Interpreter Services for Community Legal Centres in Nsw
INTERPRETER SERVICES FOR COMMUNITY LEGAL CENTRES IN NSW
A PARTNERSHIP WITH LEGAL AID NSW
As part of this partnership, Legal Aid NSW will reimburse CLCs within the funded program for the cost of face to face interpreter services for clients. This partnership was initially established as a pilot in 2009-10, however it was made a permanent arrangement from 1 July 2010. Funding for this partnership is capped at a total of $50,000 across all CLCs per financial year.
This partnership provides reimbursement for all interpreting services including AusLan and Aboriginal language services. Reimbursements will be made to each CLC upon presentation of a quarterly tax invoice from the CLC. The tax invoice from the CLC must:
· be on CLC letterhead and include the ABN;
· show a breakdown of the total costs of the interpreting services with a separate line item for the GST paid; and
· be accompanied by copies of the invoice(s) from the recognised/qualified Interpreter Service with the client names blanked out.
The deadline for submission of quarterly tax invoices is as follows:
Period of Service / Invoice Due to Legal Aid NSW1st Quarter (1 June to 30 September) / 10 October
2nd Quarter (1 October to 31 December) / 10 January
3rd Quarter (1 January to 31 March) / 10 April
Part of 4th Quarter (1 April to 31 May) / 10 June
Notes:
· 4th Quarter Invoices must be submitted by 10 June in order to ensure payments are processed prior to the end of financial year cut-off. Accordingly, any interpreter services claimable in the month of June are to be invoiced in the following 1st Quarter period.
· Any services that were not included in the claim for the quarter in which they were provided may be included in a subsequent quarterly claim.
While the total funding allocated for this partnership is $50,000, reimbursements payable to the Refugee Advice and Casework Service (RACS) will be capped at $10,000 per annum and will be payable only for services for which reimbursement from the Commonwealth government cannot be claimed.
Where possible, CLCs are encouraged to use the telephone translation services offered by the Automated Telephone Interpreting Service (ATIS), if possible, or the Telephone Interpreting Service (TIS). Where telephone interpreting is not appropriate and face to face interpreting is necessary, reimbursements from Legal Aid NSW will be prioritised towards providing interpreting services for advice and casework in the first instance followed by CLE. The interpretation of information is to be provided by TIS. Reimbursement will not be provided for the translation of documents unless the documents are with the client when they meet with the solicitor. Clients should be referred to a document translation service in all other circumstances.
CLC staff or clients can initiate a TIS session immediately by telephoning 131 450.
Each CLC should also establish an account with ATIS to enable access to the specific automated telephone interpreting services for commonly used community languages. A separate 1300 number is then accessed for the language that is required, as set out in the Department of Immigration and Citizenship Guide. ATIS registration information and forms are found at: www.immi.gov.au/living-in-australia/help-with-english/help_with_translating/_pdf/atis-application-form.pdf
The Community Relations Commission (CRC) would be primary provider for community language interpreters, but CLCs such as the Immigration Advice and Rights Centre (IARC) and Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) that use other providers could continue to do so. Those invoices would still be eligible for reimbursement. CRC interpreters can be booked:
· by fax using the form available on their website: www.crc.nsw.gov.au/services/language_services/fact_sheets/fact_sheet_1; and
· on-line on the CRC website by accessing Language Link and contacting the appropriate telephone number to obtain a User Profile form which should be emailed to:
The Sign Language Communications NSW (SLC NSW) Interpreting Service operated by the Deaf Society of NSW is the primary provider for AusLan interpreters. SLC NSW has an online booking system that can be accessed at http://nsw.slcommunications.com.au. Contact details for Sign Language Interpreting Services are available at http://www.deafsocietynsw.org.au/contact/our_staff.html#interpreting
Given that interpreters can only be booked for a minimum of three hours, CLCs are encouraged to maximise the use of interpreters by “clustering” sessions with clients of the same language group into one period of time, e.g. by having a Vietnamese or Greek legal advice night.
Any queries regarding the interpreter guidelines should be directed to:
Benjamin Dougall on 9219 5669 or ; or
Bronwyn McCutcheon on 9219 5086 or
Legal Aid NSW Interpreter guidelines for CLC Program – revised October 2012 1