‘Where Is The Interpreter’ compensation case to be heard at Royal Courts of Justice next month

A court hearing to determine whether more than 270 Deaf people should be compensated over ‘Where Is The Interpreter’ is to take place next month, it has been announced.

The ‘Where Is The Interpreter’ (WITI) campaign was launched by presenter Lynn Stewart-Taylor in 2020, after the UK Government failed to provide its own British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter for its daily briefings on the coronavirus.

In July last year, the Cabinet Office was found to have breached the Equality Act when two Covid data briefings – presented by scientists and medical experts instead of government ministers – came without BSL interpretation from both the government and the BBC.

The ruling is separate to the private case concerning 276 private claims for compensation over uninterpreted briefings, which was previously scheduled to be heard in court in January.

It was then postponed for two months, after the Central London County Court ruled the 25 January time estimate as “inadequate”. A second date of 1 March was also pushed back.

Confirming a new date of 23 September in a social media video, Lynn said: “I want to say thank you to everyone for your support and for your patience. We’ve been waiting patiently but now we’ve suddenly managed to get through.

“It’s going to be one of the most special events. It’s 23 September and what’s special about that? Of course, it’s International Sign Language Week, so it’s a double celebration.

“We want to change for the better and hopefully in the future, we get access.”

The September hearing will see the Cabinet Office contest the 276 claims and call for them to be struck out, while lawyers representing the Deaf claimants will ask His Honour Judge Dight to make a decision on whether compensation should be issued.

In a blog post from January, solicitor Chris Fry – who has represented the Deaf community in previous WITI cases – described the Cabinet Office’s move to shut down the claim for “abuse of process” as a “grand irony”.

He alleged evidence given to Parliamentary questions and the High Court about “everyone in government” practising social distancing was “not honest” following revelations about Downing Street parties in lockdown dubbed ‘Partygate’.

The claimants will be represented in court by barristers Theo Huckle QC and Cathy Casserley, the latter of which represented actress Katie Rowley in last year’s court case.

Specific timings are yet to be confirmed for the hearing, but it’s understood it will take place between 10am and 4pm on 23 September.

The Cabinet Office has been approached by The Limping Chicken for comment.

Photo: Steve Cadman/Flickr.

By Liam O’Dell. Liam is an award-winning Deaf freelance journalist and campaigner from Bedfordshire. He can be found talking about disability, theatre, politics and more on Twitter and on his website.

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Update – 14:00: In response to a request for comment about the case, a Cabinet Office spokesperson said: “We are committed to supporting disabled people and established BSL interpretation at the No10 Covid press conferences via the BBC News channel and iPlayer, available on all TV packages as part of Freeview.

“The BBC also made their video feed for the BSL interpreter available to all other broadcasters and for use on No10 social channels.

“We continue to work across Government to ensure that information and guidance is fully accessible.”