Dals was commissioned by Knowsley Council to deliver interpreting, translation and transcription services. When Knowsley Council’s previous contract with Dals ended, a tender exercise followed, with Dals again being awarded the contract from 9th October 2022 to 8th October 2026 (a period of four years).
Historically, only the Children’s Social Care element of the Council utilised Dals, with very occasional use from Legal. With the 2022 tender exercise, the Commissioning Team worked to promote language services across the Council – to make all teams aware of the commissioned service available to them, and how it should be accessed to enhance and improve service user experiences.
The Council’s promotional exercise has seen increased usage of Dals between 2020 and 2024 – with a total of 16 different Council teams requesting language services during the most recent quarter of 2024 (Q2).
The lockdowns as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, saw telephone interpreting (TI) far outweigh face to face (F2F) appointments across 2020 and 2021. This is a trend which has continued into the present day, with staff appreciating the overall swift access to an interpreter from using this method. Some staff feedback on the TI service is as follows:
“Good Experience. Didn’t wait too long to get through to the translator. Translator was clearly spoken.”
“Really good – always available, polite and helpful.”
“No barriers, my calls went through and everything was straightforward.”
“Was connected to an interpreter quickly. Quick and easy accessible service. No complaints.”
“I use phone translators on a weekly basis and I have not found any concerns.”
“Good experience where telephone interpretation was required.”
Between 2021 and 2023, the Council’s use of TI increased by 159% (49 requests in 2021 and 438 requests in 2023). This is a reflection of satisfaction with the service, coupled with the rise of Council staff utilising it.
Use of video remote interpreting (VRI) began to grow steadily during 2022. Between 2021 and 2023, use of VRI increased by 172% (9 requests in 2021 and 120 requests in 2023). Some recent staff feedback on VRI includes:
“Overall good. There was an issue of availability of an interpreter in the language I required but this was resolved by doing an online meeting. The client was happy with the service.”
“Good. They provided an alternative to face to face, and this worked well in Teams.”
Typically, TI is the Council’s most utilised service, with F2F in second place. However, VRI requests almost matched that of F2F in 2023 (with 120 VRI versus 137 F2F), and so far in 2024, the Council have requested more VRI appointments than F2F.
Social Value reporting provided by Dals confirms that since the new contract began, a total of 4361 car miles have been saved, owing to appointments being conducted via VRI rather than F2F.
If a F2F appointment cannot be fulfilled, a swap to VRI will not only save car miles, money and the environment, but it will also allow the interpreting to still go ahead – thus reducing cancellations and inconvenience for our staff and service users.
There may also be a lack of local interpreters for certain languages, especially if a rare language or dialect is required. Utilising VRI allows accessibility to a wider pool of interpreters and can therefore help to minimise this issue.
If you would like to know more about our language services, please get in contact and our team will soon be in touch.
