Court interpreting inquiry: government contractor corrects profit 'assumption'

The company contracted by the Ministry of Justice to provide court interpreting makes a profit of only two pence per £1, a House of Lords inquiry has been told.

For the past few weeks, the Lords’ public services committee has been taking oral evidence from representative bodies, government officials and interpreter groups for its inquiry on court interpreting and translation services. Yesterday, the committee heard from Mark Rice, managing director of Leeds-headquartered thebigword, which is contracted to provide court interpreting services.

Rice told the committee he was aware of concerns within the interpreting community, as he speaks regularly to a wide range of interpreters. He said: ‘I would say that our fulfilment rates and fulfilment levels we operate generally show that across the board our interpreters in the main accept the work, they accept the terms that they’re sent at. There are some people who aren’t happy with them, and we understand that, and we’d love to understand that more and see what we can do.

‘There is an assumption that we hold back a lot of the payments that we get from the MoJ as profit. I can reassure the committee that’s not the case. In fact, in terms of positive cashflow profit, it’s two pence in every pound. It’s important for everyone to recognise that we transition as much as we possibly can. Bearing in mind we have all the operating costs, we want to transfer as much as we can to the interpreters.’

Twelve years after court interpreting services were controversially outsourced, the Ministry of Justice has decided to continue with the outsourcing model and is currently tendering for new contracts to begin in 2026.

Rice said two contractors will be selected following the current procurement under a slightly different model. ‘It reduces risk for ourselves as a business. It reduces risk for the MoJ. And it means you can ensure that the standards and the qualifications and the security clearance are always there even if you’re going “off contract”, which is one of the challenges that we have at the moment,’ Rice said.

Pressed further on how the new contract will work, he added: ‘If we’re successful, Lot 1 has basically up [until] three days before the hearing to be able to source an interpreter. The Lot 2 provider can then come in with three days to go before the booking.’