BABCP

At the January 2010 meeting of the BABCP National Committees Forum, Michael Guthrie, Director of Policy and Standards for the Health Professions Council (HPC), gave a helpful presentation on the current status of HPC Regulation of Psychotherapists and Counsellors.

The HPC currently regulates 206,000 registrants, across 14 professions. The HPC's key roles are to set standards for a profession, approve training courses that meet the standards, register individuals who have completed these approved trainings, and hold registrants to the standards in order to maintain their registration.

The Professional Liaison Group (PLG) was formed by HPC to address the standards that would be set for Psychotherapists and Counsellors in order for them to be regulated and is made up of representatives from various Psychotherapy and Counselling bodies, who will recommendations to HPC. Linda Matthews, Honorary Secretary for BABCP and Consultant Psychotherapist, represents BABCP on this Committee. HPC has also undertaken a public consultation in the second half of 2009 in respect of regulating Psychotherapists and Counsellors, and received in excess of a thousand responses.

Michael confirmed that there will be four routes to registration:
• a one-off transfer of voluntary registers (for example the CBT Register UK)
• graduation from an HPC approved course (registration would be at the point of qualification)
• grandparenting
• international

HPC continues to recommend the protection of two titles: Psychotherapist and Counsellor. Profession-specific standards of proficiency, as well as common standards are taken into account to set the threshold levels for safe and effective practice. The current area under discussion is that training and education standards will differ for Counselling and Psychotherapy, with Counselling being set at Level 5 entry and Psychotherapy at Level 7 on the National Qualifications Framework (NQF).

There continues to be debate about the differentiation of titles, and education and training standards.

BABCP continues to support regulation of Psychotherapy and Counselling, and continues to engage with HPC and PLG during the development stages. BABCP feels that minimum entry level of training as Level 7, which represents CBP Post Graduate training, is appropriate.

The question of dual registration was raised. Michael confirmed that HPC will not encourage dual registration with them, but if someone was to be practicing under the titles of two HPC professions, and met the minimum standards for registration for both, they can and should be registered by HPC for both titles.

No date in confirmed for the opening of the HPC Register.

For more information you can call 0207 840 9815 or e-mail policy@hpc-uk.org.

Documents specifically relating to Registration of Psychotherapists and Counsellors can be found here.