https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/interpreter-ceo-bullish-over-performance-target/5058866.article
21 November 2016 by Monidipa
Fouzder
Interpreter CEO bullish over performance target
he chief executive of the new company contracted to provide courtroom
interpreting says he is confident of meeting his 98% performance target –
despite the problems experienced by its predecessor.
Larry Gould (pictured) told the Gazette that thebigword, which has
recruited 4,300 linguists to help provide language services to the Ministry of
Justice, will invest heavily in technology to achieve 100%. From January,
linguists will be able to access bookings and manage invoices through a phone
app. Videoconferencing will also be developed.
Gould said he wants to work with the Law Society to help get solicitors’
‘buy in’. ‘Lawyers are under huge pressure but [with] some simple training and
outreach to the legal profession, we can achieve not just work fulfilment but a
better, successful experience. Working with interpreters should be part of the
curriculum.’
Thebigword took over from Capita Translation and Interpreting on 31
October to provide face-to-face interpretation and translation (including
telephone and video), and translation and transcription. Capita TI managed to
hit the 98% performance target of completed service requests only once in four
years in a contract marred by late attendance and interpreter protests over fee
levels.
Gould said the biggest difference with the new contract is that
thebigword will be ‘strongly monitored’. The Language Shop, a business set up
by the London Borough of Newham, is responsible for independent quality
assurance under the new regime.
Professional Interpreters for Justice (PI4J), an umbrella group
representing more than 2,000 interpreters from the National Register of Public
Service Interpreters and 370 British Sign Language interpreters, welcomed the
supplier change and said it was encouraged by the ‘greater emphasis’ placed on
quality assurance.
‘However, if the new supplier is going to remedy the decline in the
quality of interpreting available to the courts and tribunals, it will have to
persuade qualified and experienced practitioners to return to the market,’ PI4J
said in a statement to the Gazette.
PI4J said a framework agreement rolled out in 2012 replaced a nationally
agreed scale of fees with ‘wholly unrealistic fees which in many instances did
not justify the interpreter leaving home’.
Thebigword says linguists will be paid based on the complexity of the
assignment. An ‘attractive’ package includes extra payments for assignments at
short notice, improved expenses policies, overnight supplements, a £7.50 ‘daily
incidental payment’ and parking money.
