Many businesses and organisations use the National Relay Service in order to be accessible to people who are deaf or have a hearing or speech impairment.
It's just good business.
Through the NRS, people with hearing and speech impairments can contact your organisation to do business in the same way as anyone else.
A relay officer becomes the central link in the phone call relaying what is said by both parties. Often the NRS user types their message on a special phone called a TTY and their words are then read out to your staff by the relay officer. The relay officer then types what your staff say back to the NRS user.
The relay officer stays on the line throughout each call to make sure it goes smoothly but does not interfere with what is being said.
The use of NRS relay officers is specifically recognised as being compliant with privacy legislation.
Benefits for your business
There are lots of good business reasons to make it easy for people to contact your organisation through the NRS:
- it improves customer retention by better meeting the needs of those with hearing or speech impairments, and
- it meets obligations relating to disability access under legislation such as the Disability Discrimination Act.
We can help
The NRS can support you in handling calls from customers with hearing or speech impairments more effectively. Through the Helpdesk we can provide:
You do not need any additional equipment to handle calls through the NRS.
