Booking of Interpreters
When booking an interpreter, a period of two weeks notice prior to the appointment is recommended as it may take time to find an appropriate interpreter. Bookings with less than one week’s notice may not be filled due to shortage of available interpreters. The booking procedure is as follows:
a) Requests are taken by phone or through phone, Fax, SMS, MSN, TTY or the SLC gateway website.
b) The Interpreting Service Officer (or applicable relevant position) in your member state will require the client to provide the following:
- Name and telephone number of person requesting the service
- Name of organisation (if applicable)
- Type of assignment – Please be as specific as possible about the nature of the assignment and any special skills or knowledge which may be required of the interpreter.
- Day, date, times and expected duration of the assignment
- Location of the assignment, including name of building, level/floor, name/number of room (as applicable)
- Name and contact telephone number of contact on site
- Name of Deaf client
- Deaf client’s preferred mode of communication (e.g. Auslan, Signed English, fingerspelling)
- Availability of parking
- Any special instructions
- A signed authorisation or agreement to pay for services – where applicable
- Name of Deaf client’s preferred interpreter (up to three names can be provided)
c) A booking fee and further conditions may apply. This is at the discretion of the relevant SLC member.
d) The minimum fee is two hours. Please contact your relevant SLC member for a schedule of fees.
e) The Interpreter Service Officer (or other applicable position in your member state) will process the request, attempt to locate an interpreter(s) and advise the person requesting service of the name of the interpreter(s) within two working days.
f) In accordance with occupational health and safety guidelines (see Section 3), for assignments exceeding one hour or that are particularly demanding, two interpreters will be required. Accordingly, the requesting organisation will be invoiced for the full cost of two interpreters for that particular assignment.
g) Where there are two consecutive assignments at the same location on the same day, the cost of waiting time between the two assignments will be invoiced at the normal interpreting booking fees. The fee will reflect the time from the commencement of the first assignment until the completion of the second assignment, regardless of the length of the break between the two assignments. This is at the discretion of the SLC member.
h) If a booking is cancelled by a client, the applicable and relevant state SLC member’s Service Agreement applies.
i) If a client fails to attend an assignment, or if the SLC member has not been informed of a cancellation, the full fee will be charged.
j) Travel expenses are applicable as per the relevant SLC member’s Service Agreement
k) Interpreters are paid following the return to the SLC member of their signed Claim Form. A representative of the booking client needs to sign the Claim Form in order to verify that the interpreter has completed the assignment. The following information must be included on the form:
- The interpreter’s name,
- Date, start and finish time of the assignment and total hours,
- Name of person(s) for whom the interpreting service was provided,
- Name(s), title, organisation and address of person to whom the interpreter reported,
- Client authorisation – name, telephone number and signature of contact verifying the interpreter’s attendance.
