ALS Court Interpreter Qualifications
Having taken part in the protests in Birmingham today, we went to the Magistrates Court afterwards to observe. Outside the court room, hearing us talking Polish, we were asked by an ALS interpreter whether she could sit with us and chat.
We talked about what we were doing in Birmingham, and we went on to ask about how she had ended up with ALS. She joined them in December, having taken her DPSI, but failed sight translation into English (Task 2A). She registered with ALS because she was not able to go on the National Register. By the definition of the Framework Agreement, she is not qualified to interpret at Tier 2, as partial DPSI is only permitted for failure of written translation into other language (Task 3B).
ALS has lowered the standards required to interpret in court, but even then they are not abiding by the terms of the Framework Agreement, as much as they are swearing blind to MoJ that they are.