Intermediaries
Triangle can provide intermediaries to enable communication with very young children, and children and young people up to age 25 with a wide range of communication impairments. You can call us directly for an initial discussion about a child or young person and how their communication needs might best be met.
Five of the Triangle team are Registered Witness Intermediaries accredited by the Ministry of Justice and operating through its Witness Intermediary scheme, working with witnesses and victims whose evidence is needed by the police or the criminal courts.
We also provide trained intemediaries where children’s evidence is needed for family proceedings, and trained intermediaries for suspects and defendants aged 25 or under.
How it works
You can approach us for an initial discussion about any child or young person.
Children and Young People as Witnesses
If the child is a victim or witness at investigation or trial stage you will need to contact the Specialist Operations Centre within SOCA on 0845 0005463, or email soc@npia.pnn.police.uk and ask for a Request-For-Service form for a Registered Intermediary.
They will then aim to match the witness to a Registered Witness Intermediary on their database. The police fund the use of Registered Intermediaries at the investigation stage and the CPS fund their use at trial stage.
The current statutory power to appoint an intermediary to assist a vulnerable witness to give evidence is provided by the Special Measures provisions in the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act (YJCEA) 1999, Sections 16 and 29.
Children or Young people and Family Proceedings
If the child or young person’s evidence is required in family proceedings you can contact us directly for an intermediary. The family courts have no statutory special measures regime but where necessary for a fair hearing a family judge could and should order special measures.
In Re W (Children) (Abuse: Oral Evidence) [2010] UKSC 12, [2010] 1 FLR 1485, Lady Hale outlined what could be done for a child witness in a family court: “There are things that the court can do but they are not things that it is used to doing at present… The important thing is that the questions which challenge the child's account are fairly put to the child so that she can answer them, not that counsel should be able to question her directly.” [Para. 28]
Children or Young People as Defendants
If the child or young person is a suspect or defendant you can contact us directly for an intermediary. At investigation stage there is no established funding route, but the police have funded intermediary involvement in some circumstances.
At trial stage the courts have powers to appoint and fund intermediaries for defendants. Section 104 of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 (the extension of the intermediary special measure to vulnerable defendants giving their oral evidence) has not been implemented yet.
However, the judgment in C v Sevenoaks [2009] EWHC 3008 provides authority for the court to appoint an intermediary to support a defendant to follow the proceedings and to give evidence, if without such assistance s/he would not be able to have a fair trial. This means the judiciary can use its inherent powers to grant the use of an intermediary for a defendant in the interests of a fair trial.
We do not work with defendants over 25, but we work closely with another organisation that provides for adults: www.communicourt.co.uk
Our fees for attendance at assessment, interview, legal meetings and in court are based on the Ministry of Justice nationally recommended rate of £36 per hour, plus £16 per hour for travel.
If you want to know more you can complete our online enquiry form or call 01273 305888 or email us.
