What happens when ALS fails to provide an interpreter
A colleague has received information from a reliable source that when ALS fails to provide an interpreter after a booking was made by a court, it is recorded as a cancellation and ALS charges a cancellation fee. This often happens when court staff call them up to see if an interpreter is coming. If there is no interpreter, ALS asks them whether to cancel the booking and the answer is often yes. As a result of this, it appears that the MoJ ends up rewarding ALS for its failure in the form of a cancellation fee.
Another colleague has witnessed an episode where court staff called up to check where the interpreter was on the way and the ALS call handler, or whatever you want to call them, asked the court staff if they wished to cancel the booking.