BSL Interpreter

This role has a starting salary of 16,104.83 per annum (pro rata to 36,873 FTE), working 21.6 hours per week, 33 weeks per year from September - June.

Are you passionate about empowering young people to thrive in education and beyond? We're looking for a British Sign Language Interpreter to join our fantastic Physical and Sensory Support (PSS) FHE 16+ (Post 16) team in a peripatetic role, supporting students across colleges and universities in and around Surrey, with occasional remote (online) work.

The team is based in Weybridge but your work will be mostly in the educational settings where we support students in and around Surrey (requiring your own car for travel).

Rewards and Benefits

• An extensive Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) to support health and wellbeing
• Up to 5 days of carer's leave per year
• Paternity, adoption and dependents leave
• A generous local government salary related pension
• Lifestyle discounts including gym, travel, shopping and many more
• 2 paid volunteering days per year
• Learning and development hub where you can access a wealth of resources
• CPD during work hours, regular coworking within a team and supervision, and funding towards NRCPD annual registration costs (for TSLI/RSLI).

About the Team

Physical and Sensory Support (PSS) is a targeted specialist education service. The FHE16+ Team within PSS consists of 23+ staff including specialist student support workers (SSWs), BSL interpreters, and advisory teachers for students who are deaf, vision-impaired or with multi-sensory impairments.

About the Role

In this role, you'll be part of a collaborative and supportive team within Physical & Sensory Support (PSS), working closely with other professionals to ensure that students who are deaf or vision-impaired can access and engage fully with their Further and Higher Education courses.

Your primary responsibility will be to provide high-quality BSL interpreting and communication support to post-16 students. Depending on your skills and qualifications, you may also support deaf parents at school events or deaf colleagues during training sessions and meetings, both in-person and online.

As this is a joint interpreter/SSW role, your main role will be as a BSL interpreter, but there will be times when you will also provide specialist notetaking support in-class to both deaf and vision-impaired students in colleges and universities on the occasions when there are no suitable interpreter bookings. If required, you will be given in-house notetaker training leading to a full Level 3 professional notetaking qualification, ensuring you're equipped to support students with a range of sensory needs.

You will attend work meetings as required and undertake continuing professional development (CPD) training during work hours.

You will need to have use of your own car to travel to different bookings during the work day, covering bookings between the hours of 9am and 5pm during 33 weeks of the year from September to June.

If you're driven by the opportunity to make a real difference in the lives of young people and want to be part of a team that shares your values, we'd love to hear from you.

Shortlisting Criteria

To be considered for shortlisting for this position, your application will clearly evidence the following:

• BSL/English interpreter status, either RSLI or TSLI (regulated by NRCPD)

OR

• Level 3/6 BSL qualification and starting a recognised BSL/English interpreter training course with the view to becoming TSLI/RSLI (NB your salary will be at Surrey PS7 grade until you become TSLI/RSLI at PS8 paygrade, which is the advertised salary)
• Awareness of the communication and access requirements of deaf people
• Willingness to learn about supporting students with visual or multi-sensory impairment
• Good communication and organisational skills
• Good IT skills, with experience using MS Word, Outlook and calendars
• Flexibility to support students in and around Surrey from 9-5pm, with use of own car for business purposes.
• Ability to support students remotely (on occasions), working from home as necessary.

The job advert closes at 23:59 on 30/08/2025 with interviews to follow.

Local Government Reorganisation

Surrey County Council is preparing for Local Government Reorganisation which will allow us to implement the Government led policy of devolution, which is all about giving more powers to local areas.

Currently, Surrey has a two-tier council system, with 11 district and borough councils and a county council, all responsible for different services. All these councils will be reorganised into a smaller number of new unitary councils which will come into effect in April 2027. At this point, this role will be transferred, with all existing terms and conditions intact into one of the new unitary councils.

Join our dynamic team and shape the future of local government. Make a lasting impact with innovative solutions and improved services for our community. Help us build a brighter future for our residents!

Our Commitment

Surrey County Council is proud to be a Disability Confident Employer. A guaranteed interview will be offered to all disabled applicants where:

• The candidate has evidenced the minimum criteria for the role through their application
• The candidate has chosen to share that they have a disability on the application form

Our application form and onboarding process will provide an opportunity to request any reasonable adjustments for the interview and/or the role. We want to be an inclusive and diverse employer reflecting the community we serve and particularly welcome applications from all underrepresented groups.