This page is a quick-reference resource for BACP accredited courses, intended for use by the designated course contact. It shows the essentials of course accreditation maintenance and the responsibilities of the contact person.

Nominated course contacts may request the corresponding procedures from Sabine Maltby Administrative Officer - Courses & CPD. Please put 'Course accreditation documents' as your subject title and request documents using the names shown in bold below (to ensure we send the correct document/s straight away.

Queries about the maintenance of course accreditation can be sent direct to Allie Griffiths Project Manager - Courses & CPD

BACP contact person role Each accredited course nominates one person -  usually a member of its teaching staff - who is the course's one point of contact regarding all matters to do with the course's accreditation. Their main function is to ensure that the course continues to meet the course accreditation criteria and so continues to be accredited with BACP. Students graduating from a course which has lapsed or forfeited its BACP accredited status cannot claim to graduate from a BACP accredited course.

The course must re-accredit every five years: the contact person is responsible for preparing and submitting the re-accreditation application. The contact person also liaises with the course (students, teaching staff, governing body etc) with regard to information that needs disseminating or collating. For instance, we might be canvassing opinion from tutors about a proposed change in BACP policy or we might be distributing information to students about BACP student membership.

Membership status The course contact may also have responsibility for the maintenance of BACP organisational membership (this is not part of the course contact role and may sit with a different member of staff). Please be aware that the BACP organisational membership of the training provider validates the accredited status of the course, which lapses if the membership is not maintained. Students graduating from a course which does not have current membership status cannot claim to have graduated froma BACP accredited course 

Transitional period 2009 – 2014 (‘Red Book’ to ‘Gold Book’) Currently, accredited courses are in a transitional period, the consequence of BACP's revision of the 2002 course accreditation scheme. An updated version of the scheme was introduced in April 2009. The 2002 scheme was published in a red-covered book, the 2009 one in a gold-covered one and it might not be a surprise to learn that the schemes are usually referred to as the ‘Red Book’ and ‘Gold Book’ respectively*. BACP could not insist that accredited courses made changes to meet the 2009 Gold Book requirements as soon as the scheme was introduced, so courses have been given a compliance date of 1 October 2014. It is only the 2014 first year intakes that must be on courses compliant with the Gold Book standards. For cohorts that started before this date, their course can remain unchanged. There is a comparison table of the differences between the two schemes, which is helpful to courses considering what changes might need to be made to meet the Gold standard. 

view table view table.doc Size: 0.15Mb Click the link above to begin downloading

Annual monitoring Courses are required report on certain aspects of the academic year once it has finished. BACP circulates proformas for contacts to complete and return to BACP. At re-accreditation, the most recent reports become part of the re-accreditation documentation. Please request: Annual Monitoring Report for a replacement proforma.

Regional annual meetings Each year the course contacts come together to discuss course matters, receive information from BACP on current developments or issues regarding BACP itself or the profession (e.g. Regulation) and to make new contacts, share information and good practice and network. These meetings are held March/April each year and representation at one of them is mandatory for course accreditation maintenance. Course contacts are given advance notice of these meetings.

Course re-accreditation Course accreditation/re-accreditation is awarded for a five-year period and must be re-accredited each time for it to continue beyond the expiry date. Accredited courses are invited to prepare and submit a re-accreditation application approximately two/three months before this accreditation expiry date. This gives BACP time to assess the submission and take up any queries that might arise. If assessors find that the course is not meeting some of the requirements of the scheme, they can choose to make conditions and impose a deadline for compliance. This means that courses are generally given an opportunity to regain the standard for accreditation rather than BACP simply removing accredited status. Recommendations for course improvement and development may also be made as part of the assessment process. Please request: Course re-accreditation documents (criteria comparison table; re-accreditation guidance; re-accreditation form). 

Making changes to an accredited course The accredited status of a course is jeopardised if does not tell BACP about any changes made since its last assessment. This is because BACP must assess any proposed changes against the course accreditation scheme. If a course wishes to change its content, structure, length, type of delivery, orientation, learning outcomes, venue/facilities (not exhaustive) it must inform BACP of the proposed changes in good time for BACP to make an assessment. We ask courses to provide a rationale as to why the changes are needed and to describe how the changed course would continue to meet the course accreditation scheme. A course may develop another version of itself out of the existing accredited course and run both versions simultaneously or it may replace the accredited course with the new version. Please request: Developmental Changes Procedure. 

Delivering the course elsewhere or to an additional intake of students. The course provider may apply to move the delivery of its the accredited course to another one of its centres, either closing the accredited course delivery at the original location or adding another one to it. It is not possible to transfer an accredited course to another provider under this procedure. An accredited course may also choose to deliver the course twice or more in one year, e.g. to continue to run the course midweek but add a weekend or evening version. If a course introduces any additional delivery without assessment and approval, the additional delivery of that course is not regarded as accredited. Please request: Change of Facilities/Premises Procedure (relocation or change to facilities only) or Additional Delivery Procedure (add a venue or cohort).

Extension of accredited status (course closures only). Regrettably, sometimes accredited courses close (e.g. retirement of private provider, funding withdrawal). Due to circumstances such as funding issues or close of faculty/provider. If the re-accreditation of the course is due within the scheduled 'teach-out' (i.e. the period where the remaining students complete their course), it is possible to extend the accredited status of the course rather than undertake a full five-year re-accreditation. An extension can only be grated for a maximum of two years beyond the accreditation expiry date. Please request:  Extension of Accredited Course Application 

APL students Some accredited courses choose to admit students after the first year of the accredited course (accreditation or approval of prior learning). If the APL admission procedure has been assessed and approved by BACP, students admitted at this point will be able to claim graduation from a BACP accredited course upon qualification. If the APL procedure has not been approved, students not completing the accredited course it its entirety cannot claim completion of the BACP accredited course. Please request: APL Procedure

Change of course provider, sale of course or provider, franchise, mergers and take-overs To discuss how this might affect the accredited status of your course, please contact Allie Griffiths  immediately for more information.

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*Published as Accreditation of Training Courses (BACP 2002, 4^th edition) and Accreditation of Training Courses (BACP 2009, 5^th edition)