Our Accredited Register for Counsellors & Psychotherapists
When you choose a counsellor from an Accredited Register, you have the assurance that the counsellor has met the high standards required to be listed on the Register.
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The Professional Standards Authority (PSA) is an independent body accountable to the UK Parliament. It promotes public protection by overseeing health regulators and accrediting registers for unregulated professions such as counselling & psychotherapy.
Members of the public are encouraged to choose a practitioner who belongs to a register which has been vetted and approved by the Authority. The Accredited Register programme was set up by the Department of Health to ensure that the public are able to choose safe, ethical and competent professionals for their health and social care needs.
The NCPS Register is accredited by the PSA, meaning we meet all their standards for public protection, governance, training, complaints handling, and ethical practice. Our members commit to a Code of Ethics and meet required training levels, giving clients confidence that they are choosing a counsellor who meets rigorous professional standards.
The Accredited Register Quality Mark is a recognised sign of good practice, awarded only to organisations that demonstrate strong public protection and high professional standards.
Being accredited under the NCPS Accredited Register offers enhanced protection to anyone looking for counselling services which includes:
- Members of the public seeking a Registered Counsellor
- Qualified Counsellors seeking to become Registrants.
Counsellors on our register, also known as Registrants, will be able to display the Accredited Register quality mark, as a sign that they belong to a register which meets the Authority's rigorous standards.
- The NCPS believes that all Accredited Registers should be seen as equal. The programme is well-recognised:
- NHS Choices information list Accredited Registers to reflect what should be equality of choice for all clients and patients
- NHS Employers has added content encouraging the use and detailing the benefits of Accredited Registers
- Health Education England has amended the information on the NHS Health Careers website also to be in line with the aforementioned changes on NHS Choices and NHS employers sites, and promote inclusive hiring practices
- The Department for Education recommends Accredited Registers and mentions the NCPS specifically in its "Blue Print for Schools" document
- The GMC highlights Accredited Registers as relevant to delegation and referral.
The Society's position on standards
The Society's standards of entry to the Register are benchmarked against Ofqual levels, where a Level 4 Diploma is required for entry to the Register and further training is required for progression in membership, e.g. to obtain individual Accredited Professional Registrant status. By benchmarking against Ofqual Levels the Society is demonstrating our commitment to ensuring that counselling training is independently verifiable as meeting national standards.
In addition, standards are benchmarked against the Society's Occupational Standards which draw from a variety of accepted sources.
The Society fully supports the current Accredited Register programme as offering protection to the public, whilst balancing this with a right touch approach to regulation. It allows counselling and its associated practices to flourish, promotes competition between registers, protects diversity in, and access, to training and allows professional associations to be central to the process.
Since 2012 the Society has made wide-ranging improvements across our standards, including in governance, accountability, education standards, complaints, and listening to clients, as well as in equality and diversity. These improvements have been as a direct result of our involvement in the Accredited Register programme.
We have written a paper that outlines our position on regulation. This came about as part of the Professional Standards Authority's Strategic Review of the Accredited Registers programme in 2020/2021, and has subsequently been developed further by the Society to clearly define our position in terms of regulation of the profession.
You can read the paper here: Counselling at the Crossroads
You can read our full response to the Strategic Review here: An Evidence-Informed and Member-Informed Response to the Professional Standards Authority’s Strategic Review of the Accredited Registers Programme
Our Register
The NCPS is responsible for ensuring that those individuals who wish to join the Society and have their details listed on the Accredited Register meet the high standards set for the Society by the Professional Standards Authority.
All applications are assessed by the Society and, as well as providing evidence of educational qualifications, references and professional insurance, all registrants are required to be bound by the Society’s Code of Ethics and Complaints Procedure.
Full details of the criteria for membership are given in the 'Become a Member' section of the website.
Successful applicants are given a membership certificate that is renewed annually and their details are published on the Society’s Accredited Register, found in the 'Find a Counsellor' section of the website.
Code of Ethics
All Registrants are bound by the Society’s Code of Ethics and Complaints procedure throughout the period of their membership / remaining on the Accredited Register.
Professional Insurance
Society registrants must have current professional insurance. There are a variety of different insurance brokers who provide insurance for those in private/self-employed practice and this information is provided to all registrants by the Society. For those who are in employment or volunteer with an agency that organisation will provide insurance.
Evidence of insurance will be required when a registrant first joins the Society and at the time of any audit of practice.
Supervision
Supervision is considered to be vital to the practice of counsellors and is a requirement for those who are on the Accredited Register. In the early years of practice it is one of the best ways in which a new counsellor can seek guidance in their work with clients. It is also the way in which a therapist can be seen, by a more experienced person working in the same field, to be growing and maturing. Supervision is a valuable "checking in" procedure, helping counsellors stay grounded and centred, maintain professional and personal boundaries, avoid "burnout" and thus provide safe, ethical and competent counselling for all clients.
As a guideline for a counsellor in full time practice we recommend 1.5 hours of supervision every month – each person’s level of experience and also the client group they are working with will affect how much supervision is needed. If a counsellor has any concerns about any aspect of their work with a client then they should refer to their Supervisor for further advice. There should be a provision for emergency advice or consultation with the Supervisor over and above the agreed number of sessions.
Registrants are required to keep a record of their supervision hours and evidence of this, verified by their supervisor, will be required at the time of any audit of practice.
Continuing Professional Development (CPD)
In order to remain on the Accredited Register it is important that registrants can demonstrate a continued commitment to safe and ethical practice and they are responsible for their continuing professional development as a practitioner.
Registrants should complete a minimum of 30 hours of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) in Counselling each year, whether or not they are seeing clients, to ensure that they keep up to date their theoretical and practical knowledge and skills relating to their work as a professional practitioner, including any new legislative requirements.
The Society defines CPD ‘as a range of learning activities through which professional counsellors grow and develop throughout their careers to ensure that they retain their ability to practise safely, ethically and legally within their evolving scope of practice’.
Registrants should keep a record of all CPD activities - detailing the number of hours, types of activities and the learning they have gained from each activity. This information and supporting evidence will be required at the time of any audit of practice.
Society Audits
The Society is required to verify that those who are on the Accredited Register comply with Standards to remain on the Register. To do this we carry out a random audit of registrants – this is one of the methods that the Society uses to ensure that our register complies with the standards set by the Professional Standards Association.
As an ongoing process the NCPS will select a percentage of individual registrants (on a random basis) to participate in the Society’s audit process.
Those selected will be sent a letter informing them that they have been chosen for audit along with the guidelines on the information that they will need to supply to the Society.
Those who are chosen for audit are required to submit all the information required to the Society within a given time scale.
Breaks in Practice
The NCPS will recognise a 3 year period when an individual can take a break from practice. Within this period a registrant can suspend their membership and automatically rejoin the Society when they are ready to continue practice.
Any period of non-practice that is longer than 3 years will require an individual to re-apply for membership of the Society.
The Society is responsible for the Accredited Register and may have to amend and update those on the register for different reasons.
These reasons may be:
- A Registrant is given sanctions but allowed to remain on the register
- A Registrant is suspended – the suspension is noted on the website, then removed if the suspension is lifted
- A Registrant is removed from the register due to an upheld complaints process
- A Registrant doesn’t comply with the audit
- A Registrant is no longer practising (change of personal circumstances e.g. retirement).
