Face-to-Face Interpreting Booking Policy

InSignLanguage Ltd · Document code ISL-LEG-B07 · Annex to the Terms and Conditions of Service (ISL-LEG-B01) · Governing law: England & Wales

Version 1.1 · Effective 2 September 2026 · Reviewed annually.

Read with: ISL-LEG-B08 Online Interpreting · ISL-LEG-B09 Travel · ISL-LEG-B10 Expenses at Cost · ISL-LEG-B11 Recording and Broadcast · ISL-LEG-F-I Cancellation and No-Show Schedule

1. What this policy covers

This policy governs every in-person interpreting booking made through our booking calendar - twelve services in all, being four staffing tiers across three time bands. It sits under the Terms and Conditions of Service, which prevail if the two ever differ.

It does not cover interpreting delivered over video. That is ISL-LEG-B08, and the delivery standards behind it are in the Remote Interpreting Policy (ISL-LEG-F-F).

2. The four staffing tiers

Interpreting is staffed in one of four ways. Which one your assignment needs is our judgement, not yours to work out - tell us what the assignment is and we confirm the staffing.

A Registered Sign Language Interpreter (RSLI) holds full registration with the NRCPD. A Trainee Sign Language Interpreter (TSLI) is also on the NRCPD register - qualified to interpret, working towards full registration, bound by the same code of conduct, and carrying their own indemnity insurance. A trainee is not an unqualified stand-in. Booking one is how the profession replaces itself, and it costs 15% less.

One-to-One RSLI Support. One Registered interpreter, one Deaf person, in conversation. The narrower case: one speaker at a time, at conversational pace.

Co-worked RSLI Support. Two Registered interpreters working as a pair. This is how interpreting is delivered for anything that is not a one-to-one conversation - not an upgrade, and not something you have to justify.

One-to-One TSLI Support. One trainee interpreter, one Deaf person, for everyday access where the stakes are ordinary. 15% below the Registered rate.

Co-worked RSLI and TSLI Support. A Registered interpreter leading with a trainee alongside. The continuity of a pair at less than the cost of two Registered interpreters, and how trainees build the supervised hours that take them to full registration.

2.1 Why a pair, and how a pair works

One interpreter can sustain a conversation between two people. Beyond that - a programme, several speakers, an audience - the interpreting has to run without a break in it, and that takes a pair. Interpreting accuracy is known to fall away after roughly thirty minutes of continuous work. With one interpreter, rest breaks are the only safeguard, and everything stops while they are taken. With two, the safeguard runs continuously and your meeting does not pause for it.

The two change the lead between them at intervals they agree. The one not leading is still working - tracking names and figures, feeding terminology, correcting in real time. Neither is a spare, and the fee covers both. We name both to you before the day.

In a mixed pair the Registered interpreter leads and carries responsibility for the assignment. If the Registered interpreter cannot attend we do not proceed with two trainees: we replace them, or you cancel free.

2.2 What a trainee is not booked for

We do not allocate a trainee - alone or as half of a mixed pair - where the outcome turns on the interpreting being right first time. These go to Registered interpreters:

• health or treatment - diagnosis, consent, capacity, mental health

• money, job or livelihood - disciplinary, grievance, tribunal, benefits

• liberty or legal position - police, court, hearing, legal advice

• a child, or an adult at risk

• specialist or technical content running throughout

• anything recorded or broadcast

• any assignment where the Deaf person has asked for a Registered interpreter

A trainee takes the lead for part of any co-worked assignment, so the same exclusions apply to a mixed pair as to a solo trainee booking.

Tell us what the assignment is and we make that judgement before we confirm. If it needs a Registered interpreter we say so and re-quote - you take that price or cancel at no cost. We would rather lose the booking than place a trainee where they should not be.

3. When we work, and which band applies

The band is set by when the assignment runs, and it applies to the whole booking rather than to the part that falls outside office hours. This is a rate, not a surcharge added to a day rate.

Weekdays. Monday to Friday, 09:00 to 17:00. Bookings of two hours, three hours, or a full day of six, seven or eight hours on site.

Evenings. Monday to Friday, 17:00 to 22:00. Bookings of two, three, four or five hours, and the assignment must finish by 22:00. Tell us at booking if it might run later.

Weekends. Saturday and Sunday, 09:00 to 17:00. Bookings of two hours, three hours, or a full day.

Evening and weekend work is unsocial hours. Interpreters are paid more for it and fewer take it, which is why those bands cost more than the weekday equivalent and why they are harder to fill at short notice.

4. What a day means

A full day is six hours of interpreting, spread across up to eight hours on site. The difference is rest. Six hours is what one interpreter can deliver accurately in a day; eight hours is the window it sits inside.

Beyond six hours of interpreting, the hourly rate applies. We assess every booking before we confirm it: where a long day needs a second interpreter - because of its content, its setting or how it runs - we tell you before confirming and re-quote as co-worked support, because past six hours accuracy starts to slip and it is the Deaf person who carries that. We never confirm a co-worked assignment at the single-interpreter price.

Weekday hourly rate beyond six hours. £85 for a Registered interpreter, £72.25 for a trainee. In a mixed pair, £157.25 an hour for the two together.

Evening and weekend hourly rate beyond six hours. £127.50 for a Registered interpreter, £108.50 for a trainee. In a mixed pair, £236 an hour for the two together.

A minimum booking applies, so a forty-five minute appointment costs the same as a two-hour one. All prices include VAT.

5. Prices

Prices are the same whether the assignment is delivered in person or online. Interpreting through a screen is not a lighter version of the job, so it is not priced as one. What online saves you is the travel, not the interpreting.

5.1 One-to-One RSLI Support

Weekdays. From £360 for two hours to £870 for a full day.

Evenings. £540 for two hours, £615 for three, £742.50 for four, £870 for a full evening.

Weekends. From £540 for two hours to £1,305 for a full day.

5.2 Co-worked RSLI Support

Prices cover both interpreters.

Weekdays. From £720 for two hours to £1,740 for a full day.

Evenings. £1,080 for two hours, £1,230 for three, £1,485 for four, £1,740 for a full evening.

Weekends. From £1,080 for two hours to £2,610 for a full day.

5.3 One-to-One TSLI Support

15% below the Registered equivalent throughout.

Weekdays. From £306 for two hours to £739.50 for a full day.

Evenings. £459 for two hours, £522.75 for three, £631.25 for four, £739.75 for a full evening.

Weekends. From £459 for two hours to £1,109.50 for a full day.

5.4 Co-worked RSLI and TSLI Support

Prices cover both interpreters.

Weekdays. From £666 for two hours to £1,609.50 for a full day.

Evenings. £999 for two hours, £1,137.75 for three, £1,373.75 for four, £1,609.75 for a full evening.

Weekends. From £999 for two hours to £2,414.50 for a full day.

6. Making a booking

Book at least 30 days ahead. For shorter notice, contact us - we will always try, and we will tell you straight away whether we can reach it.

Every request is read by a person before it is confirmed. This is a request, not an instant booking. Nothing is agreed until we confirm it, and we confirm only once an interpreter has accepted the work. You will never hold a confirmation for an assignment nobody has agreed to cover.

The booking form requires a link or a file. It will not submit without one. Interpreters prepare from that material, and an interpreter who has not seen the agenda, the slide deck or the names is working harder to produce something less accurate. In a pair, both prepare from it.

Tell us the setting and the subject. Personal, legal and medical work must be identified at the point of booking, because it changes who we can allocate.

Up to three Deaf people are covered by a one-to-one booking. More than that, or anyone presenting in BSL, is a different service.

7. Your interpreters

Every interpreter we allocate is on the NRCPD register, bound by its code of conduct including confidentiality, and carries their own indemnity insurance. We name your interpreter or interpreters to you before the day, and we tell you if one of them is a trainee. You always know who is coming and what they hold.

Interpreters arrive early enough to meet the Deaf participants and agree between themselves how they will work. That time is included in the fee.

An interpreter may decline to work with a particular co-worker. We allocate someone else and tell you, and your fee does not change.

If one of a pair cannot attend we replace them. If we cannot, you may proceed with one interpreter at the single-interpreter price, or cancel at no charge.

7.1 Breaks

An interpreter working continuously needs fifteen minutes' rest for every sixty minutes of interpreting. Changing the lead in a pair is not a break - both interpreters still need rest away from the work. Expect a rest break in any half day and a lunch break on a full day.

7.2 Lateness

An interpreter is not obliged to wait more than fifteen minutes past the agreed start. A late start does not extend the finish - the assignment still ends at the booked time and is charged in full. The detail is in the Cancellation and No-Show Schedule (ISL-LEG-F-I).

8. The space you are asking us into

We do not send an interpreter to work alone with an individual in a private residence. You confirm at booking that another adult will be present throughout. If that turns out not to be the case, the interpreter will not enter and it is charged as a cancellation. The reasoning is set out in the Lone Working Policy (ISL-LEG-F-B).

A pair needs room to work and a clear sightline from every Deaf participant to whichever interpreter is leading. Tell us if the space is tiered, raised, or has a platform, because it changes where they have to stand.

9. Travel, expenses and recording

The fee covers the interpreting and the journey. Interpreters travel to you and arrive early at no charge. Travel is quoted separately only where nobody is within reasonable reach of a remote assignment, and it is agreed with you before we confirm. It is never added afterwards and it is never something you tick at checkout. The full position is in ISL-LEG-B09.

Parking, congestion and clean-air charges and overnight accommodation are charged at cost and agreed in writing before we confirm - see ISL-LEG-B10.

Recording any part of an assignment needs the interpreter's agreement and attracts a fee. Saying yes on the booking form is not permission. See ISL-LEG-B11.

10. Cancelling, rescheduling and non-attendance

In summary: cancel 15 days or more before the start and there is no charge; 8 to 14 days, 50% of the fee; 7 days or less, the full fee; no notice at all, the full fee plus any travel already committed.

That is a summary. The Cancellation and No-Show Schedule (ISL-LEG-F-I) is the operative document and prevails on how notice is counted, on rescheduling, on genuine emergencies, on lateness and on Access to Work bookings.

Rescheduling is not offered through the booking calendar for in-person work. Ask us, and we will tell you what can be moved and on what terms.

Consumers keep their statutory rights in full - see the Consumer Booking Addendum (ISL-LEG-B02). If we cancel, we tell you as soon as we can, offer alternatives, and do not charge.

11. Why organisations book this

Organisations have duties under the Equality Act 2010 to make reasonable adjustments so that Deaf people are not put at a disadvantage. Booking registered interpreters is how that duty is met for a meeting or an event, and it leaves a record: named professionals, a written confirmation and an invoice.

Where the Deaf person is in work, Access to Work may fund their interpreting. Ask us before you book rather than after - we deal with the scheme every day and will tell you whether a booking is likely to qualify.

Cross-references: ISL-LEG-B01 Terms and Conditions of Service · ISL-LEG-B02 Consumer Booking Addendum · ISL-LEG-B08 Online Interpreting · ISL-LEG-B09 Travel · ISL-LEG-B10 Expenses at Cost · ISL-LEG-B11 Recording and Broadcast · ISL-LEG-F-B Lone Working · ISL-LEG-F-D Service Level Agreement · ISL-LEG-F-I Cancellation and No-Show Schedule

InSignLanguage Ltd · 26 Domum Road, Portsmouth PO2 0QZ · Company number 10943637 · VAT registration number GB 298 6629 31 · ICO registration ZC163713