Connect to a BSL interpreter

Clicking a link below will start the call:

Adult social services financial assessments and collections  

Council switchboard

Council tax enquiries

Customer Portal Helpline (help negotiating our customer portal)

Elections 

Environmental enquiries (refuse, recycling, highways, planning, building control, street cleansing)

Family information service

Handyperson’s service (minor repairs for older, disabled and vulnerable residents)

Housing benefit

Housing repairs (council tenants)

Housing solutions (housing advice/homelessness/housing options)

Housing tenancy management (council tenants)

Human resources

Mobility (Blue Badges and Freedom Passes)

Registrars (births, deaths, marriages, civil partnerships and nationality ceremonies)

Schools admissions - primary schools

Schools admissions - secondary schools

Social services and safeguarding (childrens and adults)

What is SignVideo?

SignVideo is a video relay service that we use to connect deaf residents to our services.

SignVideo allows deaf residents to connect to a qualified British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter, who then places a call to the relevant telephone line.

How it works

  • Deaf resident connects via a video call to the interpreter, on a secure platform
  • The interpreter will get a brief summary of the intended call content, then place an audio call to the relevant service
  • We will receive the call as normal
  • The interpreter will introduce the call, explaining they are from SignVideo, and have a deaf resident wishing to speak to us. They will then hand the call over to us and the deaf customer
  • The interpreter will generally use first person at that point, and we should talk directly to the deaf person
  • There will be short silences on the call, due to the time lag of interpreting a message, so we will be patient
  • The interpreter may sometimes need to clarify with us, or the deaf person to make sure they are maintaining accuracy across the call
  • If the call is particularly long, more than 30 minutes, the interpreter may inform us that they will warm transfer the call to an interpreting colleague who will take over the call
  • Calls are not recorded, and no record of the content of the call is kept