A message from UKCP Treasurer David FitzGerald

As another year passes, we have reached the stage where the UKCP budget process has started again. A very important part of that process is setting membership fees for the coming year. This is never an easy task, but the new era of high inflation has made it even more problematic.

On the one hand, we recognise the financial squeeze most UKCP members are facing. And it’s not only UKCP members who are under pressure; the reality is that most clients are also facing the same financial squeeze – and many of those are people who can least afford it.

On the other hand, we must also ensure that UKCP as an organisation must not only survive but must develop, represent members and exercise its regulatory function properly.

Among many other things, we want to continue raising awareness of the value of UKCP accreditation, expanding the role of psychotherapy in the NHS and influencing NICE. We want to build on the developments we’ve made to the members area of the website which gives you access to resources including the European Journal of Psychotherapy and Counselling. And we want to continue creating resources for people coming into the profession and support them by providing bursaries.

This requires UKCP to be on a sustainable financial footing, with an appropriate level of reserves.

We have spent some time over the last year looking at areas where we can reduce our overheads. Some overheads are an absolute necessary, but in other cases we always look to achieve better value for money.

Other costs are outside of our control. For example, the Professional Standards Authority (PSA) fees, which were £13,000 two years ago – today they are £59,500. We always aim to live within our means and cut our cloth accordingly.

The question of member fees is subject to an exhaustive process. Although a Board decision, a considerable amount of preliminary work goes into the final decision. Membership fees have been discussed by the Executive Committee, and the Finance, Risk, Audit Committee (FRAC) has spent a number of meetings discussing the various options. Eventually FRAC proposed to the Board that:

• a general fee increase of 5% for the coming year be adopted
• the surcharge for direct members be increased by £30 to better cover the administration of this membership category
• a fee for student membership is introduced this year - this is a nominal amount that represents a contribution to the costs associated with administering the student grade and providing benefits including the New Psychotherapist magazine and European Journal of Counselling and Psychotherapy.

Inflation has been as high as 10% this year. The modest increase to the membership fee is only half that level. But it does mean that very tight cost control and exploring other potential income streams will be required and our new CEO, Jon Levett, has enthusiastically embraced that challenge.

Membership fees

David FitzGerald
UKCP treasurer
June 2023