In June we announced our decision to introduce emergency video relay in the UK. Emergency video relay must meet our approval criteria so it is equivalent to voice 999. It must be available 24 hours a day, use qualified and experienced interpreters and have the highest technical and quality standards.
We have approved one service which meets the approval criteria: Sign Language Interactions.
We have published a statement and a BSL video about this.
Emergency video relay will go live in June 2022.
Approval of emergency video relay services
Approval of emergency video relay services
Emergency video relay – statement
Emergency video relay – further consultation
You can read a transcript (PDF, 171.6 KB) of this video.
Here are the three short videos we made about the previous consultation.
1. We want to hear what you think of our proposal for video relay for 999 emergencies
2. How video relay for 999 emergencies would work
3. Two stories about Deaf people in 999 emergencies
You can also read a transcript (PDF, 152.4 KB) of the three videos.
Contact information
If you have any questions please get in touch with us. The email address is emergencyBSL@ofcom.org.uk. You can call us via text relay on 020 7783 4079, or via video relay.