Kimterpreting Terms & Conditions
Definitions
'Interpreter' means the person who interprets spoken or signed communication into another language.
'Client' means the person or organisation booking the Interpreter and responsible for her payment.
'Assignment' means any booking of the interpreter for specific purpose or event(s).
1.Services Provided
1.1.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.
1.2.They shall not, without express agreement confirmed in writing at the time, include any additional services.
2.Contracts
2.1.All assignments shall be confirmed in writing between the Client and the Interpreter, which shall include these Terms and Conditions and any details explicitly agreed.
2.2.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.
2.3.When booked, the Client shall be wholly liable for:
Payment of the Interpreter's services, and
reimbursement of any expenses incurred by the Interpreter in connection with the assignment whether the interpreting services are in fact provided or not.
3.Teams
3.1.Where an assignment requires continuous interpreting for more than one hour, or is particularly complex, a team of a minimum of two Interpreters shall be booked to provide the interpreting service. The Interpreter can advise if more than one interpreter is likely to be required for any given assignment.
3.2.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. Where this is not the case, additional fees may apply.
3.3.No persons who are not members of the interpreting Team may be used as Interpreter to complement the Team.
4.Working Hours
4.1.A working day shall comprise no more than six hours time during which interpreting will be required unless explicitly accepted by the Interpreter in writing.
4.2.During a full-day booking, Interpreters shall be given a mid-booking rest period of at least one hour.
4.3.If an Interpreter has agreed to work solo she shall be given adequate opportunity for breaks, ideally 10 minutes every 25 to 30 minutes.
4.4.No demands shall be made on the skills of the Interpreter during rest periods or breaks.
4.5.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 at additional cost on that same day,
continue for a further agreed period at additional cost on a future date(s).
4.6.If the Interpreter consents to the above, additional fees shall be paid in accordance with Clause 6.4.
4.7.If interpreting services are required for a continuous period of more than 6 hours, a second Team shall be organised and the work shall be shared equally between the two teams.
4.8.Normal working hours are Monday - Friday 08:30am - 5.00pm.
4.9.The following hours will be charged at time and a half: Before 8.30am and after 5pm Monday to Friday and all-day Saturday. The following hours will be charged at double time: Sundays and Bank Holidays. This is subject to change and individual negotiation.
5.Quotations for Fees
5.1.Fees quoted by an Interpreter, or on behalf of a team of Interpreters, in full knowledge of the contents and conditions of an assignment, shall be considered contractually binding and valid for acceptance for three months only.
5.2.Quotations shall be confirmed in writing.
6.Fees and Allowances
6.1.All fees and allowances shall be paid in full no later than 30 days following receipt of the invoice.
6.2.Interest shall automatically be applied at 8% over base rate (or such rate as is determined by statute, the latter prevailing), to all overdue sums from the first date on which they become due until they are paid in full. Reminder letters or emails of overdue payment will incur a charge of £40.00 per reminder.
6.3.Fees shall be charged on the basis of a full day, or half day in the case of a period of three and a half hours or less. Where a half-day booking bridges the middle of the working day, a full-day may be charged to reflect the alternative forgone of full-day availability.
6.4.Where the Interpreter has been invited to continue for a further period in extension of the initial contract, (see Clause 4.6), a supplementary fee shall be paid at an agreed hourly rate.
6.5.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.
6.6.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.
6.7.Where an Interpreter is required, from the outset, to work alone without prior written consent, the interpreter is not obliged to provide a service and full fees will still apply.
6.8.If the interpreter agrees to provide a service, a supplementary fee shall be applicable of an additional 50% of the original quoted fee.
7.Travel and Accommodation
7.1.Arrangements for travel and accommodation shall be the responsibility of either the Client or the Interpreter, as agreed before acceptance.
7.2.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.
8.Cancellation
8.1.If an accepted assignment is shortened 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 according to Clause 8.3.
8.2.Any expenditure incurred as agreed in the contract and any additional expenditure incurred as a result of the cancellation shall also be reimbursed.
8.3.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
9.Substitution of Interpreters
9.1.Substitution shall only be permitted in agreement with the Client. In such circumstances the Interpreter shall endeavour to find a suitable substitute.
9.2.The Client shall notify any other parties as appropriate.
9.3.Acceptance of the substitute by the Client shall discharge the Interpreter from any further liability.
10.Unavoidable Circumstances
10.1.The Interpreter undertakes to notify the Client at the earliest possible opportunity if she is prevented from undertaking an assignment or if performance is frustrated by unavoidable circumstances.
10.2.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 her normal place of residence by suitable means.
11.Preparation Materials
11.1.The Client shall provide the Interpreter with relevant information and preparation materials in the form of background documentation in good time; preferably one week in advance of an assignment in order to ensure provision of a quality service.
11.2.Where the interpreter is booked to interpret a performance including but not limited to songs, poetry, short drama pieces, preparation materials should be provided no less than two weeks in advance of the assignment.
11.3.If it is not possible to provide preparatory materials, and the Interpreter requests such, the Client shall arrange for a briefing meeting.
11.4.Attendance by the Interpreter at such a meeting may be paid as working time and will be agreed beforehand.
11.5.Preparatory materials shall include such items as:
programs, agendas, minutes, reports;
briefing papers, speakers notes;
names of participants;
maps, photographs, diagrams and other visual materials;
slides or other materials which will be read out or referred to
lyrics, scripts, videos or scripts of films to be shown or any other performance materials
11.6.The Interpreter, outside the context of the assignment, shall not disclose information contained within preparatory materials. The Interpreter shall be responsible for their safekeeping.
12.Working Conditions
12.1.The Client is to ensure that participants are well lit and in clear sight and/or easy to hear. This may require the provision of audio/visual equipment, or flexible consideration of interpreter positioning.
12.2.When working on-line, the client should ensure reliable and high-speed broadband of key participants. If the interpreter is unable to see or hear participants due to their poor internet coverage, the job may be terminated and booking client will be responsible for payment of the interpreter’s agreed fee.
12.3.The Interpreter will organise high-speed, wired internet connection wherever possible at her end and will maintain high quality audio visual equipment.
13.Recordings
13.1.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.
13.2.Recordings, which are intended for broadcast or publication, may incur an additional fee which will be > £100 and should be agreed prior to the work commencing. The interpreter is likely to require that preparation materials are guaranteed with enough time to digest before the booking date. The Interpreter may refuse to be recorded if this has not been agreed in advance, the Interpreter’s full fee is payable in these circumstances.
14.Complaints and Disputes
14.1.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.
14.2.If the parties are unable to resolve the issue, the matter may be referred to the National Register of Communication Professionals working with Deaf and Deafblind People (NRCPD) and/or the Association of Sign Language Interpreters (ASLI).
14.3.In any event these Terms and Conditions shall be construed in accordance with English law.
15.Responsibility and Liability
15.1.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 Code of Conduct of the NRCPD.
15.2.No guarantee can be given as to the absolute accuracy of any interpretation.
15.3.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.
15.4.Consequential damages and liability are expressly excluded.
16.Unfair Competition
16.1.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 3 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 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 or
the third party is seeking Interpreters on the open market.
17.Applicability and Integrity
17.1.These Terms and Conditions shall be construed jointly with the NRCPD Code of Conduct in order to be complete and effective. They shall also be subject to any detailed arrangements or any variants expressly specified in the order relating to a particular interpreting task. No waiver of any breach of conditions in this document shall be considered as a waiver of any subsequent breach of the same or any other provision.