Remote Interpreting Policy

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

Version 1.0 · Effective 26 August 2026 · Reviewed annually.

Read with: ISL-LEG-B08 Online Interpreting Booking Policy · ISL-LEG-B11 Recording and Broadcast

F-F1. Purpose and scope

This policy covers interpreting delivered over video - Video Remote Interpreting, where participants are together and the Interpreter joins remotely, and Video Relay Service, where a Deaf person and a hearing person are in different places. It sets out when remote delivery is appropriate, when it is not, and what has to be in place for it to work.

It draws on published ASLI guidance on remote and video interpreting.

This policy is about how the work is delivered. The commercial terms of booking it - lead times, confirmation, prices, cancellation - are in the Online Interpreting Booking Policy (ISL-LEG-B08). Read both.

F-F2. Remote is a different job, not a cheaper room

Interpreting over video removes peripheral vision, most body language and the ability to manage turn-taking naturally. It is measurably more tiring than working in the room. We treat it as a distinct mode with its own limits rather than as a substitute that happens to be remote.

F-F3. When we do not deliver remotely

We will normally decline, or advise against, remote delivery where:

• the matter is a safeguarding or child-protection concern

• it is a mental-health assessment, or the Service-User is acutely distressed

• it is a police interview, custody or court proceeding

• significant or distressing news is to be given

• the Service-User is Deafblind, or uses tactile or hands-on communication

• the Service-User's language use is not standard BSL - minimal language, idiosyncratic signing, or where a Deaf relay interpreter is indicated

• the Service-User is a young child

• consent or capacity is to be established

• a physical examination or hands-on procedure forms part of the appointment

• several people will speak at once, or the discussion is a group with no chair

• the setting cannot provide the technical minimum at F-F4

These are defaults, not absolute prohibitions. Where a Client has a compelling reason and the risks can be managed, we will say so in writing and record the reasoning before the assignment. Where they cannot be, we say no - and we will offer an in-person alternative.

F-F4. The technical minimum

The Client provides: sufficient bandwidth for stable video; a camera at head height showing the speaker's face and hands; even lighting on every face, with no window or bright screen behind anyone; audio good enough that the Interpreter can hear every participant; a private space appropriate to the subject matter; and a named person who can pin or spotlight the Interpreter and manage turn-taking.

Where the platform allows it, the Interpreter is pinned or spotlighted for the Deaf participant for the whole session.

An agreed fallback - a telephone number, or a decision to reschedule - is settled before the session starts.

F-F5. Breaks and duration

The rest requirement is the same as in-person work: fifteen minutes' rest for every sixty minutes of interpreting. Because remote work is more fatiguing, we will advise two Interpreters at a shorter duration than we would for the same assignment in the room, and the Interpreter's judgement on that is decisive.

F-F6. If it stops working

If the connection, the sound or the sightline degrades to the point where the Interpreter cannot work accurately, the Interpreter says so and the session pauses. If it cannot be restored, the session ends. An Interpreter who continues in those conditions is producing something that looks like interpreting and is not.

F-F7. Recording and confidentiality

Platform recording is a recording, and so is automatic transcription. Neither is permitted without our prior written agreement, the Interpreter's agreement and the knowledge of everyone present.

Recording costs £550 for a full day or £275 for anything shorter, and it is available only with Registered interpreters - trainee and mixed-pair services exclude recorded work entirely. The full position, including what you may then do with the recording, is in ISL-LEG-B11.

Interpreters work from a private space and are bound by their registration body's code of conduct.

F-F8. Review

Reviewed annually, or sooner following an incident or a change in guidance.

Cross-references: ISL-LEG-B01 Terms and Conditions of Service · ISL-LEG-B08 Online Interpreting Booking Policy · ISL-LEG-B11 Recording and Broadcast · ISL-LEG-C01 Interpreter Supplier Terms · ISL-LEG-E01 Privacy Notice · ISL-LEG-F-D Service Level Agreement

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