Terms and Conditions

Samantha Joanne Hopkins - Registered Sign Language Interpreter
NRCPD (ID:1007772)
DBS held and PII insured

Terms and Conditions

Services Provided
The services provided by the Interpreter shall comprise the interpreting services agreed in writing at the time when an assignment is accepted and/or those specified in these Terms and Conditions of Business.
They shall not, without express agreement confirmed in writing at the time, include any additional services.

Contracts
All assignments shall be confirmed by a written contract between the Client and the Interpreter
If an interpreter is commissioned for an assignment and there is no time to enter into a written contract, the assignment shall be entered into on the basis of an oral contract only and these Terms of and Conditions shall be deemed to apply.

Teams
Where an assignment requires continuous interpreting for any period of more than one hour, a team of a minimum of two Interpreters shall be engaged to provide the interpreting service.
As an exception to the above, one Interpreter alone may be responsible for all the interpreting services in the assignment if this is explicitly accepted by the Interpreter in writing.

Working Hours
A working day shall comprise no more than six hours time during which interpreting will be required
Interpreters shall be given a midday rest period of at least one hour
If an Interpreter has agreed to work solo he/she shall be given adequate opportunity for breaks, ideally 10 minutes every 25 to 30 minutes
No demands shall be made on the skills of the Interpreter during rest periods or breaks.
If, in the course of an interpreting assignment, it is found that interpreting services will be required for an additional period after the period of work for which the Interpreter was initially contracted, the Interpreter may be invited, but not compelled, to:
continue for a further agreed period on that same day,
continue for a further agreed period on subsequent days.
If the Interpreter consents to the above, additional fees shall be paid

Quotations for Fees
Fees quoted by an Interpreter in full knowledge of the contents and conditions of an assignment, shall be considered contractually binding and valid for acceptance for three months only

Fees and Allowances
All fees and allowances shall be freely negotiated and paid in full no later than 30 days following receipt of the invoice. Payments made later than the agreed 30 days will incur late payment charges
(£40.00 compensation + 8.5%).
Fees will be charged at a minimum of 3 hours
Where travel to and from the Interpreter’s normal place of residence and an assignment cannot reasonably be completed within the same day as the assignment, travel time will be remunerated at the same rate as working time
Where travel to and from the Interpreter’s normal place of residence and an assignment involves a total of more than four hours, travel time will be remunerated at 50% of the agreed hourly rate
A supplementary fee for working unsociable hours shall be agreed between the Interpreter and the Client in advance, for assignments between the hours of 18:00 and 08:00 or at weekends or public holidays

Travel and Accommodation
Arrangements for travel and accommodation shall be the responsibility of either the Client or the Interpreter, as agreed before acceptance
Travel arrangements shall ensure that the Interpreter arrives an agreed time before the start of the assignment and does not have to leave prematurely
Where travel arrangements are made by the Client, these shall be such as to ensure that the Interpreter arrives sufficiently rested to fulfill the assignment to the expected standard
Where the travel arrangements are made by the Interpreter, they shall seek to obtain travel and accommodation at a reasonable cost compatible with satisfactory performance of the assignment. Any expenditure incurred shall be reimbursed to the Interpreter within 30 days following receipt of invoice. If any such arrangements made by the Interpreter have to be varied or cancelled, any reimbursed sums recovered by the Interpreter shall be immediately repaid to the Client

Cancellation
If an accepted assignment is curtailed or cancelled either wholly or in part, or performance of the assignment is frustrated for reasons, which the Client or the Client’s principal are responsible, the Client shall be liable for payment of a cancellation fee
Any expenditure incurred as agreed in the contract and any additional expenditure incurred as a result of the cancellation shall also be reimbursed
If, however, at the time of cancellation the Client is able to offer an alternative assignment of a similar type under comparable conditions and circumstances for all or part of the period of the original assignment, the Client’s liability to the Interpreter in respect of cancellation fees shall be reduced by the amount of the fees payable for the alternative assignment
Any cancellation fee shall be agreed between the parties prior to acceptance of the assignment and shall be determined in relation to the time between notification of cancellation and the start date, as follows:
7 days or less notice Full Fee
8 to 14 days notice Half Fee
15 or more days notice No Fee

Substitution of Interpreters
Substitution shall only be permitted in agreement with the Client. In such circumstances the Interpreter shall endeavour to find a suitable substitute
The Client shall reasonably accept this substitute, who shall be engaged on the same terms as the Interpreter had previously agreed
The Client shall notify any other parties as appropriate
Acceptance of the substitute by the Client shall discharge the Interpreter from any further liability

Unavoidable Circumstances
The Interpreter undertakes to notify the Client at the earliest possible opportunity if he/she is prevented from undertaking an assignment or if performance is frustrated by unavoidable circumstances
In giving such notice the Interpreter shall relinquish any right to:
Remuneration for the uncompleted part of the assignment;
The reimbursement of any expenses, except those already irrecoverably incurred, or necessarily incurred in returning the Interpreter to his/her normal place of residence by suitable means.

Preparation Materials
The Client shall provide the Interpreter with relevant information and preparatory materials in the form of background documentation, in good time; preferably two weeks in advance of an assignment in order to ensure provision of a quality service
If it is not possible to provide preparatory materials, and the Interpreter requests such, the Client shall arrange for a briefing meeting
Attendance by the Interpreter at such a meeting shall be paid as working time
Preparatory materials shall include such items as:
programs, agendas, Minutes, reports;
briefing papers, speakers notes, motions;
names of participants;
maps, photographs, diagrams and other visual materials;
slides or other materials which will be read out or referred to by participants in the
course of an assignment;
lyrics, scripts, copies of any videos or scripts of films to be shown or any other
performance materials shall be supplied to the Interpreter by the Client not less than 24 hours in advance.
The Interpreter outside the context of the assignment shall not disclose information contained within preparatory materials. The Interpreter shall be responsible for disposing of or immediate return to the Client at the end of the assignment.

Working Conditions
For BSL to English interpretation, the Client is to ensure that speakers are well lit and in clear sight of the Interpreter or made visible by means of an image providing a clear and detailed view of the speaker’s face and body movements sufficient for the Interpreter’s requirements. This may require the provision of audio/visual equipment, which shall include a microphone and television monitor, for the sole use of the Interpreter
For English to BSL interpretation the Client is to ensure that the Interpreter is positioned so that they are sufficiently near to the speaker to be able to hear and can be clearly seen by consumers of the service. This may require the provision of additional lighting and audio equipment in the form of a ‘fold-back’ speaker, for the sole use of the Interpreter
If this is not possible, the Client shall ensure that the speaker’s voice or film/video sound track is in any case clearly conveyed directly to the Interpreter without interfering noise.

Recordings
No record of an Interpreter’s work shall be made without the Interpreter’s prior consent, except where such recording is inherent within legal proceedings. Recordings, which are intended for broadcast or publication, may incur an additional fee.

Complaints and Disputes
Any complaint or dispute in connection with interpreting work carried out shall be notified to the Interpreter by the Client (or vice-versa) not later than one month from the final day of an assignment
If the parties are unable to agree, the matter may be referred to the to the NRCPD via their complaints procedure, see; www.nrcpd.org.uk

Responsibility and Liability
The interpreting task shall be carried out by the Interpreter using reasonable skill and care and in accordance with the provisions and spirit of the NRCPD Code of Conduct for Communication Professionals (see: www.nrcpd.org.uk)
The Interpreter shall use his or her best endeavours to interpret to the best of his or her ability, knowledge and belief
No guarantee can be given as to the absolute accuracy of any interpretation
In the event of a dispute or complaint about the work, the liability of the Interpreter shall be limited to the value invoiced by the Interpreter

Unfair Competition
Where the Client acts as an intermediary and introduces the Interpreter to a third party by way of business, the Interpreter shall not, for a period of 6 months, approach the said third party for the purpose of soliciting work, nor work for the third party in any interpreting capacity, without the Client’s written consent.
However, this shall not apply where;
the third party has had previous dealings with the Interpreter
the Interpreter acts on the basis of information in the public domain
the Client has failed to pay the Interpreter
the approach from the third party is independent of the relationship with the intermediary
the approach to the third party arises as the result of broad-band advertising
the third party is seeking interpreters on the open market