Interpreter Supplier Terms

InSignLanguage Ltd · Document code ISL-LEG-C01 · Company No. 10943637, 26 Domum Road, Portsmouth PO2 0QZ · Governing law: England and Wales

Version 1.0 · Effective 8 September 2026. Replaces the legacy Interpreters Assignment Terms.

What this agreement is

These terms are a principal-to-principal supply agreement between two businesses: InSignLanguage Ltd ("ISL") and you, the Interpreter, who supplies interpreting services on your own account. ISL contracts with clients to supply interpreting; you supply your interpreting to ISL as an independent business, assignment by assignment.

You are not employed by ISL, are not its worker, agent or partner, and are free to work for anyone else, including ISL's competitors. ISL does not direct how you interpret, does not schedule or allocate your work, and cannot require you to accept any booking. The restrictive covenants in clause 11 exist for one reason only: to protect the goodwill and confidential client information in introductions ISL has paid to generate.

By accepting an assignment from ISL, or by maintaining a Listing on the Marketplace, you agree to these terms as they stand at that date.

1. Definitions

2. Status of the relationship

This clause governs and prevails over any other reading of these terms.

2.1 Independent supplier. You are a self-employed independent supplier carrying on your own interpreting business. You are not an employee, worker, agent or partner of ISL. Where you accept an Assignment you deliver it as our sub-contractor, which describes the supply chain and not an employment relationship: it does not affect your status, your right of substitution, or the absence of mutuality in 2.2.

2.2 No mutuality of obligation. ISL is under no obligation to offer you any Assignment, and you are under no obligation to accept any. Obligations arise only in respect of an Assignment you have actually accepted. Declining work, or accepting no work for any period, has no consequence under these terms.

2.3 You set your own terms of business. You set your own rates, decide your own working pattern and methods, choose which bookings to accept or decline, and are free to work for any other client, agency, supplier or platform, including ISL's competitors.

2.4 Unfettered right of substitution. You may, without ISL's prior consent, send a suitably qualified and accredited substitute to perform any Assignment you have accepted. The only conditions are objective and competence-based: current registration appropriate to the Assignment and, where the context requires it, ISO 18841:2018 competence and a current enhanced DBS, PVG or AccessNI check. ISL's role is limited to checking those objective requirements. ISL has no discretionary veto over substitution.

2.5 Own equipment and insurance. You provide your own professional indemnity and public liability insurance and bear your own business costs, taxes and National Insurance.

3. Listing on the Marketplace

3.1 Profile content. Your Profile Page is built from the information you give ISL on the Work Application Form. You confirm the content is accurate and that you have the right to provide it, including any photograph.

3.2 Editorial rights. ISL may edit your Profile Page for factual accuracy, standards conformity, length and house style, and may decline to publish content that is inaccurate, misleading or out of date. ISL will not change the substance of how you describe your own competence without telling you.

3.3 Marketing use. You grant ISL a non-exclusive, royalty-free, revocable licence to use your supplied photograph, biography and Profile Page content to market the Marketplace and your availability on it. It does not transfer copyright and ends when your Listing is withdrawn.

3.4 Withdrawal. You may withdraw your Listing at any time by written notice. Withdrawal does not cancel an Assignment you have already accepted.

4. Eligibility and onboarding

You may be listed, and may accept Assignments, only while you hold and can evidence each of the following, and you must tell ISL without undue delay if any lapses:

• 4.1 Professional registration with NRCPD, RBSLI, SASLI or an equivalent recognised register, appropriate to the level and domain of the work.

• 4.2 DBS / vetting — a current enhanced DBS, PVG or AccessNI check where you accept Assignments involving children or adults at risk.

• 4.3 Insurance — professional indemnity of at least £1,000,000 and public liability appropriate to your work, evidenced by certificate.

• 4.4 CPD sufficient to maintain your registration, provided on reasonable request.

• 4.5 ISO 18841 self-declaration that you meet the competence requirements applicable to a working interpreter.

• 4.6 Right to work and identity evidence, retained in line with the Privacy Notice.

4.7 Completing onboarding lists you on the Marketplace. It does not oblige ISL to offer you any Assignment, nor you to accept one.

5. How bookings are received and accepted

5.1 Booking invitation. ISL sends you an invitation setting out, so far as known, the reference, date and times, format, mode of interpreting, location or meeting link, subject and domain, whether team interpreting applies, whether the Assignment will be recorded, your fee, and the briefing material ISL holds. You are free to consider it, ask questions, decline it, or express interest.

5.2 First booking with a new Client. Where you and the Client have not previously transacted through ISL, ISL confirms the Client's booking after objective, client-facing checks. This is ISL arranging its own supply chain; it is not ISL approving or assessing your suitability as a supplier.

5.3 Repeat booking. Where you and the Client have previously transacted through ISL, your acceptance directly confirms the booking.

5.4 When an Assignment becomes binding. Only once confirmed under 5.2 or 5.3. Until then you owe ISL nothing in respect of it.

5.5 Conflicts. Disclose any conflict of interest when you accept, so ISL can manage it. If one emerges later, tell ISL as soon as you become aware.

6. Rates and payment

6.1 You set your rates. Your fee is the rate you declared, or as otherwise agreed in writing for a particular Assignment. ISL does not set, cap, floor or vary your declared rate unilaterally. The fee is shown to you before you accept.

6.2 Payment terms. ISL pays you within 30 days of a correct invoice for a completed Assignment.

6.3 Invoicing and self-bill. You invoice ISL quoting the Assignment reference, or ISL raises a self-billed invoice where agreed. Tell ISL promptly of any change to your VAT registration status.

6.4 VAT. You account for VAT according to your own VAT status as the supplier.

6.5 Expenses. Reasonable travel and disbursements are payable only where pre-agreed.

7. Performing the Assignment

These obligations flow down from ISL's ISO 18841:2018 certification and from the register codes. They describe how the work is to be done; they do not give ISL control over how you interpret.

7.1 Competence and preparation. Interpret only within your competence and registration for the level and domain of the Assignment. Review any briefing material and prepare accordingly.

7.2 Faithful, complete interpretation. Convey meaning faithfully and completely, preserving register and intent, without adding, omitting or altering.

7.3 Neutrality and role boundaries. Remain impartial. Do not advise, advocate or express personal opinions. Interpreters facilitate communication; they do not provide legal, medical, financial or other professional advice.

7.4 Turn-taking and flow. Manage turn-taking and pace so all parties can participate, intervening only where necessary for accurate communication.

7.5 Identification. Identify yourself in your interpreting capacity at the start of the Assignment where appropriate.

7.6 Fatigue and team interpreting. Manage fatigue and protect quality. Where an Assignment's length or intensity means it should be team-interpreted, raise this at the point of acceptance rather than during delivery.

7.7 Briefing. ISL will give you the information it holds; you must use it and may request reasonable further information. If you receive no briefing where it matters, ask before you accept.

7.8 Critical-incident and safeguarding reporting. Report without undue delay any critical incident, safeguarding concern or material problem. In a safeguarding emergency call 999 first.

7.9 Punctuality. Be ready at the agreed start time. If you will be late or cannot attend, tell ISL as soon as practicable.

7.10 Scope of work and boundaries. Some Assignments are accepted only where ISL has identified and authorised them, and only where the interpreter allocated holds the level of registration the setting requires. You must not accept, and ISL will not knowingly allocate, work outside these boundaries.

• (a) Personal, legal and medical Assignments are accepted only where identified at booking and authorised by ISL. If an Assignment turns out on the day to be materially different from the one booked — in particular if it becomes a legal, medical or safeguarding matter beyond your registration or competence — tell ISL, and you may decline to continue. Doing so is not a cancellation or a no-show and carries no consequence under clause 8.

• (b) Legal Assignments are allocated only to an RSLI whose training and experience for legal work ISL has confirmed before the Assignment.

• (c) Medical Assignments are allocated on a registered basis. Where any consent is to be signed, or the appointment may reasonably lead to one, the Assignment is allocated to an RSLI. A TSLI is not allocated to those appointments.

• (d) A TSLI is not allocated to legal proceedings, police or court settings, child-protection or safeguarding meetings, mental-health assessments, disciplinary or grievance hearings, or any appointment where consent or capacity is to be established. Where a TSLI accepts other work, they work within the supervision arrangements their registration requires.

• (e) If you are unsure whether an Assignment falls inside your registration and competence, ask ISL before accepting. Declining on competence grounds is a professional judgement ISL supports, and is never held against you.

8. Cancellation, no-shows and replacement

8.1 The Schedule governs the figures. The consequences of cancellation, late notice, no-shows and replacement are set out in the Cancellation and No-Show Schedule (Annex I), which is the single source of truth and prevails over any figure stated elsewhere.

8.2 What Annex I covers. When no charge arises, the tiered position at shorter notice, the position for a no-show, and ISL's right to source a replacement and the capped basis on which evidenced cost is recoverable.

8.3 Genuine emergencies. Annex I sets out how genuine emergencies are treated. Tell ISL as early as you can.

8.4 Substitution is not cancellation. Providing a compliant substitute under clause 2.4 is not a cancellation and triggers no charge.

8.5 Missed Assignments are handled as a reliability matter, not a financial penalty. ISL's primary response to a no-show or late withdrawal is the reliability route in clause 16A, not a charge. Where you miss an accepted Assignment without substituting or giving notice, ISL will pause allocation and hold a reliability conversation with you before offering further Assignments. ISL retains the right under Annex I to recover evidenced out-of-pocket replacement cost, but that is a residual remedy for exceptional cases — it is not the ordinary consequence, and it is never applied as a fine, a deduction from unrelated fees, or a sanction. An interpreter is never asked for a deposit.

9. Conduct and standards

9.1 Register codes. Comply at all times with the Code of Conduct of your register, including confidentiality, impartiality, integrity, competence and conflict of interest.

9.2 ISL professional standards. Follow ISL's Acceptable Use Policy and the conduct expectations in these terms.

9.3 Safeguarding. Where an Assignment involves a child or an adult at risk, follow ISL's Safeguarding Policy, hold the vetting required, and report concerns without undue delay. Confidentiality does not prevent disclosure where a person is at risk of harm or the law requires it.

9.4 Lone working. Follow the lone-working protocol: confirm safe arrival and departure where required, assess and report environmental risks, and decline or withdraw from an unsafe situation, telling ISL as soon as you can.

10. ISO 18841:2018 — flowed-down obligations

10.1 ISL holds the certification as the Interpreting Service Provider. It is not held by you individually.

10.2 ISL verifies you against the competence and conduct requirements of the standard at onboarding and through these terms. Its interpreter-facing obligations flow down to you through this agreement.

10.3 No personal ISO claim. You must not represent yourself as individually certified to ISO 18841:2018. You may state that you work to the standard, or that you supply interpreting through a certified provider; you may not claim the certification as your own.

11. Restrictive covenants

These covenants protect one thing: the goodwill and confidential client information in the introductions ISL has paid to generate. They do not restrict your right to work, set your rates, or require you to accept any Assignment. A paid route to any direct relationship always exists through the Introduction Fee. Each limb is a separate, self-standing obligation.

11.1 Non-solicitation. During the Restricted Period you shall not, directly or indirectly, solicit or approach a Restricted Client with a view to providing, otherwise than through ISL, interpreting or related language services of the kind ISL supplies. You may instead pay the Introduction Fee for that Client, on receipt of which ISL confirms in writing a licence to contract with them directly. This clause applies only to Introductions arising on or after the date you accept these terms.

11.2 Non-dealing. During the Restricted Period you shall not, directly or indirectly, accept or perform off-platform interpreting for a Restricted Client for whom you actually performed an Assignment through ISL, otherwise than through ISL or on payment of the Introduction Fee. This limb is confined to Clients you actually served, and to the Restricted Period.

11.3 Access to Work funding integrity. Where an Assignment is for Funded Services and you continue that work off-platform, you shall notify ISL in writing without undue delay and ensure the arrangement is properly recorded with the Access to Work scheme. You shall not present off-platform work to the DWP as supplied by or through ISL. Nothing in this clause restricts the Deaf beneficiary's choice of interpreter or their Access to Work entitlement, or prevents you providing the work. It is an information and anti-fraud obligation only.

11.4 Pre-existing relationship carve-out. Clauses 11.1 and 11.2 do not apply to any Client with whom you had a genuine, established working relationship before the Introduction, provided you notified ISL in writing at or before the first Assignment for that Client. Such a Client is not a Restricted Client.

11.5 Status protection. Nothing in clauses 11.1 to 11.4 requires you to accept any Assignment, to work exclusively for ISL, or to refrain from working for any other client, agency or supplier including ISL's competitors. You set your own rates and methods, and your right of substitution under clause 2.4 is unaffected.

11.6 The Introduction Fee is published and is the same whether you or the Client pays it. It is the price of an optional release — a licence to contract directly with a named Restricted Client — and is not a sum payable on breach. One payment discharges the restriction for that relationship.

12. Confidentiality and data protection

12.1 Confidentiality. Keep strictly confidential all information about a Client, a Service-User, an Assignment and its content, and all of ISL's confidential information, and use it only to perform the Assignment. This duty continues after an Assignment and after these terms end.

12.2 UK GDPR. Comply with the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018 in handling any personal data you encounter through ISL.

12.3 Your role during an Assignment. Where ISL is the controller for the Service-User's personal data, you act as ISL's processor. Process it only on ISL's documented instructions and only to deliver the Assignment; keep it confidential; apply appropriate measures; do not retain it after the Assignment beyond what these terms or law require; assist with data-subject rights requests; and notify ISL of any personal-data breach without undue delay and in any event within 24 hours of becoming aware. The Data Processing Agreement governs this processing.

12.4 Your own data. ISL processes your personal data as a controller in line with the Interpreter Privacy Notice and the Marketplace Privacy overlay.

13. Indemnity

13.1 You indemnify ISL against loss, damage, claim, cost or expense ISL reasonably incurs arising from your negligent act or omission, your breach of these terms, or your breach of the register codes, in connection with an Assignment.

13.2 Your professional indemnity and public liability insurance must be capable of responding to this indemnity, and you must notify your insurer of any claim or circumstance that may give rise to one.

13.3 This indemnity is limited to loss attributable to your acts or omissions and does not extend to loss caused by ISL's own breach, negligence or instructions.

14. Intellectual property and recording

14.1 The interpretation you deliver is a live act of communication. You do not retain, reproduce or distribute any recording, note or work product beyond what is necessary to deliver the Assignment.

14.2 Recording rules. You must not record an Assignment unless ISL has confirmed in writing that recording is enabled for it, the lawful basis is in place, and the purpose, retention and distribution are set out. You must not retain your own copy beyond the Assignment.

14.3 Retention. Where ISL retains a recording for quality assurance, complaint handling, safeguarding or legal claims, it does so as controller for the minimum period in its retention schedule. You are not the keeper of that copy.

14.4 You retain copyright in your own photograph and biography; the licence in clause 3.3 applies.

15. Term, suspension and termination

15.1 At-will, both ways. Either party may end the relationship at any time with immediate effect and without cause. Your Listing is unpublished straight away. Ending the relationship does not cancel an Assignment you have already accepted; those run to completion unless we agree otherwise.

15.2 Immediate suspension of Listing. ISL may suspend your Listing immediately, on notice, where a registration, DBS, insurance or right-to-work requirement lapses or is suspended; a safeguarding or material conduct concern arises; or you are in material breach. Suspension is proportionate and reviewed promptly. This is distinct from an allocation pause under clause 16A.

15.3 Immediate termination. Either party may terminate immediately for a material breach not remedied within 14 days of written request, or on insolvency.

15.4 Survival. Confidentiality and data protection, the restrictive covenants for their stated periods, the indemnity, IP and recording, and governing law continue after these terms end.

16A. Reliability, monitoring, support and development

This clause records a commitment ISL makes to you, and the route ISL takes when an accepted Assignment is missed. It is a marketplace-standards mechanism between two businesses. It is not employment discipline, and nothing in it gives ISL the powers of an employer.

16A.1 What ISL commits to provide. ISL provides monitoring, support and development to interpreters supplying through it. In practice that means: a record of the Assignments you have delivered; the check-in and feedback captured for each one, so you have evidence of how your work landed; visibility of client feedback about your Assignments; and access to a conversation with ISL's Head of Interpreting Services about your practice, any pattern the feedback shows, and what support would help. This supports, but does not replace, the CPD your own register requires.

16A.2 The purpose. ISL's certification under ISO 18841:2018 requires it to satisfy itself of the competence of the interpreters it supplies. Monitoring is how that is evidenced. It is also how ISL keeps the service good and helps interpreters develop.

16A.3 Allocation pause. Where you miss an accepted Assignment without providing a substitute or giving ISL notice in time to cover it, ISL may pause allocation — that is, stop offering you new Assignments — and will tell you it has done so and why.

16A.4 Reliability conversation. A pause is followed by a conversation with the Head of Interpreting Services about what happened and what, if anything, would help. Where a Genuine Emergency applied, that ends the matter and no pause is recorded against you.

16A.5 Resuming allocation. Allocation resumes on completion of that conversation. A pause is not a finding of fault, is not a sanction, and does not affect fees already earned. Repeated missed Assignments without credible explanation are dealt with under clause 16.2 as a Listing matter, with the right to respond and appeal.

16A.6 What an allocation pause is not. A pause affects only whether ISL offers you work. It does not restrict you from working: throughout any pause you remain entirely free to accept work from any other client, agency, supplier or platform, including ISL's competitors. ISL does not fine you, deduct from your fees, require you to attend anything, or hold any power over your professional registration. Nothing in this clause creates mutuality of obligation, an obligation to accept work, or any employment or worker relationship.

16. Complaints and Listing removal

16.1 Complaints about your work are handled under ISL's Complaints Procedure, aligned to ISO 18841 §6.4.

16.2 Proportionate escalation. ISL's response to a substantiated concern escalates only as far as the facts require: from a recorded note or warning, to a requirement to address a training or conduct point, to suspension of Listing, to removal for serious or repeated breach or where your registration or vetting fails.

16.3 Right to respond and appeal. Before any warning, suspension or removal, ISL will tell you the substance of the concern and give you a fair opportunity to respond. You may appeal a removal decision.

16.4 Quality holdback. Where a complaint about a specific Assignment is genuinely disputed and material to whether the fee was earned, ISL may withhold payment for that Assignment only pending resolution. ISL may not withhold payment for unaffected Assignments, and must release any withheld sum promptly once resolved in your favour.

17. General, governing law and jurisdiction

17.1 Notices. In writing, to the email or postal address each party holds for the other.

17.2 Variation. ISL may update these terms. The version that applies to an Assignment is the version in force when it was confirmed. Material changes are notified to listed interpreters before they take effect.

17.3 No partnership or agency. Nothing creates a partnership, agency, employment or worker relationship.

17.4 Third parties. A person who is not a party has no rights under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999.

17.5 Assignment. You may not assign or sub-contract these terms, except by your right of substitution under clause 2.4. ISL may assign or novate to a successor of its business on notice.

17.6 Severance. If any provision is held invalid, the remainder continues in force.

17.7 Whole agreement. These terms, the relevant Assignment invitation or confirmation, and the Annexes referenced here form the whole agreement for the supply of your interpreting through ISL.

17.8 Governing law. England and Wales, with exclusive jurisdiction of its courts. Nothing prevents either party using, and the parties will consider in good faith, the alternative dispute resolution route to the NRCPD Standards Panel for matters within its remit before commencing proceedings.

InSignLanguage Ltd · 26 Domum Road, Portsmouth PO2 0QZ · Company number 10943637 · ICO registration ZC163713