999 BSL — UK Emergency Video Relay Service for Deaf Sign Language Users, With Ofcom's Ex-Post Evaluation

999 BSL is the UK's first Emergency Video Relay Service in British Sign Language. Ofcom required fixed, mobile and internet access providers to make a free, 24/7 emergency BSL video relay available from 17 June 2022; it approved Sign Language Interactions (SLI) as the sole provider, with BT as wholesale supplier. Users need no registration: the smartphone app (iOS/Android) or web platform connects them to a BSL interpreter who voices the call to the emergency operator and relays replies in sign language in near real time.
Ofcom's ex-post evaluation (as summarised in 2025) found: the app had been downloaded 26,632 times by February 2025; around 20,000 calls were made in 2024; median call waiting time was 3 seconds in 2024 (4 seconds in 2023); Ofcom estimates at least two lives per year are likely saved; and only three complaints had been received since launch. Documented cases include a burns victim after a gas-bottle explosion and a coastguard rescue of two people carried out to sea.
Cautionary note: one of Ofcom's criteria - at least 95% of calls answered within 5 seconds - has not yet been met. The main cause identified is hearing nuisance callers, where even a single caller can affect waiting times at this scale. Improvement in waiting times since launch is reported, but the target remains outstanding. The 'lives saved' figure is an Ofcom estimate, not an independently audited outcome.

Read the full analysis: https://999bsl.co.uk/about/