People with hearing impairments are at risk of being left without a voice due to a shortage of interpreters in Kent.

Kent County Council is cancelling its contract with the Royal Association for Deaf People because it has been difficult to source interpreters for emergency or appointments at short notice.

There is a national shortage of professional British Sign Language Interpreters with only 1,376 registered interprets for 151,000 users.

Yet the contract was signed as a way to provide deaf people a voice when they really need it; it was launched after a "serious rape" around 15 years ago under the advice of a deaf consultant.

The Royal Association for Deaf People said the framework was a "revolutionary" way to provide communication services.

Now KCC is planning to take matters in its own hands by hiring in-house professionals to communicate through sign language.

KCC’s manager of sensory disabilities Beryl Palmer said: "For deaf people, interpreting services are absolutely critical and they need a service that provides their own language so they can access services.

"There are no cost-savings attached to what we are doing at all but what we are expecting is to be able to be more efficient and reduce the duplication that's currently happening in the system.

"For deaf people, interpreting services are absolutely critical and they need a service that provides their own language so they can access services" - Beryl Palmer

"Also improve outcomes for the services users and reduce some of the cost packages going forward."

The council is set to recruit three interpreters and a co-ordinator to meet the needs of these vulnerable people.

Video remote interpreting and video relay interpreting services will also be launched as part of the new plans.

Amanda Casson-Webb, co-chief executive officer at the Royal Association for Deaf people, said: "When providing a local service for local people these challenges are sometimes made more difficult when there is a need to source appropriate communication professionals for certain situations, i.e. a male interpreter is needed for a police or health booking.

"What remains important is that deaf people receive access to communication via appropriately trained, experienced and regulated professionals.

"We are proud to have worked with Kent County Council (KCC) and its partners over the past eight years to provide communication support to deaf residents in a variety of situations."