When booking an interpreter, as much notice as possible should be provided (two weeks is recommended) as it may take time to find an appropriate interpreter. Bookings with less than one week's notice may not be accepted, due to the shortage of available interpreters.

The booking procedure is as follows:

• Requests are taken by phone, email, fax or the Deaf Society's website (The Sign Language Communications NSW section)

• The Interpreter Service Officer will require the client to provide the following:
  • Name and telephone number of person requesting service
• Name of organisation (if applicable)
• Type of assignment - Please be as specific as possible about the nature of the assignment and any special skills or knowledge which may be required of the interpreter.
• Day, date, time and expected duration of the assignment
• Location of the assignment, including name of building, level/floor, name/number of room (as applicable)
• Name and contact telephone number of contact on site
• Name of Deaf consumer
• Consumer's preferred mode of communication (e.g. Auslan, Signed English, fingerspelling)
• Availability of parking
• Any special instructions
• A signed authorisation or agreement to pay for services - where applicable

• The minimum fee is two hours. (To see the Interpreting Service rates, click here.)

• The Interpreting Service Officer will process the request and attempt to locate an appropriate interpreter as quickly as possible. The person requesting the service will receive confirmation of the interpreter/s once they are booked. In rare cases where the service is not able to allocate an interpreter the requestor will be informed more than 24 hours prior to the time of the request that the service has been unable to fulfil the request.

• In accordance with occupational health and safety guidelines, for assignments exceeding two hours or that are particularly demanding, two interpreters will be required. Accordingly, the requesting organisation will be invoiced for the full cost of two interpreters for that particular assignment.

• Where there are two consecutive assignments at the same location on the same day, if the break between assignments is of two hours duration or less, payment is required for the time from the commencement of the first assignment until the completion of the second assignment. Where the interpreter has had to travel a distance of greater than 100km (round trip), the fee will reflect the time from the commencement of the first assignment until the completion of the second assignment, regardless of the length of the break between the two assignments.

• If a booking is cancelled by a client, the following fees are applicable:
  • more than 5 full working days - nil
  • 2-5 full working days before - 25% of fee
  • 1-2 full working days before - 50% of fee
  • 1 full working day or less - 100% of fee

• If a client fails to attend an assignment, or if Sign Language Communications NSW (SLC NSW) has not been informed of a cancellation, the full fee will be charged.

• Travel expenses:
  • For assignments within the Sydney metropolitan area, fees charged are inclusive of travelling expenses.
  • For interpreters travelling outside the Sydney metropolitan area, a charge of $0.57 per kilometre plus a further payment of half the hourly fee is payable where the interpreter must travel a distance of greater than 100km for the round journey.
  • Preference is given to interpreters who live in the region of a job, and a travel allowance will be paid only if the Interpreting Services Officer is unable to fill a job with a local interpreter

• Interpreters are paid following the return to SLC NSW of their signed Assignment Information Form. At least one client (hearing or Deaf) needs to sign the Assignment Information Form in order to verify that the interpreter has completed the assignment. The following information is included on the form:
  • date, start and finish time and total hours
  • the interpreter's name and level of accreditation
  • name of person/s for whom the interpreting service was provided
  • name/s, title, organisation and address of person to whom the interpreter reported
  • client authorisation - name and telephone number and signature of contact verifying the interpreter's attendance
  • number of kilometres travelled by car if the distance exceeds 100 kilometres and is outside the Sydney metropolitan area.