We're hiring BSL Interpreters! - Scottish BPOC Writers Network

We’re looking for BSL interpreters to join the Scottish BPOC Writers Network (SBWN) team!

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Email scottishbpocwriters@gmail.com with any questions or to arrange a call (Subject: BSL Interpreter role)

BSL Interpreters (On Retainer) Job

Scottish BPOC Writers Network is a collective of freelance Black and PoC writers and creatives coming together to uplift, support and celebrate BPOC writers in and with connection to Scotland. At the centre of everything we do is collective care and support, access, non-hierarchical working and an anti-racist approach.

We’re looking for a minimum of two Black and PoC British Sign Language (BSL) interpreters to join the SBWN team to help us make our programming more accessible to BSL users as we deliver Space to Thrive.

About Space to Thrive

Space to Thrive is a programme of literary spaces for Black writers and writers of colour to thrive, and to develop a more capable and sustainable platform for SBWN. We’re excited to be offering:

Literary artistic practice and career development through:
- Workshops, courses and seminars
- Guest curated and partner programmes
- Performances
- An international Writer in Residence pilot
- Peer-led spaces and group mentorship
- Career skills development
Community building, including access, mental health and social activities
Organisational sustainability and capacity building
Literary sector advocacy and consultations
Publishing, including audio, BSL, digital and printed text

About the Role

We’re looking for BSL interpreters to join the Scottish BPOC Writers Network (SBWN) team. In this role you will be responsible for interpreting 2 x 90-minute events per month as well as undertake the associated preparation work. Depending on length and event format you will be doing this alongside another Interpreter in the team.

The majority of our events are online. Events include facilitated workshops, meetings, performances, and occasionally panels. To get a sense of what our events look like, check our events page.

Some in-person events in Scotland are expected (travel will be covered from your home address in Scotland or Northern England; travel cover from further within the UK can be negotiated).

Some events may be publicly or privately live streamed or recorded and published on SBWN’s YouTube and website, a recording licence fees to be mutually agreed.

Contract Duration: 13 months from March 2025.

We aim to extend this agreement beyond 13 months (funding dependent)

Fee – NUBSLI rates*, paid monthly:

RSLI: £170 per half day x 2 half-days per month
TSLI: £130 per half day x 2 half-days per month
2 half-days per month are guaranteed for a 13 month period

Please note: SBWN core team members are paid the same daily rate of £200, please refer to SBWN Rates here.

*Finding BPOC BSL interpreters who want to build a long term relationship with SBWN is a key priority for us as we work to make our programme more accessible to BSL users. For this reason we are keen to read fee proposals from BPOC BSL interpreters and negotiate with you to decide appropriate remuneration.

Deadline: We are accepting rolling applications for this position, which means that we will close applications as soon as posts are filled. We therefore encourage you to apply as soon as possible!

Interviews/Fit calls: will be arranged at a mutually convenient time. We currently don’t have any BSL users on the team, which means that we will assess fit with the organisation, rather than BSL interpretation skills. This will be an opportunity to talk about our values and approach in working together and vision for SBWN.

Start date: As soon as possible.

BSL Interpreter Responsibilities:

Provide BSL interpretation for online and in-person events; approx. 3 hours (2 x 90-minutes events) per month.
Prepare for events and assignments by finding out about the situation, meeting with speakers, identifying any specialist vocabulary. SBWN will also gather required materials from facilitators.
Coordinate with the event host (usually an SBWN team member).
Use technology (Zoom, hosted by SBWN) to provide ‘virtual’ interpreting services.
Do administrative tasks like emails and booking appointments.

About the Contract:

Retainer for 13 months from March 2025 inclusive.
Travel for in-person SBWN events covered (between home city in Scotland or Northern England and Scottish location; travel from elsewhere in the UK negotiable)
Childcare bursaries available (however any covered childcare counts as income to HMRC)
Must have the right to work freelance in the UK. You will be responsible for your own tax and invoicing to receive payment.

Qualifications:

Essential*:

BSL interpreting experience for live events online
Understand and uphold anti-racist values
Understand and uphold Safer Spaces Policy
Self-driven & able to work collaboratively
Based in Scotland or Northern England
Flexible, problem-solving attitude; able to adapt and think on your feet in a variety of environments, including live events and audiences of 20+ people

Desirable:

Based in Scotland
Experience interpreting for people from underrepresented or marginalised communities including but not limited to: LGBTQIA+, and/or Black people and/or people of colour, and/or disabled and/or neurodivergent people.
Literary, Arts and culture sector experience.
Experience of BSL interpretation for in-person events.
Writer, literary professional (e.g., librarian, bookseller, publisher), having a writing practice, or an interest in creative writing or the arts.

*Please note – if you are a Black person and/or person of colour in Scotland who has high BSL and English proficiency (for example, you have informal interpreting experience, English to BSL and vice versa), use BSL with friends and family, or are in the process of or have an interest in obtaining interpreting qualifications), please get in touch – we are keen to support and work with emerging talent and develop ways to support a growing community of BPOC BSL interpreters in Scotland.

Practicalities:

Applicants must have the right to work freelance in the UK; team members are responsible for their own taxes.

This is a remote position, however some travel is expected for some in-person events. Travel expenses are covered from your Scottish or Northern English home address; travel from other UK home address is negotiable. If you live outwith Scotland, please include approximate travel expenses for a return trip from your home location on the application form.

To accommodate our community, some events and meetings will take place during the weekday daytime, while some take place during the evening or weekend.

You may occasionally join Committee meetings (online/in person) or our optional co-working spaces (online). These typically take place on Tuesday mornings, though we may be able to rearrange this to a different mutually-agreed weekday time.

Training will be provided for working with tools and apps the team uses, such as Asana (project management), Clockify (logging hours). Familiarity with word processing and email apps is expected. Preparation materials will be provided, for example a writing workshop facilitator’s presentation.

Access

Team members are invited to share their access requirements or Access Document/ Rider (optional, treated in confidence).
We offer some childcare/caregiver bursaries and small mental health and wellbeing funds to all committee members.
All online events and meetings have automated captions and transcripts.
In-person events typically hosted in wheelchair-accessible venues.
Participant access requirements requested during registration, eg note taker, etc.
View SBWN’s public Access Statement.
If you require Access to Work provisions, these must be organised through the government’s Access to Work grant system – we know there is a waiting time of up to 12 months for new applications and aim to support some provisions during this time – please ask!

How to Apply

Before applying:

Please be mindful when applying that SBWN is an organisation run by and for Black people and people of colour. Read our About Page
Read our Mission and Values page
Read our Constitution
Read our Safer Spaces Policy – all team members must abide by this.

If you’re excited about the role but do not fulfil all of our essential criteria, we still encourage you to apply. We value voluntary and informally gained experience as much as paid or formal work history. We are aware of structural barriers that can prevent marginalised people from accessing opportunities, and we take these into account as much as possible in our selection processes.

If you are also a writer, literary professional, or have a writing practice and interest in the arts; and want to join our committee, please mention this in your cover letter.

Please be mindful when applying that SBWN is an organisation run by and for Black people and people of colour. It is our mission to tackle the significant underrepresentation of Black people and people of colour in the Scottish literary sector and in decision-making roles in the Scottish creative industries. Please refer to our Mission and Values page for more info on this terminology.