2 February 2015
Capita fined
over failure to provide interpreters to family courts
Capita,
the private outsourcing company, has been ordered to pay £16,000 by the most
senior judge in the family courts for its “lamentable” failure to provide
interpreters seven times in the course of a single adoption case.
The
damning comments made by Sir James Munby, president of the family division,
highlight concern among lawyers and MPs at the way in which the £300m contract
is operated. Labour’s justice spokesman said it demonstrated the contract was
out of control.
Two
years ago the justice select committee described the
manner in which the court interpreting service was privatised as “shambolic”
and said it had resulted in trials collapsing and suspects being remanded
unnecessarily in custody.
Capita
took over the service in 2012 after it bought another firm, ALS, which had been
awarded the contract. Hundreds of professional interpreters are still
boycotting the service over what they say are low fees.
This
is believed to be the largest single costs order imposed on Capita for problems
with its interpreting service. In his judgment, Munby said there had
been a “repeated failure” by Capita to provide Slovak interpreters in a family
court case launched in 2012.
On
six occasions at Dover family proceedings court, Capita’s interpreters failed
to arrive or were too late forcing the abandonment of hearings at which the
parents were contesting the removal of their children.
When
the case was transferred to the high court in London in May 2014 to be heard by
Munby, the interpreters failed to appear again. He was forced to adjourn the
proceedings and ordered that HM Courts and Tribunal Service should instead
provide interpreters.
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Munby
explained: “It would have been unjust, indeed inhumane, to continue with the
final hearing of applications as significant as those before me – this, after
all, was their final opportunity to prevent the adoption of their children – if
the parents were unable to understand what was being said.”
The
judge continued: “There have been serial failures by Capita in this case
against a background of wider systemic problems... The failures .... were not
minor but extensive, and, at two different stages of the litigation, they had a
profound effect on the conduct of the proceedings.”
Capita
will not be liable for every occasion it fails to provide an interpreter, he
added, ”lamentable though its failures to provide such interpreters were in
this particular case and, seemingly, more generally. Everything will depend
upon the precise circumstances of the particular case”.
The
judge ordered Capita to pay Kent county council £15,927.36. Munby’s judgment
comes amid mounting concern within the judiciary over delays and additional
costs caused by private contractors on the court service. Last month a judge-led review by Sir Brian
Leveson suggested that private security firms that delay delivering
prisoners to court should face stiff financial penalties.
Commenting
on the ruling, Labour’s shadow justice minister, Andy Slaughter, said: “This is
another damning blow to [justice secretary] Chris Grayling from one of
Britain’s top judges. It is truly shocking that the government are unable to
get a grip three years into the contract.
“Capita’s
under performance in providing interpreting and translation services is an
embarrassment from which even this Lord Chancellor cannot hide from as official
figures show that hundreds of interpreters are continuing to turn up late or
not at all.”
A
spokesperson for Capita said: “Due to ongoing legal procedures, it would not be
appropriate to comment at this stage.”
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