Interpreters campaign against outsourcing
Threats to Justice
Interpreters are the only professionals who accompany defendants from beginning to end. It is a demanding, expert job, with cross-examination particularly testing as the translator has to compete with a number of voices.
Freelance translators are finding it increasingly difficult to work for the court service because of the rates they are paying in comparison with private translation work.
Professional interpreters of the National Register of Public Service Interpreters are campaigning against the Ministry of Justice’s outsourcing of interpreting and translation services to a single commercial agency. They are also angry that rates have dropped continually over the last four years.