https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwyl0483jw0o
26 September 2024
Court interpreters protest over pay and
conditions
Court interpreters and translators
have withdrawn services at a court in a protest over freelance working
conditions, with one claiming her peers live "pretty much on the poverty
line".
Interpreters outside Chelmsford Crown
Court say the introduction of a booking app by contractor thebigword (TBW) has
led to problems with invoicing and payments.
The services - which help witnesses
and defendants understand court procedures and language - were outsourced by
the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) in 2012.
A spokesperson for His Majesty’s
Courts and Tribunals Service said it was aware of walkouts "at a small
number of criminal courts" but measures were in place to minimise
disruption.
Sophie, who preferred not to give her
surname, began work as an interpreter in 2013.
She said colleagues had endured late
cancellations, travel cost issues, and in some cases, one hour's pay for a
full-day booking.
The decision to halt their services
comes as the UK faces a court
backlog of over 60,000 cases.
TBW was handed the £15m contract to
provide translation services to courts by the government in 2016.
The company provides telephone and
face-to-face interpreting and translation services to the MoJ and other
government departments, as well as the NHS and the emergency services.
Interpreters prioritise speed and
spoken language live in court, whereas translators deal with the written word.
Sophie said: "You can effectively
go somewhere and you can be cancelled off and adjourned.. and end up completely
out of pocket."
Cristina, who has been an interpreter
since 2018, also said she had found issues with the booking app.
"The jobs have disappeared when
we went to invoice them - or part of the payment that we agreed on is not
appearing on the portal anymore - so we don't get the pay for our
services," she said.
She
also said the courts were frequently told that interpreters were not available,
when they were in fact waiting for work, "unable to see the jobs or
unhappy with their pay".
'Out of pocket'
The action
taken by interpreters is not classed as a strike as the workers are not
employed by TBW, but instead work on a freelance basis.
Their case
has been taken up by the law firm Leigh Day, which
is pushing to grant them full rights under employment law, external,
including holiday pay and the minimum wage.
Gabriel
Morrison, a senior associate solicitor in the employment team, said: “Some of
the experiences reported by interpreters, which have now resulted in the
temporary withdrawal of their services, demonstrate the inequity between
thebigword and their interpreter workforce."
He added
that when the company's system fails, it is "the interpreters who are left
out of pocket as a result of those failings".
"The
control over the interpreters and integration into thebigword’s business is why
we consider that they are workers, rather than independent contractors,"
he said.
