Interpreting and Translation

An explanation of the difference between 'interpreting' and 'translation', together with an outline of the services the Council can provide.

Public authorities have a statutory duty to advance equality of opportunity, which includes ensuring that all communities have equal access to information and services.

What is the difference between 'interpreting' and 'translation'?

Interpreters listen to the speaker, analyse the message and accurately convey its original meaning. Translation is mainly the written form of expression in another language or format.

How can we help with interpreting and translation?

If English is not your first language and you need help with letters, documents, bills etc, which you receive from or are sending to the Council, we can help.

However, it is important that we have as much notice as possible so that we can provide a high quality, efficient service.

We will work with service users, service providers and partners in Solihull, to assess the extent of language use in the borough. We aim to provide a quality service, matching interpreter to client by gender and by religion where necessary. The service is confidential.

We will interpret in a variety of settings, for example:

• Housing applications
• Council tax enquiries
• Welfare rights services
• Parent/teacher interviews
• Social Services Meetings
• Open Consultation meetings.

The Council does not employ in-house interpreting and translation services so we use a number of external service providers to support us in the provision of Council services.

Our corporate supplier for face-to-face interpreting is Absolute Interpreting and Translations Ltd.

For over-the-phone interpretation, the Council uses thebigword.

Written information is essential to all of us - we use it to make choices and decisions that affect how we live our lives, and to play our part as citizens.

Our main supplier for written translations is K International.

Disability Related Interpreting Services

We aim to ensure Deaf people have equal access to our information and services through confidential, professional and highly qualified interpretation. We can provide the following interpreters:

• British Sign Language (BSL)
• Sign Supported English (SSE)
• Deaf/Blind
• Lipspeaker (Hard of Hearing)

Our corporate supplier for interpreting services for the Deaf community is BID Services.

Arranging a suitably qualified BSL intepreter for non-emergency situations does require a significant lead-in time. It would therefore be helpful if we could please receive maximum notice of any interpeting requests.  

We also have a contract for audio transcription with All Formats Transcription Services.