thebigword FAQs

thebigword interpreters and translators are likely to be entitled to thousands of pounds in compensation. The level of compensation will depend on your individual circumstances, such as the numbers of hours and length of time you’ve worked for thebigword.

We are claiming:

• Back pay for unpaid holiday;
• Compensation if you received less than the National Minimum Wage; and
• Compensation for failure to provide a written statement setting out the particulars of your employment.

We will calculate your compensation using documents such as your weekly payment statements, tax returns/accounts, bank statements and receipts.

If your claim is successful, we will deduct 25% plus VAT from your compensation for our legal fees. The funding documents sent to you will provide a full explanation as to how the claim is funded.

If you lose, you should not have to pay thebigword’s legal fees, unless there are exceptional circumstances, such as if you behave in a vexatious, abusive, disruptive or otherwise unreasonable manner, or ignore an order of the Tribunal.

We are bringing claims for translators and interpreters who have worked for thebigword in the last 10 weeks.

If you have not provided language services for thebigword in the last 10 weeks, please register your details on the sign-up page as you may be able to join the claim in the future.

You can join the claim if you have provided translator or interpreting services for thebigword in the last 10 weeks. This includes both telephone and in-person services.

If your account has previously been deactivated or if you took a break from working as a translator or interpreter for thebigword, this may impact upon the amount of compensation you are entitled to. We will calculate your compensation based upon your individual circumstances.

We cannot predict how thebigword will respond to the claim. However, all translators and interpreters have legal protection from thebigword acting to your detriment if you bring a claim.

If thebigword did deactivate your account or remove your work in response to joining the claim, we can bring an additional claim on your behalf arguing that thebigword should pay you compensation for removing your work. We believe that there would be a good case for arguing that the deactivation of your account was unlawful, which would entitle you to additional compensation for your losses. 

No. This claim is about your employment rights, in particular your right to receive holiday pay and national minimum wage. You can be both a worker with employment rights and self-employed for tax purposes.

We are not challenging the fact that you are self-employed for tax purposes. We recognise that many linguists may prefer to remain self-employed. 

Our claim is that you are a worker based on your current working arrangements, and to make sure that thebigword recognise that you are a worker and pay you holiday pay and the National Minimum Wage.

You do not need to have a fixed working pattern or a set number of working hours to succeed with a claim for worker status.

No, you do not need to provide any documents to find out if you are eligible to join the claim. 

In order to calculate the compensation that thebigword owes you, we will of course request documents from you to assist us with this. You may also be required to provide documents by a Tribunal order as the claim progresses, and we will provide you with advice on the retention of documents if you do join the claim. We will only request documents that you have in your possession. An example of documents that will be helpful for us in calculating your compensation are your weekly payment statements received from thebigword.

When we require documents from you, we will be in touch with further information.