Insider's story: court job allocation, Capita tiers and payments
After registering with Capita, in November 2013 I received one local court job via a phone call. The respondent was relieved I was a female who spoke her dialect. In the previous hearing a male interpreter did not speak or understand her dialect. So how was she expected to communicate her concerns?
I accepted many local jobs via Capita portal. I found every single job was later allocated to other interpreters. Although I was receiving phone calls for last minute bookings, I refused them since I would be making a loss in travel costs.
Through court staff and other colleagues I discovered many other agency interpreters are working in courts. There are a couple of NRPSI interpreters who are regular interpreters and although Tier 1 in one language, they are still working for other languages and dialects.
So this confirms Capita are regularly using Tier 3.
I refused to be a standby so requested my details be removed from their system. I received a warning email that if I took the option of 'do not contact me' I would be exempt from working with Capita TI again in the future.
Yes, believe it, I have emails to prove this.
I was in court for a total of 3 hours including consultation. Capita were paying me for 1 hour minimum as I had only been in front of judge for 25 minutes.
I have still not been paid. My details are still live on their system.
I am a Tier 1 in two languages and Tier 2 in two other languages/dialects.
I have also been approached by local professionals who speak my language/dialect and have requested that I return to Tribunal/Court Interpreting as there are major concerns with the 'new' Interpreters.
