NRPSI publishes third edition of its Annual Review

The National Register of Public Service Interpreters (NRPSI) published the third edition of its Annual Review. This provides independent analysis of the information held on the National Register and insight into the state of the interpreting profession.

The Annual Review is organised into two sections to reflect the main functions of NRPSI. The first section, Registration Statistics, provides key information about the Registrants and their languages. This section of the report introduces some new data this year. This includes data on those Registrants subscribing to the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) Update Service, which employers can use to check the security clearance of interpreters.

Highlights:

• 1,882 public service interpreters are registered with NRPSI, demonstrating their commitment to professionalism.
• Registrants have been registered for over nine years on average.
• About a quarter of Registrants reported being a member of a professional association. 150 (up from 119 in 2014) hold two or more memberships.
• The majority (88%) of Registrants are on Full status, possessing both the necessary qualification and number of hours’ experience required to work in a public service setting.
• 100 different languages are registered, with 14% of Registrants offering more than one language.
• Two thirds (65%) of Registrants are women. Most registrants (76%) are between the ages of 35 and 64. The average age of female Registrants is 52, while the average age of male Registrants is slightly younger at 50.
• The 1,882 Registrants possess a total of 2,688 interpreting qualifications. 37% of Registrants hold two or more qualifications.
• All Registrants are required to provide evidence of at least one valid security clearance as this is required by public service users. Almost half (49%) hold more than one clearance.

The second section of the review focuses on Professional Standards, both in terms of the number of complaints NRPSI has heard and their performance in dealing with them.

NRPSI celebtrated its fifth anniversary as independent regulator of the public service interpreting profession on 1 April 2016. Since becoming independent, NRPSI has continued to manage the Register and implement an effective professional complaints system, just as it was set up to do.

To gain further insights into NRPSI’s Registrants and the work they do to safeguard professional standards, view/download a copy of NRPSI’s Annual Review 2015 at: http://www.nrpsi.org.uk/AnnualReview2015.pdf.