting assignment, it is found that interpreting services will be required for an additional period beyond the agreed contracted time, the Interpreter may be invited to, but not compelled to continue for a further agreed period on that same day or continue for a further agreed period on subsequent days.

5.6 If the Interpreter consents to the above, additional fees shall be paid in accordance with Clause 7.3.

6. Quotations for Fees

6.1 Fees quoted by an Interpreter, or on behalf of a team of Interpreters, in full knowledge of the contents and conditions of an assignment, shall be considered contractually binding.

6.2 Quotations shall be confirmed in writing.

6.3 Fees will be agreed in advance of the assignment when the booking is confirmed.

7. Payment of Fees and Allowances

7.1 All fees and allowances shall be agreed and paid in full no later than 30 days following receipt of the invoice.

7.2 Interest shall automatically be applied to the full fee at 10% per seven days overdue, until the invoice is settled in full.

7.3 Fees shall be charged on the basis of a full-day or half-day. Where the Interpreter has been invited to continue for a further period in extension of the initial contract, (see Clause 5.5), a supplementary fee shall be paid at an agreed hourly rate.

7.4 A supplementary fee for working unsociable hours shall be agreed between the Interpreter and the Client in advance, for assignments between the hours of 1800 and 0900 or at weekends or public holidays.

7.5 Where an Interpreter is required, from the outset, to work longer than the working day a supplementary fee shall be negotiated at an agreed hourly rate.

7.6 In circumstances where the Interpreter’s co-interpreter is absent, the Interpreter may withdraw from the assignment and be paid in full or continue working with fees charged at an additional 50% of the original fee.

8. Cancellation

8.1 If an accepted assignment is curtailed or cancelled either wholly or in part, or performance of the assignment is frustrated for reasons that the Client or the Client’s principal are responsible, the Client shall be liable for payment of a cancellation fee according to Clause 8.4.

8.2 Any expenditure incurred as agreed in the contract and any additional expenditure incurred as a result of the cancellation shall also be reimbursed.

8.3 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 shall be reduced by the amount of the fees payable for the alternative assignment.

8.4 Any cancellation fee shall be determined in relation to the time between notification of cancellation and the start date, as follows:

• 7 days’ or less notice – 100% of agreed fee payable
• 8 to 14 days’ notice – 50% of agreed fee payable
• 15 or more days’ notice – 0% fee payable

8.5 If an accepted assignment is cancelled but the Interpreter is able to secure an alternative assignment for the time in question, the Client’s liability to the Interpreter in respect of cancellation fees shall be reduced by the amount of the fees payable for the alternative assignment. However, any agreed preparation work that has been completed will still be charged to the Client.

9. Substitution of the Interpreter

9.1 Substitution shall only be permitted in agreement with the Client and the Interpreter shall endeavour to find a suitable substitute.

9.2 The Client shall reasonably accept this substitute, who shall be engaged on the same terms as the Interpreter had previously agreed.

9.3 The Client shall notify any other parties as appropriate.

9.4 Acceptance of the substitute by the Client shall discharge the Interpreter from any further liability.

10. Unavoidable Circumstances

10.1 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.

10.2 In giving such notice the Interpreter shall relinquish any right to remuneration for the uncompleted part of the assignment and 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.

11. Preparation Materials

11.1 The Client shall provide the Interpreter with relevant information and preparatory materials in the form of background documentation in good time; where possible, one week in advance of an assignment in order to ensure provision of a quality service.

11.2 If it is not possible to provide preparatory materials, and the Interpreter requests such, the Client shall arrange a briefing meeting.

11.3 Attendance by the Interpreter at such a meeting shall be paid as working time.

11.4 Preparatory materials shall include such items as:

• programme, agenda, meeting minutes, reports, briefing papers, speaker notes, motions, names of participants, photographs, diagrams and other visual materials;
• slides or other materials that 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;

All of which shall be supplied to the Interpreter by the Client not less than 24 hours prior to the assignment.

11.5 The Interpreter, outside the context of the assignment, shall not disclose information contained within preparatory materials. The Interpreter shall be responsible for their safe-keeping and immediate return to the Client at the end of the assignment.

12. Working Conditions

12.1 For BSL to English interpretation, the Client is to 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 shall include a microphone and television monitor, for the sole use of the Interpreter.

12.2 For English to BSL interpretation the Client is to 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 shall ensure that the speaker’s voice or film/video sound track is in any case clearly conveyed directly to the Interpreter without interfering noise.

12.3 If it is known for certain that there are no Deaf sign language users present for the assignment, the contract will be considered fulfilled and the Interpreter shall not be obligated to continue with the interpretation; unless it has been expressly agreed in writing prior to the event that they will do so.

12.4 The interpreter will remain at the venue for a negotiated time in the event that a deaf person is a latecomer.

12.5 If a client wishes the Interpreter to interpret into BSL, knowing there are no Deaf sign language users present; this will be result in a higher “performance” fee, as this is beyond the provision of access.

13. Recordings

13.1 No recording or live-streaming of an Interpreter’s work shall 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, may incur an additional fee.

14. Complaints and Disputes

14.1 Any complaint or dispute in connection with interpreting work carried out shall be notified to the Interpreter by the Client (or vice-versa) as soon as possible after an assignment.

14.2 If the parties are unable to agree, the matter may be referred to the NRCPD in accordance with their complaints policy and guidelines.

15. Responsibility and Liability

15.1 The interpreting task shall be carried out by the Interpreter to the best of their ability and care and in accordance with the provisions and spirit of the National Registers of Communication Professionals working with Deaf and Deafblind People Code of Conduct.

15.2 The Interpreter shall use his or her best endeavours to interpret to the best of his or her 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 shall be limited to the value invoiced by the Interpreter.

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 shall not, for a period of six 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 shall 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 third-party is seeking interpreters on the open market.

17. Applicability and Integrity

17.1 No waiver of any breach of these terms and conditions shall be considered as a waiver of any subsequent breach of the same or any other provision.