You may like to look at the communication support organisation for deaf and hearing impaired people....Council for the Advancement of Communication with Deaf People, CACDP. Unless it has changed in the recent past, stage2 and 3 signing is not recommended for interpreting unless it is in an informal setting maybe. For interpreting in Higher Education settings, lectures etc.,the RNID have a list of, and a scale of charges for, Interpreters, who are normally freelance, which is considerably higher than the rates you are paying, especially when the travelling and subsistences are taken into account.
Contracted rates I suggest, should be in the region of £25-£30,000 p.a. for Higher Education. Interpreters should be formally trained with a CACDP cert. or registered for training at least. Support workers with level 2 or 3 certs. are not paid anything like your current rates @£14.50 an hour in organisations like Social Services unless they are on very low hours or difficult to access, more like £8 - £10 per hour. See RNID.org.uk or CACDP.org.uk

Geoff

---Original Message-----
From: Clare Hughes [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 27 May 2003 11:58 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: SIGNERS


I'd be grateful for some help

I am disability co-ordinator at a college which has students from pre-entry
level up to degree level - we have a number of students who are deaf.

We have a teacher of the deaf and a range of Support workers who are
qualified up to level 2, 3 and recently two staff have gained their level 4
qualification.
Currently all signers are paid at the same level of pay - about 14.5 pounds
an hour.

It is becoming apparent that we have to look into rates of pay and I'd like
some idea of what happens in other institutions. Are staff paid more
according to their level of qualification ( this does not happen in
teaching) or by the level of work that are asked to do.? If it by the level
of work how are job specs worked out and how, for example, is work with a
student with special needs viewed in comparison to a student on a degree?

thanks