Find out how we can communicate with you if you’re deaf or can’t hear well.
On this page, we outline how you can:
- talk to us using Relay UK (Previously Next Generation Text)
- contact us through a live BSL video interpreter
You can find out more about our approach to making reasonable adjustments in our reasonable adjustments policy.
Talk to us using Relay UK
We can make and receive phone calls using Relay UK. This free service uses a relay assistant to convert speech to text and vice versa. This way:
- you’ll type what you want to say into your mobile phone, laptop, tablet or textphone (Minicom or Uniphone)
- the relay assistant reads this out to the person on the end of the line
- when the person replies, the relay assistant will convert this to text so you can read what they’ve said
If you’re already set up with Relay UK, this service is automatically linked to your phone number. If not, you can find out how to use the service at www.relayuk.bt.com.
Contact us through a live BSL video interpreter
If British Sign Language is your first or preferred language you can contact us using a live BSL video interpreter.
We can connect you instantly with interpreters through InterpretersLive! – a free online service provided by a company called SignSolutions . You don’t need to book calls in advance: you can talk to us through InterpretersLive! any time between 8am and 5pm Monday to Friday. Outside these hours, you can use InterpretersLive! to leave us a message (they operate daily 8am–midnight).
On your mobile or tablet?
Help with InterpretersLive!
You can find more information on how to use the InterprestersLive! service through the mobile app on their website.
If you have any problems using InterpretersLive!, or want to leave feedback, you can find out how to contact Sign Solutions on their website.
If you are having difficulties or any questions with connecting to the InterpretersLive! Service you can find their FAQs on their website.
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To use InterpretersLive!, you'll need to download the app on your smartphone or tablet or access BSL Video Interpreter on your desktop via your browser.
On desktop, this service is compatible with Google Chrome (version 27 and later), Mozilla Firefox (version 38 and later), Opera (version 23 and later), Microsoft Internet Explorer (version 10) and Apple Safari (version 6 and later; Mac OS only). To use the app, you should make sure that your device software is up to date for optimal performance. We recommend a minimum internet download speed of at least 10 Mbps and an upload speed of at least 1 Mbps.
InterprestersLive! recommends download and upload speeds of 1.5 Mbp/s for High Definition video conferencing. Content sharing and/or video functionality might be restricted at speeds below 384kbps. Please note that if you have less than 120kbps available, the call will be audio-only. The minimum requirement for video calls is 192kbps.
