Membership FAQs

Please see our membership joining fees web page.

A list of benefits available for each membership grade is available on the benefits of membership webpage 

For information on becoming a UKCP member, please see our webpage on How to join.

UKCP has categories of membership to support individuals whatever stage of their career they are at. We also welcome organisations into membership. For more information, please visit the section of our website on categories of membership.

We welcome new members. Please visit the Join us page for more information. Once you have registered an account with us, please complete an application form online.

Almost all UKCP members pay by Direct Debit. Full clinical and full non-clinical members also have the option to pay in four instalments or to pay in a single payment by debit or credit card.

If you are a full clinical member, you will be sent an email with your certificate when you renew your membership. You can also download your certificate from the members' area of the website:

1. Log in to the members' area
2. Click 'My Profile'
3. In the dropdown that appears, click 'UKCP Certificate'
4. Click the 'Membership Certificate Download' button to download a pdf version of your certificate 

If the certificate download button is not active, it may be because we are yet to processes your payment. If this is not the case, or the problem persists, please contact our membership team.

If you don’t have software on your computer which will allow you to open and read PDF files, you can download Adobe Acrobat Reader for free here. Click ‘Download Acrobat Reader’ and follow the steps to install it on your computer.

If you’re not sure how to open and print a PDF attached to an email, this video explains it step by step. Depending on what type of computer you are using, which email software you use, and what type of printer you have, what you see might look a little different from what you see in the video, but the steps you need to follow should be almost identical.

If you find that your certificate doesn’t fit well when you print it out on an A4 sheet of paper, follow these steps to adjust the size.

Receipts are available through the Members’ login area of our website. Look for the ‘My transactions’ menu on the left-hand side of the page. Receipts are generated up to four working days after a payment is collected.

Our membership year starts on 1 October. You will receive your renewal notice towards the end of July each year. This will tell you how to renew. 

For more information on how to renew, including how to submit your annual declaration, please visit our How to Renew page.

To check your membership grade, log in to the members’ area of the website. Your membership type is listed at the bottom of your ‘My profile’ page.

If you are a full clinical psychotherapist or psychotherapeutic counsellor, you will receive an annual membership and registration certificate, and you will be listed in our National Register.

Trainee members will appear on our List of Trainee Therapists.

In order to change your membership grade, you will need to log in to the members area, click the ‘Apply Now’ button and complete the relevant application form for the grade of membership you wish to transfer to.

Click on Member’s Login at the top right of any page on our website. If you already have an online account, please sign in with your username (the email address we hold for you) and password.

If you have forgotten your password, you can reset it using the ‘Forgot Password’ link.

If you have forgotten your username, please contact the Membership Team on 0207 014 9955 (Option 1) or membership@ukcp.org.uk.

As a member of UKCP, you are expected to follow the UKCP Code of Ethics and Professional Practice. You will also be expected to meet standards relating to things such as client hours and supervision arrangements – these are set by your organisational member. If you no longer belong to an organisational member, please check your UKCP college standards.

UKCP has standards of practice and guidelines. We encourage our colleges and organisations to build on these with additional requirements for each type of psychotherapy. We would therefore recommend that you speak to them directly.

To maintain the integrity of our register and high standards of regulation, registered individual members undergo reaccreditation with their organisational member or the UKCP Regulation Team and we undertake annual random audits.

We offer full clinical members the option to take a sabbatical. During this time, your name will not appear on our National Register and your records will be kept dormant until you reactivate your membership.

For more information, please email the membership team at membership@ukcp.org.uk. 

We send regular email news bulletins. To make sure you are receiving emails and updates from UKCP, log into your Member Area and select the tab ‘My Mailing Preferences’ from the ‘My Profile’ menu at the top of the page. Here you will be able to see and update your contact preferences.

If you are thinking about leaving your organisational member please contact the Membership Team to discuss your options before you take any action.

Your organisational member may provide support, networking opportunities, CPD opportunities and guidance, particularly in relation to ethical questions. To find out about other organisational members, please visit our organisational member directory.

Continuing professional development, or CPD, protects the public by ensuring standards of practice are maintained and improved.

An appropriate range of CPD activities would typically include an element of clinical supervision, research, attendance at events such as conferences/workshops/webinars; private study; awareness of developments in contemporary thinking and best practice; and evidence of reflective/reflexive practice.

UKCP members may be required to follow a number of CPD policies. We have an overarching policy on CPD, which applies to all members. In addition, each UKCP college has their own CPD Policy which sets out their modality-specific requirements, and some UKCP organisational members may have their own additional CPD policies.

A minimum of 20 hours per year, and a minimum of 250 hours over a five-yearly period. This will be looked at as part of your five-yearly reaccreditation, your organisational member’s annual CPD check, or the UKCP random audit.

Your organisational member (or UKCP college if you are no longer a member of an organisation) undertakes your reaccreditation onto our register so you need to make sure that your course or workshop meets their requirements. Please contact your organisation or college to check.

If you are taking time out from the UKCP register, please contact your organisational member or UKCP college. They will advise you on the requirements while taking time out, and how this time out will affect your CPD and reaccreditation. They can also advise you on how to return to the register.

The amount of supervision you need is dependent on a number of factors:

• your organisational member or UKCP college’s requirements
• how long you’ve been practising
• how many clients you see
• the type of client group(s) you work with.

Your organisational member or UKCP college will be able to advise you on the specifics. This information can also be found within their CPD and supervision policy documents.

This can be found in your student handbook. Your course director and course tutor can also provide this information.

Psychotherapy with children, young people and their families is not the same as psychotherapy with adults. UKCP therapists with specific skills, training and experience to work with children and families are included on our specialist register.

Practitioners who work with families, children or young people should be in appropriate supervision with someone specialised in the same type of therapy and should undertake CPD with these client groups in mind.

Most members train to work with particular client groups. If you want to work with additional client groups, you will need to undertake additional specialist training.

Many ethical dilemmas that psychotherapists and psychotherapeutic counsellors face have legal, regulatory and practice-related implications.

We advise you to review the Code of Ethics and Professional Practice as a starting point and consider consulting as appropriate:

• your supervisor
• your professional indemnity insurer’s legal helpline
• your employer’s human resources team
• your line manager
• your organisational member (OM).

For queries relating to areas of practice, we advise reviewing the relevant guidance documents on our Standards, guidance and policies page. You should also check the policies and guidance held by your organisational member or UKCP college as there may be differences in specific codes of practice and ethics in relation to your psychotherapeutic modality.

For all legal queries, we recommend contacting the legal helpline of your professional indemnity insurance provider.

Additionally, where the query relates to an area covered by legislation, we recommend reviewing any regulatory guidance issued by the relevant government department.

Normally, our members will retain records for 7 years, as this is suggested as general best practice. However, your UKCP college and organisational member may have slightly differing requirements, as not all modalities require that notes be taken.

In addition to your organisation or UKCP college’s requirements, you should also consult with your professional indemnity insurance’s legal advice team, and the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) for information about data retention and data protection, as this can vary depending on whether you keep paper or electronic records. The ICO has useful information online.

We have produced safeguarding guidelines which you can refer to, along with our safeguarding protocol and code of ethics. You can find these documents on our standards, policies and guidance page.

For the latest information on changing restrictions, please refer to our COVID-Hub.

We have produced a page on Adapting how we work which you can find  in our COVID-19 hub.

Continuing support is very important for vulnerable clients. Therapists must apply their professional judgement and refer to their insurers and, where applicable, their employers. You should also speak to your supervisor if you are unsure about working remotely.

The Information Commissioners Office issued helpful advice on data protection and coronavirus.

Visit the Business and workplace advice section of our COVID hub homepage for guidance and advice.

With the support of member experts, we developed emergency guidelines for working remotely with existing child and young person clients. Please note that the UKCP Child Standards of Education and Training and the Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct must be adhered to irrespective of whether clients are seen in person, online or otherwise.

We advise you to speak directly with your organisational member and/or supervisor.

We are mindful that members may be undertaking the majority of their Continuous Professional Development (CPD) online at this time, which may be new. We are also recommending that organisational members and colleges consider creative, flexible and pragmatic approaches to CPD during this time. Reading, research, online workshops, webinars and peer groups all count towards CPD. We have created a page listing some useful places to find resources which could help you accrue CPD hours.

We have created a COVID-19 hub with information and guidance for therapists on working in the current situation. On it you will find our latest recommendations, guidance and information.

Therapists must apply their professional judgement and refer to their insurers and, where applicable, their employers.

If you have made a reasoned decision for any changes to your practice, and have explained the reasons for these to your clients, supervisor and indemnity providers, then working remotely should be fine.