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Tendring District Council’s Interpretation and Translation Guidance Tendring District Council Corporate Equalities Policy 2007 states that:
“Tendring District Council recognises the diversity of its employees, customers, and residents, and will seek to meet their needs and treat them fairly. The council opposes discrimination on the basis of racial or ethnic origin, gender, disability, religious belief, colour, marital status, age, or sexual orientation. The Council intends to implement equality policies in relation to the way it manages its business, employment practices and the delivery of its services.” Corporate Equalities Policy 2007.
In pursuance of these goals it will provide relevant and accessible information to its customers wherever possible. Tendring District Council believe that information and communication channels should be equally accessible and relevant to the wider community regardless of race, colour, and ethnicity, gender, disability, age, sexuality, faith or belief.
Tendring District Council recognises that in order to achieve its priorities, aims and objectives it must communicate with individuals, groups and organisations it works with in an effective and meaningful way and will:
Take reasonable steps to make sure that Tendring District Council communicate effectively with service users
Be responsible for providing information in an appropriate language or format
Aim to use plain English or its equivalent in all communications, instances where it is not possible to avoid the use of jargon this will be fully explained.
Aim to identify and train staff in how to use the interpretation and translation service.
Under the current anti- discrimination legislation it is unlawful for service providers to discriminate against persons using their services. Tendring District Council recognises this and aims to promote equality of opportunity and good relations between persons of all groups. Provision of information in accessible formats other than written English, is therefore a matter of good practice and positive action, as well as complying with the law.
Whilst it may be desirable to have the ability to sanction translation of every document produced by the Council this is clearly not possible. Accordingly it is proposed that a new definition be introduced that reflects the following: that the Council will translate documentation on request where failure to provide that information in an accessible format will lead to a direct threat to the applicants health, safety or wellbeing. Such a category would be known hereafter as a key document and it is the responsibility of each Head of Service to identify Key documents within their service. Defining the Key documents will have the consequence of removing most of the large corporate documents from the criteria; however corporate documents can still be translated at the Heads of Services discretion.
This guidance covers four types of information:
Publications that provide information to the public about the Council’s services. This information will be provided in alternative formats and languages other than English. Also, arrangements can be made for customers needing British Sign Language (BSL), Braille or Audio upon request, although it should be appreciated that document translation does take time and this will vary from document to document.
Staff should be realistic when asked to translate these documents, which are often quite lengthy. By undertaking a needs assessment, staff will be able to identify which parts of a document may need to be translated or placed in an alternative format.Staff should be realistic when asked to translate these documents, which are often quite lengthy. By undertaking a needs assessment, staff will be able to identify which parts of a document may need to be translated or placed in an alternative format.
Tendring District Council will translate documents when the customer identifies a need and where the request is considered to be reasonable and value for money. If the request is refused the customer will be informed of the reasons. Some documents can be translated through the TDC website for future reference and customer use. If the translated document includes a service user’s details it must be anonymised before storing.
If there is a communication problem, the first staff member to meet the potential service user should attempt to identify the source of the problem. This may be due to language barriers, impaired hearing, learning difficulties, physical problems, or a mental health issue. If you are not able to identify the needs of the potential service user, for example you cannot identify the language needed a list can be found on the Equalities and Diversity Website, although an initial phone call is likely to be made by someone other than the person requiring help; staff should use their discretion to ask if English is the first language of the person being referred. If there is a different barrier to communication please seek assistance from your head of service.
Assistance around interpretation and translation services can be found on the Equalities and Diversity section of the intranet where you will find the Essex Framework for interpretation and translation. http://intranet/Interact/Pages/Content/Document.aspx?id=1157 If you need to produce a document in a format such as Braille, Audio or gain access to a telephone interpreting service such as Language Line this can also be found at the Equalities and Diversity Section under Guidance to Translation, Interpretation and Provision of Documents in Alternative Formats
Tendring District Council receives few requests to translate ‘Corporate Information Documents’ and most of the documents that will need translation will be information or Key documents. However, due to the potential cost to the service, before embarking on a translation, it is essential that you ascertain the status of the person who wishes to access this service, for example, resident, worker or someone who has a stake in the area or has expressed an interest in becoming a part of the Tendring Community, for example a potential investor or a potential resident this will help us to target finite council resources on the Tendring District community and potential stakeholders. Each service will use their own budget to pay for interpreting and translation services and the final decision on provision of 3the service should be left where possible with the Head of Service, Assistant Head of Service who can then take into consideration all relevant circumstances, including cost and if the document is a Key document to decide whether a request to provide information in a particular format is reasonable. Advice from Legal Services is that it is reasonable and legitimate to put a ceiling on the cost of each document at £450, this is the limit set by the Freedom of Information Act. If the service considers it is unreasonable, or too costly the customer should be advised.
The council’s website, together with all key documents includes a statement that documents will be provided in the most commonly requested languages other than English. A request for a document to be translated into another language can be made through the website. Tendring District Council’s Website can also be translated into different languages via the AltaVisatSystem it can also reproduce documents in larger fonts and it has an audio facility.
Tendring District Council is a member of the interpretation services within the Essex Framework. all Heads of Service must ensure that this Guidance is implemented correctly: http://tdcintranet/Equality%20and%20Diversity/default.aspx.
If you have any queries or questions around this document please contact your Equalities and Diversity Champion who can be found at: http://tdcintranet/Equality%20and%20Diversity/default.aspxservice