British Sign Language Act 2022

Policy background

2. British Sign Language is the primary form of communication for nearly 90,000 residents of the United Kingdom, with around 150,000 signers in total. Its vocabulary and syntax do not replicate spoken English and, particularly where individuals have been Deaf 1 from birth or early childhood, subtitles or written English are not an adequate alternative as British Sign Language is not a signed version of written or spoken English.
3. For the purposes of this Act, BSL refers to both the visual form of British Sign Language used by Deaf people and to a range of forms of British Sign Language used by Deafblind people in the UK, including tactile signing (for example, "hands-on" signing or "Deafblind manual" fingerspelling) and "visual frame" signing. Deafblind people require the services of BSL interpreters who have been trained in the forms of British Sign Language used by Deafblind people.
4. BSL is a rich, visual-gestural language with a distinctive grammar using handshapes, facial expressions, gestures and body language to convey meaning. It helps to build a sense of community and belonging for Deaf people and highlights Deaf culture, identity, community and history, reflecting unique characteristics found amongst the population of Deaf people.
5. As a result of linguistic exclusion, many Deaf British Sign Language signers have a lower reading comprehension age than the general population and can face social exclusion as a direct result of linguistic exclusion, which can adversely affect employment, education, and healthcare.
6. British Sign Language was recognised as a language in its own right by a written ministerial statement 2 to the House of Commons on 18 March 2003 by the then Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Mr Andrew Smith MP. This sought to place British Sign Language on a similar level to many indigenous languages of the United Kingdom as recognised by the Council of Europe’s Charter for Regional of Minority Languages 3.
7. The Equality Act 2010 requires ‘reasonable adjustments’ to be made by a wide range of people and sectors. Public sector organisations may, therefore, be required to make use of British Sign Language in certain circumstances. Public sector organisations may also consider the use of British Sign Language in relation to the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED).
8. The Act will help to promote and facilitate the use of British Sign Language by providing legal recognition, whilst preserving the architecture of the Equality Act 2010.
9. The Act places a duty on the Secretary of State (in practice, this will be the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions) to report on what ministerial departments have done to promote or facilitate the use of British Sign Language in their communications with the public.
10. The Act also requires the Secretary of State to issue guidance on the promotion and facilitation of the use of British Sign Language. Guidance will be informed by the perspectives and priorities of Deaf BSL signers, interpretation experts, government departments and other interested persons. It will be made available in BSL and published on the GOV.UK website.
11. This guidance may include advice on best practice for communicating with BSL signers, as well as advice for government departments about the new reporting duty. The general approach is to encourage those government departments included in the scope of the report to carefully consider including BSL information in the public communications of central government.