Purpose

This report outlines the procurement strategy for the recommissioning of the Council’s Language, Translation, Interpreting and British Sign Language (BSL) services for the period 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2030. These services enable residents, including D/deaf residents, residents with limited English, newly arrived families and vulnerable service users to access essential public services equitably. The Council’s projected current spend for April 2025 to February 2026 is £269,600 and the total proposed contract value for the new arrangements is £800,000 over 48 months.

The Council has a statutory duty to ensure that all residents can access services and information, regardless of language or communication barriers. The current contracts support multiple departments, including Adult Social Care, Children’s Services, Housing, and Education. In addition, due to the scale and complexity of demand, including 24/7 access and a broad range of languages, external providers are needed to supplement Camden’s small in-house team.

Officers have undertaken early market engagement and reviewed national frameworks to determine the best route to market. Subsequently, it is likely that the budget for these services will be revised to ensure continuity of service to Camden residents. However, internal departments requesting language and translation support will need to ensure bookings are fully required and that the most competitive rates are used in line with the proposed taxi-rank multi-provider model.

The report is being submitted to the Executive Director Homes and Communities, in line with Contract Standing Orders which state that an Executive Director must agree procurement strategies for contracts with a value £500,000 to £1million (CSO C4.1).

Decision

That the Executive Director Homes and Communities:

1. agrees the procurement strategy for the recommissioning of language services, comprising face-to-face interpreting, telephone interpreting, translation services, and British Sign Language (BSL) interpreting for 48 months from 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2030 at an estimated value of £175,000 per annum and a total value of £700,000;
2. notes the inclusion of a specialist British Sign Language (BSL) interpreting service to provide flexibility and support to the wider language and translation service through a separate competitive process with a total estimated contract value of £100,000 over 48 months.
3. notes that the total value for both elements is £800,000 over 48 months.