Lawyers slam Government’s new court interpreting system
16 February 2012 | By Ruth Green
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As recent changes to the provision of interpreters for court hearings are set to save the Government £18m a year, many are concerned that the new system is leading to severe delays and costing more money.
On 30 January 2012, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) launched a new interpreter service, which has already been implemented in courts across England and Wales. The changes mean that court interpreters will now be sourced from one single agency, Applied Language Solutions (ALS).
Court interpreters were previously selected by the National Register of Public Service Interpreters (NRPSI). Interpreters listed on the NRPSI are accredited to work in specialist areas of the public services, such as law, healthcare or local government-related services.
ALS has introduced a tier system of qualifications and payment that has brought interpreters’ pay down to a fee of £22, £20 and £16 per hour with no travel expenses. Only interpreters assigned on the top tier jobs are required to be fully qualified. Interpreters under the new system are now also only paid for the time actually spent in the courtroom.
ALS reportedly has 3,000 interpreters on its books, but there are widespread concerns over the quality of the interpreters they are now providing to courts. They will be selected under a new system devised by ALS in partnership with Middlesex University, which is reportedly undertaking independent assessments to gauge whether interpreters are qualified to interpret in court.
Currently some 60 per cent of the 2,300 interpreters from the NRPSI are refusing to work under the conditions of the new system. As a result, a large number of lawyers and judges have reported instances where interpreters were late, underprepared, under qualified or failed to turn up at all. In one instance, an interpreter was spotted texting on their mobile phone during a court hearing.
While a spokeswoman from ALS admitted that there have been some “teething problems” so far, many lawyers believe that the changes are jeopardising the justice system.
Jacqueline Ng, a duty solicitor at Hines Solicitor who deals with a large number of cases in Polish, has noticed considerable problems across the profession since the implementation of the new system.
“There’s been a lot of unnecessary delay and expense with many interpreters not turning up and trials having to be adjourned,” she said. “Many of the interpreters that have come are not registered and don’t understand legal jargon. The changes are having a big impact on how defendants are being treated and I don’t think it’s right to mess with people’s human rights and liberty in this way.”
Fadi Daoud, a partner at Lawrence & Co Solicitors, specialises in extradition hearings and highlights how vital it is to have qualified interpreters in the courtroom.
“I work in a very specialised area, so the interpreters I work with need particular knowledge of the subject matter and need to know specific vocabulary,” he said. “If interpreters don’t understand the context of a case, then there’s no way they will be able to translate it.”
Daoud believes that the Government’s decision to outsource and centralise the system for appointing interpreters has been ill-conceived.
“The Government seems to believe that centralising services automatically results in better outcomes. This is just not the case,” he explained. “There are no minimum standards now and there’s a centralised system that doesn’t help anyone at all.”
Daoud, who is a native Arabic speaker, was forced to interpret during a recent hearing as the assigned interpreter failed to show up. Many of his clients require interpreters who speak Polish, Lithuanian, Latvian, Romanian, Albanian, Arabic or Kurdish.
Dhaneshwar Sharma of Sharma Law Solicitors has experienced instances where court hearings have had to be adjourned as many as three times.
“The whole system is a mess, it’s unfair on detainees and the delays are no doubt adding to the public purse,” he said. “For a trial to be adjourned once, twice and maybe even three times, is just absurd. This should be cost-cutting for efficiency, but this shouldn’t mean deficiency.”
Sharma represents a number of Eastern European clients and has a good understanding of Romanian. In a recent case he noticed that the interpreter provided to interpret Romanian into English did not seem to be following the case correctly.
For many lawyers, their clients have been in the country for perhaps a matter of months and therefore do not have the linguistic skills to understand a trial nor the accusations against them without the assistance of an interpreter. Consequently, by failing to successfully provide an interpreter to represent such clients, ALS runs the risk of violating Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights (28 April 1998 http://www.thelawyer.com/when-words-mean-everything/90650.article).
One lawyer reported that, after an interpreter failed to turn up three times for a case, the presiding judge suggested that the court should make a wasted costs order against ALS.
A spokeswoman for ALS said that the changes have been designed to make the system more efficient.
“We’re closely monitoring the service, will investigate any complaints made about the system and make changes and improvements as necessary,” she added.
Commenting on the selection process for interpreters under the new system, the MoJ said: “All interpreters are required to undertake continuous professional development and abide by a comprehensive Code of Conduct, which further emphasises that they should only undertake assignments which they’re competent to undertake.”
However, this is not the first time that problems have been reported about the Government’s efforts to outsource interpreting services to ALS.
In March 2011, the Manchester Evening News reported that interpreter schemes between ALS and police in Greater Manchester, Merseyside, Lancashire and Cumbria, collapsed after hundreds of interpreters refused to work for ALS and set up a group called the Professional Interpreters’ Alliance. The group applied for a judicial review of the ALS contracts with the various police forces.
However, the deals were scrapped before the review even took place when the Greater Manchester Police admitted breach of the Race Relations Act and signed a consent order at the end of February 2011.
Meanwhile, the Metropolitan Police, Cambridgeshire Police and police in South Wales are all believed to have made considerable savings to their interpreter systems in recent years without the need to resort to outsourcing.
Klasiena Slaney, an interpreter and the director and company secretary of the Society of Official Metropolitan Interpreters, commented: “Qualified professional interpreters are experts in their field and are an essential resource which ensures that justice and human rights are upheld. The introduction of outsourcing and the tier system by the Ministry of Justice will compromise the quality of service provided, which is resulting in costly delays and may lead to miscarriages of justice. We wish to engage directly with the Ministry of Justice in order to find solutions to improve efficiency and cost, whilst still maintaining standards of service.”
A MoJ spokesperson said: “This is just one of a number of common sense changes we’re implementing across the justice system to make it more efficient and effective, including digitisation of the courts, greater transparency and expanding the use of virtual courts.”
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Readers' comments (21)
Anonymous | 16-Feb-2012 12:40 pm
English judges do not bang gavels.
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Anonymous | 16-Feb-2012 1:33 pm
I am sure that not the qualification makes u proffessional and expert. It's the experience that you have. Without going to courts and working in the area, you'll be just a person who holds a degree.
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Anonymous | 16-Feb-2012 1:39 pm
I thought you might like to read this article. MoJ is monitoring these issues and unless ALS gets better by 24th February, they will start using the old system. We were told that the courts can book us directly until that day under the National Agreement payment terms just to give ALS more time to correct itself! This means that our action is working well!
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Neil McCafferty | 16-Feb-2012 3:12 pm
The fact here is Applied Language Solutions had months to prepare for this.
It has not worked and never will. It is not teething, it is terminal and the sooner it is terminated the better.
Even if the MOJ gave them another 2 years, they will not be able to deliver.
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Anonymous | 16-Feb-2012 3:24 pm
How did a tiny company in Oldham (ALS), with no financial probity or significant track-record win the £300 million MoJ contract?
How come this company also won the contract of the Olympics and many Strategic Health Authorities?
How come ALS was acquired by Capita less than 2 months after it was awarded the MoJ contract?
Do acquisitions for LSE listed companies (ie Capita) not take longer than this to prepare?
Are Capita not a major financial donor to the Conservative party?
Is this simple cronyism or something more sinister?
This all needs investigating....
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Maria Haller-Williams | 16-Feb-2012 3:29 pm
MoJ of all people should understand that people's human rights are paramount. ALS is not fit for purpose, as it doesn't appear to appreciate the professional nature of interpreters' work, especially regarding legal matters. It's not enough for someone to be fluent in a language. The knowledge of specialist vocabulary is vital. These interpreters are highly skilled professionals and their work conditions and pay should reflect this.
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AnonInt | 16-Feb-2012 4:08 pm
Dear Gavin
Did you think you can invent something? What is your invention? Is it using less qualified interpreters?
So what happens when your interpreters become qualified? Do you continuously find less qualified people?
Do you know what it means to get lost in translation? I think you do! Many like you tried to run agencies, the less this profession is regulated, the worst it gets to be in it!
Let me tell you why it doesn't work for courts but works for everything else, it is because each listing costs 10 if not 20 times any booking at any hospital or local authority. Did you miss that?
I bet you did!
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Anonymous | 16-Feb-2012 5:18 pm
It's incredible that anyone would think 'teething problems' to be even remotely acceptable. If even one trial or case is jeopardised because of ALS, then they have failed. Citing 'teething problems' is an atrociously poor excuse for failing so badly to ensure justice.
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Nils Fort | 16-Feb-2012 5:35 pm
Answer to parliamentary question reveals the contract priorities, but whatever happened to compliance?
http://www.parliament.uk/
Written Answers to Questions
Wednesday 7 December 2011
JUSTICE
Applied Language Solutions
Mr Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 14 November 2011, Official Report, columns 544-5W, on Applied Language Solutions, (1) whether the statement in that answer that the assessment of creditors of Applied Language Solutions (ALS) falling due within one year is nil is reconcilable with ALS' 2009-10 accounts which show creditors with debts falling due within one year as £1.926 million; [84296]
(2) what the criteria were which his Department used in making its choice of provider; and for what reason Applied Language Solutions was chosen as the provider. [84427]
Mr Blunt: The answer provided previously was in response to a question which the Department considered to relate specifically to mezzanine funding which is a hybrid of debt and equity funding.
In more general terms, a financial assessment of Applied Language Solutions considered the company to be financially viable with a profitable position. At the time these issues were considered, it was known that the solution would be a one-stop shop facility that could be delivered by one or more companies. Small and Medium Enterprises, including Applied Language Solutions, with reasonable financial positions and scalable solutions were therefore considered suitable.
7 Dec 2011 : Column 311W
The criteria used to determine the choice of provider were: Service 30%, Innovation 10%, Quality 25%, Assurance of Supply 30% and Sustainability 5%. In financial terms, the Ministry of Justice had determined it would accept the lowest priced, affordable and compliant tender, i.e. there would be a minimum threshold of 80% for the non price criteria above which the lowest priced tender would be selected. Applied Language Solutions met the criteria and submitted the lowest priced tender.
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Anonymous | 16-Feb-2012 7:21 pm
What I can't understand is that ALS have publicly claimed to have 3,000 interpreters registered with the company.
The National Register of Interpreters contains 2364 interpreters, 60% of whom have refused to work for ALS:
http://goo.gl/q9WHM
The remaining 40% make 946 interpreters. Where did ALS get 2054 experienced interpreters from?
ALS is now part of Capita Group PLC, a publicly listed company. Any PLC has an obligation under LSE rules to disclose information fully and accurately.
I think ALS may be guilty of misleading the market, and Capita shareholders in particular.
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Anonymous | 16-Feb-2012 8:10 pm
And look what has happened now, the courts have been given the go ahead to hire interpreters in so-called "urgent cases" as ALS is doing such a shoddy job. Thank goodness. Let's hope that the government decides to drop the scheme altogether as it's obviously not working and is infringing people's human rights.
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Larry Gouldish | 16-Feb-2012 8:52 pm
How the MoJ can associate common sense in the same context as this procurement decision is farcical. Where is the common sense in slashing interpreters pay by up to 50% to the point where it doesn't make economic sense for them to work? 30% of these new costs are going to Mr Wheeler Dealer-don and the other fat cats at Capita. Where's the cost of incurring many times the overall interpreter cost because of delays incurred by all the other parties involved in this common sense decision? A few compensation cases due to injustice served as a result of poor translation is quickly going to dissipate any perceived savings.
It's taken only 2 weeks and the MoJ are back-tracking despite a torrent of backlash when they made the decision and the fact that ALS had been sacked by the Greater Manchester Police just weeks before for the same issue. The sooner that they shelve this ill-conceived primitive concept of cost-saving the better for the sake of the whole judicial system of this country.
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Anonymous | 16-Feb-2012 11:42 pm
An idea:
Since the MoJ showed so much disregard, disloyalty and contempt for professional interpreters who have been working in justice system for so many years for measly rates, I think we should get united in our profession and renegotiate our fees, e.g. minimum payment of £150 p/hr for the first three hours +£25 p/hr for travel time, and then additional attendance time @ £50 p/hr + travel expenses i.e. £0.50 p/mile. I think we can achieve this if we get organised and not give in to exploitative agencies. For start, I would propose to set a date in not a distant future at which day all of us withdraw our sevices to the MoJ and see if they can cope with the likes of ALS. I'm pretty sure it would teach the MoJ a lesson not to treat us again in the future as they did by awarding this contract to ALS. Second step would be to have an enquiry about why did responsible people in the MoJ behave in the way they did in relation to this matter, because it smells of something rotten and I would not be surprised of financial links betwen those in MoJ and champion spiv Gavin Wheldon.
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John Griffiths | 17-Feb-2012 11:58 am
What amazes me is how they can suggest that the previous recognised academic qualifications needed to be on the National Register are now worthless when applying to work for them, and now suggest that their own internal assesment is sufficient to deem a person qualified for legal interpreting. When they are under such massive pressure to get interpretors is it possible they could have 'dumbed down' their assessments much?
Also i have heard that most of the assessment papers have not even been marked yet from the last batch and yet these interpretors are being allowed to practice legal interpreting in the field without yet knowing if they have passed the ALS assessments or not.
Yet another example of ALS putting underqualified interpreters to work in a desperate attempt to fulfill their contractual obligations at the expense of a fair and professional legal system for those requiring interpreters.
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Anonymous | 17-Feb-2012 6:17 pm
Someone at the MoJ did not do any homework on ALS at all and should be brought to account. Not just the past history quoted above, but I know of at least one more case of a health authority being so appalled by the levels of service offered by ALS that they pulled out of the contract at the earliest opportunity.
They've also tried bully tactics on NRPSI members who haven't signed up for them - pestering them with emails telling them their work is about to dry up if they don't sign up immediately.
And then there's the tale (maybe apocryphal) of ad's for interpreter recruitment appearing in Jobcentres in Essex.
It would be funny if it weren't so serious.
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Anonymous | 18-Feb-2012 8:44 am
I run an agency and have to say that we were appalled when ALS contacted us asking us to help source interpreters for a fee of £12 per hour. Clearly an agency fee would need to be deducted so the suggestion that we would even consider destroying our reputation by asking professionals to work for a pittance was disgusting. It is a highly professional role and the premium pay is to account for the fact that interpreters are not constantly engaged between assignments. You guys should stand your ground as the majority think you are worth every penny and do a fantastic job. In the same way that teaching is now being done by teaching assistants and traditional nursing procedures by auxiliaries, there are no levels that the government wouldn't sink to if there's an opportunity to get something for cheaper. Talk about qualifications and upskilling is all lip service.
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PC | 18-Feb-2012 5:30 pm
I agree with the idea of saying no to the MoJ when they go back to the old framework, which they will eventualy. It came from them the idea that was not good enough, therefore, WE WANT BIGGER AND BETTER NOW. The other thing is what about CRB checks? This people that the ALS is sending to courts, they are supposed to have them. It took me ages to get mine. How are they getting them, supermaket vouchers? They are not being tested to degree level, we all know that. Mr. whatever your name is, the one that sold ALS, if we think being a legal interpreter is easy show us how good you are and try sitting the DPSI Law? By the way, how many languages do you speak? This decision of outsourcing was a test to our intelligence. Most interpreters are foreigners, like me, but that is not to say we are grateful to be treated as 2nd classe citizens. We pay taxes and contribute to this country's economy and development. Please respect us.
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Nils Fort | 20-Feb-2012 8:55 am
The jobcentre plus ads aren't apocryphal, but appeared all over the country. Note the minimum wage equivalent claim - what a driver of quality. CVs at the ready!
INTERPRETER / TRANSLATOR
Vacancy from jobcentreplus
Job No:
BRC/59414
SOC Code:
3412
Wage
£8 PER HOUR + TRAVEL TIME + EXPENSES
Hours
1-30 PER WEEK, MONDAY-FRIDAY, BETWEEN 8AM AND 6PM
Location
BRAINTREE, ESSEX CM7
Duration
Permanent
Date posted
01 November 2011
Pension details
No details held
Description
This is a self employed vacancy. Professional interpreters/translators required. Employer can accommodate applicants who are fluent in a second language DPSI or similar qualification an advantage but training can be aided for those who wish to attain the qualification. Jobs are available in any local area. The company has given an assurance that this vacancy enables workers to achieve a wage equivalent to the National Minimum Wage rate. Self-employed people are responsible for paying their own National Insurance contributions and Tax. For information on how benefits are affected and whether entitlement may be lost, speak to a Jobcentre Plus Adviser. Please click the link Come Work for Us.
How to apply
You can apply for this job by visiting www.alsukltd.com
Employer
ALS UK Ltd
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Applied Language Solutions | 20-Feb-2012 8:05 pm
Please note that the comment above relates to ALS UK Ltd which is a Midlands based company that is in no way linked to Applied Language Solutions.
You may however be interested in an update on our website relating to payment rates for MoJ assignments booked with Applied Language Solutions. This update can be found at Linguist Lounge. http://www.linguistlounge.com/increases-to-payments/
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Anonymous | 21-Feb-2012 7:16 pm
If you don't like this situation write to the minister of State for Justice Lord McNally, click "I want to write to this Lord":
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/search/?s=justice&pid=13129&wtt=2
When writing to Lord McNally, refer to the rather dubious answers he made in the House of Lords:
http://www.iol.org.uk/news/news_article.asp?r=PB63KS11093
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