Private company cut puts Sheffield’s Deaf community at risk

Interpreter Emma Lipton explains how LanguageLine Solution's decision to decrease fees is putting Deaf people in Sheffield at risk.

Outsourcing and the privatisation of our services typically puts the profit-making of companies ahead of doing what is best for communities and service users. This is happening in Sheffield where the Deaf community is at risk of losing much needed access and support from its local British Sign Language (BSL) interpreters.
The various health, social care and community appointments that Deaf people need to attend on a daily basis could grind to a halt.

Private company LanguageLine Solutions (LLS) has been awarded a contract to deliver British Sign Language (BSL) interpreting services for Sheffield City Council, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals and Sheffield Clinical Commissioning Group. They won the bid by tendering at below market rates and have chosen to reduce interpreters' pay, terms and conditions without any discussion with interpreters from the region. 

From today, the company is reducing the minimum fee paid to interpreters by 30%. This huge pay cut will threaten the livelihood of interpreters and make the profession unsustainable in the long term. The local British Sign Language (BSI) interpreters whose services are booked by LLS are boycotting the company, to defend the service and the people who provide it.

"I am a BSL/English interpreter living and working in Yorkshire. I have a house, a partner and a cat. My favourite colour is green and I am particularly fond of biscuits. I am an interpreter, but I am also a human being.

I’m self-employed and work on a freelance basis, so my income is never guaranteed. I don’t get sick pay, or holiday pay, or paid training. That all comes out of my own income, but I accept all of this because the job I get to do day in, day out gives me such joy.

Most of my work is medical interpreting, about 1/3 actually. This work comes to me via agencies, and the agencies are trying to break me. They want me to do the same amount of work for 1/3 less pay, just like that. No rhyme or reason, just because they decided, and there is very little I can do.

Well, that’s not entirely true, it seems to me that actually I have 2 choices.
Choice 1: accept the 1/3 pay cut and lose approximately £5000 a year.
Choice 2: refuse the work at a lower rate of pay, stick to my guns and take nothing from the agency, potentially losing approximately half my annual income.

I don’t know about you but neither of those seems a) very appealing or b) actually a ‘choice’ at all. It’s like asking me, which would you prefer; a slap round the chops or a stomp on the toe? However, I will be opting for Choice 2.
I will not set a precedent. I will not be dictated to. I will take a stand.

Like many of my esteemed colleagues, I spent 8 years learning, training and working my damn socks off to get to this position. When I qualified 12 months ago I thought, “this is IT, this is the dream”. I felt so incredibly fortunate. These days I find myself spending more and more time looking at local non-interpreting jobs, which will guarantee me a salary I can pay my rent with, and that just breaks my heart.

Because I’m a human being, too."

Anonymous interpreter

The National Union of British Sign Language Interpreters (NUBSLI) is supporting their members' action to boycott in Sheffield. BSL interpreters are not withholding their services from the NHS or city council but from LLS, and have been in contact with the services affected to ensure the Deaf communities needs will be met. 

BSL interpreters have to undertake an average of eight years training to become fully qualified and registered professionals, and their skills should be valued. They are committed professionals, a workforce of mainly self-employed/freelance individuals who focus on providing high-quality interpreting services with the priority being access for Deaf people.

Wasting public funds

LLS has stated that it has been forced to reduce fees to retain the contract. However, this prioritising of a private company’s profits will come at a direct cost to the end-supplier of the service (the BSL interpreters). This threatens to have a really bad impact on the Deaf community who rely on these professionals.

It does not have to be this way. In fact, during the financial year 2015-16, the Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust could have saved just under £18,000 on BSL interpreter bookings at its hospitals through booking with the interpreter directly. (This is the difference between the total spent by the trust on LLS and the fees received directly by interpreters. Interpreters receive £90 per booking compared to the £131 received by LLS.)

The current commissioning procedures allow only for consultations booked via the agencies or 'middle-men'. Agencies like this are unnecessary because the quality of interpreters can be guaranteed through the National Registers of Communication Professionals working with Deaf and deafblind people (NRCPD). The current process is profit-focused and not based on client needs or quality of service. With both service users and service providers being sidelined in the current system, NUBSLI is trying to solve this by lobbying for a seat at the table now and in future discussions.

What you can do?

Sign and share the petition calling on LanguageLine Solutions to reverse these cuts.

Follow NUBSLI on facebook or twitter to keep up with the campaign.