Why use Cintra?

When do you need an interpreter?

As a public service provider, you need an interpreter when you cannot speak to your client as fluently as you would communicate with a native English speaker. All members of the public have a legal right to equal access to all public services, and the interpreter will help to ensure that you honour that right and meet your organisation�s quality standards and legal responsibilities.

Trained interpreters, such as Cintra provides, are accurate, accountable, professional, impartial and confidential. Family members and friends of your clients should not be used as interpreters, as they are unlikely to meet the standards of professional trained interpreters. The friend or relative is involved in family or personal dynamics and often has a strong viewpoint, which can interfere with the interpretation. If you do not speak the language that they are interpreting into, you will not notice any errors that they make. They are unlikely to know and interpret accurately the specialist terminology or vocabulary you use. For ethical reasons, children should never be used as interpreters.

Why use Cintra?

Cintra is a specialist provider of interpreting services, one of the leading providers in the UK, experienced in managing face-to-face interpreting projects to the exacting standards required. Cintra is committed to the provision of high-quality services. Our service operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, all year round. Our call centre is staffed by trained and experienced bookings coordinators with knowledge of public service requirements and interpreter needs, able to respond to requests quickly and effectively and provide best-practice advice. We have over 850 trained interpreters on our books and over 300 qualified translators.

Cintra has subscribed to the National Register of Public Service Interpreters (NRPSI) since 1995, enabling us to have immediate access to the register of qualified interpreters who work for agencies. Since its inception, Cintra has adopted the national Diploma in Public Service Interpreting (DPSI) and its equivalents as the key standard for effective service provision. Cintra is a registered DPSI examination centre, running our own DPSI and Metropolitan Police Test courses each year and DPSI examinations for our own and other learners in the region.

Cintra delivers services across the range of public sector provision � the legal sector, local government and health. We have been a contractor since 1997 to several local authorities, NHS Trusts, Primary Care Trusts and police services. During that time we have gained unparalleled experience of public sector services and policing methods, and have worked with our clients to develop tailored services and information tools.

We have an excellent service record, with annual complaints of less than 0.01% of our assignments. Our interpreters are all security vetted to police standards and have signed up to a Code of Conduct ensuring confidentiality and professional ethics.

As a not-for-profit social enterprise we have no shareholders and no dividends are paid. Any surplus profit, beyond that required for sustainability, is invested in the recruitment, assessment, training and continuous development of interpreters and our other staff. Our community networking, training and local recruitment strategy enables local people to gain interpreting skills and qualifications leading to employment with Cintra or other language service providers, and often within public services themselves.