11 July 2013
Paul Parsons recently left Signature / NRCPD. We would like to thank Paul for the leadership and commitment he has given to NRCPD over the past three years and wish him well in his future career.
We will appoint an interim Registrar to oversee registration in the coming months.
Voluntary registration bodies are facing a period of significant change and challenge. The Government has made clear that it sees voluntary registration as the way to ensure the safety of the public and maintain professional standards. To support voluntary registration, the Professional Standards Authority (the government body that ensures professional regulation is right and works) has introduced a voluntary assured scheme; this allows some voluntary registers that meet certain standards to get a kite-mark type badge from government.
Because of these external challenges and to ensure the long term viability and appropriateness of the voluntary registers for communication professionals who work with deaf and deafblind people, NRCPD is undertaking an options appraisal.
We have appointed Chris O'Leary, of Cassiopeia Consultancy, to support NRCPD in this work. Chris will have initial discussions with key stakeholders including representatives of professional associations.
We will keep you informed of developments over the coming months.
The Board has set out the fees we will charge individual professionals for the year starting 1 August 2013.
In January 2012 we set out a fees schedule that aimed to bring all Registered communication professionals up to the same fee level within three years, so we can meet our aspiration to put NRCPD in a financially sustainable position. We have reviewed the schedule and, with the benefit of feedback received from a variety of sources, we have reduced the increase in the proposed fees. The challenge is always to balance the need to provide the resources that enable us to work to safeguard the well-being and interests of those who rely on the services NRCPD provide while delivering value for the Registered professions with the impact on individual Registered professionals.
Fees for the period 1 August 2013 - 31 July 2014 will be:
| Registered Sign Language Interpreter | £205 |
| Trainee Sign Language Interpreter | £125 |
| Registered Sign Language Translator | £205 |
| Trainee Sign Language Translator | £125 |
| Registered Lipspeaker | £155 |
| Trainee Lipspeaker | £90 |
| Registered Speech to Text Reporter | £155 |
| Trainee Speech to Text Reporter | £90 |
| Registered Interpreter for Deafblind People | £155 |
| Trainee Interpreter for Deafblind People | £90 |
| Registered Electronic and Manual Notetaker | £155 |
| Trainee Electronic and Manual Notetaker | £90 |
We have decided to delay the implementation of a new code of practice while we undertake the options appraisal we refer to at the beginning of this update. We are grateful to everyone who has assisted in the development of the draft code so far and look forward to completing this work in the near future.
As a result of the recent changes in law in Scotland and the recent decisions of UK courts we have reviewed our policy in relation to enhanced disclosure requirements. With effect from 1 August 2013, we will no longer require sight of your original enhanced disclosure certificate. It will be your responsibility to obtain an enhanced disclosure certificate and provide this to employers/users if requested to do so. As part of your annual online registration renewal process, we will require you to complete a Fit and Proper Persons Declaration.
From 1 August 2013 we will no longer require sight of your original insurance schedule. It will be your responsibility to obtain professional indemnity insurance for the work you carry out and provide your insurance schedule to employers/users if requested to do so.
Revalidation became an eligibility requirement for Registration renewals from 2 January 2013. Registered Professionals who apply to renew in 2013 must have completed the revalidation record in their online registration account to be eligible.
The decision on which development activities to undertake is yours. We trust you to be clear on what your professional development needs are and make the right decisions about the development activity you undertake. For renewal applications in 2013 we require you to record 12 hours development activity.
Keep a file of the evidence to support the record you create online. We'll ask a significant number of you to send in your file, so we can audit it. Based on what you all put on the system and the outcome of the audit we'll offer advice and guidance for following years. Our approach will be supportive and constructive, as always.
The most common question is about the criteria for structured versus unstructured activity. Essentially structured is anything that has a predetermined learning outcome. We publish answers to the questions we get on www.nrcpd.org.uk/revalidation, so if you’re unsure about anything you should find the answer there. If not, get in touch.
For those of you planning an extended break from regulated practice, or if you suffer illness that prevents you from working for an extended period, please contact us for further information. We will be publishing an extended breaks policy in the near future.
We are pleased to tell you that we have approved SLI's Advanced Diploma in Interpreting and Translation: BSL-English.
We look forward to welcoming the graduates and students on to the register in the future.
The numbers of registered communication professionals at 30 June 2012 and 30 June 2013 are:
| 30/06/12 | 30/06/13 | |
|---|---|---|
| Registered Sign Language Interpreters | 737 | 804 |
| Trainee Sign Language Interpreters | 120 | 239 |
| Trainee Interpreters | 48 | 0 |
| Junior Trainee Interpreters | 71 | 0 |
| Registered Sign Language Translators | 1 | 10 |
| Registered Lipspeakers | 40 | 30 |
| Registered Speech to Text Reporters | 25 | 23 |
| Registered Electronic Notetakers | 11 | 11 |
| Registered Manual Notetakers | 11 | 11 |
| Registered Interpreters for Deafblind People | 18 | 16 |
| Total | 1082 | 1144 |
The total number has risen by 62 compared to this time last year. Thanks again to everyone for your support and recognition of the importance of professional registration.
If you would like to comment on any item in this update or raise any other matters relevant to NRCPD, please contact enquiries@nrcpd.org.uk.
