UKCP Professional Membership

In order for graduates to be eligible for UKCP membership they must adhere to certain requirements regarding their Continuing Professional Development (CPD). On this page you can find an outline of the UKCP’s policy for CPD, as well as a detailed outline of the process in which Metanoia Institute monitor and confirm the CPD of graduates.

Additionally, if you wish to raise a complaint regarding a UKCP-registered psychotherapist or counsellor you can find details about the relevant processes below. If you’re looking for upcoming CPD events at Metanoia, use the button below:

Continuing Professional Development Policy for Graduate Psychotherapists

This UKCP Professional Membership Policy only applies to graduates of the Postgraduate Taught and Postgraduate Research programmes that lead to UKCP Registration.

This UKCP Professional Membership Policy only applies to graduates of the Postgraduate Taught and Postgraduate Research programmes that lead to UKCP Registration.

UKCP have set out requirements for clinical practice, supervision, and CPD that all members need to comply with. Every five years, you will need to take part in a peer-review process to reaccredit with the UKCP, providing an overview of your clinical practice, supervision, and CPD covering the previous five years. This is called the 5-year reaccreditation. To ensure our members are prepared for their reaccreditation, we require members to submit an annual CPD return in September each year. The annual CPD return forms the basis of the 5-Year Reaccreditation and ensures good record keeping, making the re-accreditation process easier.

Metanoia Institute is your UKCP Organisational Member (OM), which means we are officially recognised to train, accredit, and register psychotherapists and psychotherapeutic counsellors to national UKCP standards. As your OM we support your professional journey by overseeing your annual CPD returns, managing 5-yearly re-accreditations, and handling ethical matters. Therefore, it is important that you retain your graduate membership with us, as well as applying for full clinical membership with UKCP.

Please familiarise yourself with the mandatory requirements for clinical practice, supervision, and CPD below. Registrants should also ensure that they are familiar with relevant UKCP policies, including those regarding supervision, ethics, CPD and reaccreditation:

For more information about Metanoia Institute Membership and UCKP standards, guidance and policies, use the buttons below.

Mandatory Requirements

Clinical Practice and Supervision

Client Contact Hours

First 5 years after graduating: minimum 4 client hours per week across 40 weeks per year, adding up to a total of 160 client contact hours per year.
After 5 years: minimum 2 client contact hours per week across 40 weeks per year, adding up to a total of 80 client hours per year.

Supervision

First 5 years after graduating: you must receive regular supervision from a modality-specific supervisor for at least 25% of your supervision hours. Additional peer supervision can count towards the modality-specific element.
After 5 years: you must receive regular supervision, although this may be through peer or group supervision monitoring.
The below grid provides guidance on the minimum level of expected consultative supervision based on the size of your practice:

Client Sessions Per Week

Supervision Hours per Month

4-10

2 hours

10-20

3 hours

20+

4 hours

CPD

You must complete at least 20 hours of CPD each year, and a total of 250 hours over five years, through a programme you design to develop and update your professional practice.
At least 7 hours of your CPD activity per year must be modality-specific (this requirement does not apply to Integrative and Humanistic modalities). If your CPD activity over the year has not included this, please justify this choice in your annual CPD return.
Your programme should also show how your practice and CPD reflect the Diversity and Equality Policy of both Metanoia Institute and the UKCP, demonstrating an understanding of power, prejudice, the impact of oppression, and the needs of the diverse group of clients with whom you work.

Every member is responsible for attending to their physical and psychological health.

Annual Process

Every year, accredited registrants will complete the CPD Annual Summary Form and describe their year’s professional development activities. This should be submitted to Metanoia. If you have completed an annual summary for another organisation (e.g. BPS, BACP, BCP), you may attach this with the Annual CPD Form. Please keep a copy of this form for your records.

Submitted CPD report forms will be reviewed by the Director of Studies covering your modality, and at their monthly meeting in December, a selection of these, including any that have been accessed as failing to meet the above requirements, will be internally moderated by the Director of Studies team, which is made up of the Director of Studies from all of the psychotherapy programmes at Metanoia.

The Director of Studies who is responsible for reviewing your CPD return will contact you if they are concerned that you are not adequately meeting the requirements and will discuss ways in which you could meet them retrospectively. Please note that any extra CPD hours gathered in this way will be counted against the original CPD return as opposed to the one that will be submitted for the following year.

If you have a boundary issue or conflict of interest with the Director of Studies, please inform the Executive Officer of this and they will arrange for your return to be assessed by another Director of Studies.

Reaccreditation Process

Every five years, registrants must be peer-reviewed and reaccredited.

Firstly, registrants will engage with a peer-review meeting. The registrant will share with their colleagues the activities they have been engaging with as part of their CPD to maintain the standards of their practice. The group registrants will work with the registrant in a lively spirit of cooperation, open inquiry, mutual respect and informed humility. The task for the group is to critically appreciate and evaluate their colleague’s presentation and to reach a consensus as to any recommendations they may make to Metanoia.

If the peer-review group are willing to endorse the registrant’s CPD activities then the registrant will submit a Reaccreditation Form. This form will be signed by the members of the peer group. The form will be submitted to Metanoia with documentation giving evidence of:

Alternatively, the peer group may recommend that the registrant undertake an additional course of action before endorsing their CPD.

Appeals Process

If you feel that your annual CPD return or 5-year reaccreditation paperwork has been unfairly assessed or that any extra requirements that have been placed on you are excessive, please contact the membership team at membership@metanoia.ac.uk who will arrange for three members of the Clinical Ethics Committee to re-review your submission. These members may take advice from the membership secretary at the UKCP to help them to arrive at a decision. Their decision will be final.

Failure to submit annual CPD return and 5-year reaccreditation paperwork

The membership team contacts members over the summer each year with a reminder to submit their annual CPD return and/or 5-year reaccreditation paperwork by the 30^th September. Metanoia reserves the right to charge a late submission fee.

Failure to submit your paperwork may put your UKCP membership at risk. If you are having difficulty meeting the deadline, please contact the membership team at membership@metanoia.ac.uk to arrange an extension.

Complaints Against UKCP Members

Complaints about the professional conduct of a UKCP-registered psychotherapist or psychotherapeutic counsellor are not handled through Metanoia’s own complaints procedure and must be sent directly to the UKCP Complaints and Conduct Process (CCP).

To submit a complaint: