Foundations
Part of How to define and evidence England's multilingual social marketing market
Before you enter the multilingual social market, prove the language need
Use an evidence-led England market-entry checklist covering language need, professional review, rights, data, accessibility, contracts and exit.
Use this checklist before offering multilingual social work to buyers serving England. A checked box means the named evidence exists, not that the project is compliant or commercially viable. Legal, language, accessibility, privacy, security and finance specialists must review the actual facts within their competence.
What to take away
- Enter the market only when a bounded buyer problem and deliverable survive these checks.
- ONS Census language data is dated population context, not proof of a real language need.
- Bilingual identity alone is not a professional credential for language review.
- One overall readiness score must not override a failed control.
Boundary and buyer evidence
- Define the commission.Name the buyer, intended England audience, language and locale, social channel, source asset, deliverable, period and commercial unit. Exclude general translation and media spend unless separately specified.
- Record a real language need.Treat ONS Census language data as dated population context only. Gather direct, voluntary evidence from the relevant service journey.
- Identify the decision owner.Obtain a brief, budget authority and acceptance route from the person controlling the purchase. Interest, a demographic count or an employee's language skill is not a commission.
- Set a stop rule.Hold entry if the buyer cannot evidence the audience problem, the intended response or the right to use the proposed data and creative.
GOV.UK's guidance on considering translations suggests examining translation requests, other-language searches and contact-centre evidence for public content. A commercial researcher should use comparable direct signals but must not assume that the government context proves demand.
For an England buyer, one workable direct signal is a repeated query pattern in the buyer's own site search data, such as 'Polish speaking GP appointment'. Another is contact-centre notes showing the same request recurring in one language.
Language and creative controls
- Specify competence by task.Appoint a qualified native-level reviewer for the actual language and locale, plus a subject specialist where claims are technical or regulated. Bilingual identity alone is not a professional credential.
- Agree an acceptance set.Test licensed or synthetic examples for meaning, omissions, additions, terminology, tone, captions, named entities and prohibited claims. Give the reviewer authority to reject.
- Protect rights.List the owner and permitted use for source copy, imagery, audio, fonts, translation memory and adapted work. GOV.UK's copyright overview explains why permission or a licence may be needed.
- Review advertising separately.The CAP Code requires substantiation for objective claims. A good translation does not validate the underlying evidence or comparison.
People, data and access
- Map the data flow.Document collection, audience selection, supplier access, international transfers, retention, deletion and individual rights. The ICO's direct marketing guidance should be applied by a named privacy and PECR reviewer to the actual activity.
- Separate research permission from marketing.Participation in an interview does not authorise testimonial reuse, audience profiling or later direct contact. Add safeguarding review where children or people at heightened risk may be involved.
- Test accessibility in each language.Check reading order, captions, transcripts, alt text, line breaks, font rendering and language attributes. GOV.UK's language-navigation component recommends testing with users of the intended language.
- Limit account access.Use client-owned assets, role-based permissions, multi-factor authentication, an access register and a revocation test. Follow the NCSC's supply-chain risk questions when subcontractors or tools handle material.
Commercial readiness and exit
- Price the entire controlled service.Keep fields blank until evidence supplies currency, VAT status, unit, quantity, review work, revisions, media pass-through, software, security checks, correction and exit. Express review work as reviewer hours per language per asset version, with revisions counted separately from the first acceptance set.
- Resolve worker status and procurement.Test the real relationship with freelancers; GOV.UK notes that tax and employment-law status may differ. Apply the buyer's procurement and conflict rules separately.
- Write the handover.Define ownership, editable files, glossary, translation-memory licence, approval evidence, incident response, correction, withdrawal, termination, export and deletion.
- Require independent release decisions.Language, equality, accessibility, privacy and PECR, advertising, consumer, AI, security, IP, employment, contract, procurement, VAT and finance each need an accountable reviewer. One overall readiness score must not override a failed control.
Otherwise document the missing evidence, assign an owner and keep the offer on hold.
Common questions
What evidence counts as a real language need?
The test is direct, voluntary and tied to the buyer's own service journey. A census count cannot carry it. Look for records the buyer already holds, such as search queries typed in one language, contact-centre notes, interpreter bookings or abandoned forms. The evidence should name the audience, the language and the task the buyer could not complete.
Who must review language and creative work?
Someone with native-level competence in the target language and locale, working to a defined task list. Add a technical or regulated-claims specialist where the copy makes claims. Being bilingual is not by itself a credential. Give that reviewer the power to reject, and test meaning, omissions, additions, terminology and tone on licensed or synthetic examples before release.
What must be done before entering the multilingual social market?
Pass the checks above, and stop where any control fails. If evidence is missing, set out what is absent, name the person who will supply it, and hold the offer until it arrives.
