An audit of complaints made to the British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy, 1996 - 2007

Malpractice and complaints in counselling and psychotherapy are sensitive areas not previously researched in the UK. Mapping the incidence of complaints and analysing how these are dealt with can make a valuable contribution to information about professional conduct issues and the debate regarding statutory regulation. A proposal was made to examine complaints made to BACP with the following aims:

• To produce descriptive statistics about who complains and who is complained against
• To determine what allegations of misconduct are made to BACP
• To examine the outcomes of complaints made and the duration of cases

The ethical issues involved in examining the BACP complaints have been given careful consideration. Agreement for the audit was given by BACP on condition that strict confidentiality was observed and that the complaints cases were examined within carefully defined parameters.

Method:

The audit comprises three stages:
1) Professional Conduct Procedure (PCP) cases
2) Article 4.6 (A4.6) cases
3) Categorisation of complaints allegations across PCP and A4.6.

• For stages 1 & 2, BACP documentation relating to cases was examined.
  Information regarding both complainants and members complained against (MCAs), as well as relevant procedural dates were entered into a custom-designed database and analysed to produce descriptive statistics.

• For stage 3, complaints letters were examined and qualitative methods were used to formulate categories for the various allegations. The complaints were then mapped onto these categories in order to produce quantitative data relating to the nature of complaints.

Key findings:

• A total of 233 complaints, comprising 142 PCP complaints (1996 to January 2006) and 91 A4.6 cases (1998 to November 2007) were identified.
• When compared against the total membership figures per year, the highest rate of complaints as a percentage of membership is 0.172%, representing an incidence of less than two complaints for every 1000 members, per year.
• The highest rate of upheld complaints as a percentage of membership is 0.072%, representing an incidence of slightly more than one upheld complaint for every 1500 members.
• Male members are over-represented as MCAs in both PCP and A4.6 cases.
• Lay people are under-represented as complainants in both PCP and A4.6 cases.

When PCP and A4.6 cases are combined, the ‘Abuse of power' category was represented most in the complaints allegations, representing 25% of the total. This category represents incidents where the MCA used their power inappropriately and includes subcategories such as 'discrimination and stereotyping', 'inappropriate advice giving' and 'encouraging unhealthy dependence'.

Recommendations:

• Findings from the audit should be made public in order to reach practitioners, related organisations and members of the public

• Details of the duration of cases should be made available to complainants and MCAs as part of general information about the professional conduct procedure

• Further audits should be conducted periodically in order to identify trends over time

• Explicit consent for complaints material to be used in research should be sought from complainants and MCAs as a matter of course in future

The professional conduct procedure states that complaints material may be used confidentially for research purposes.

• Further related research should be undertaken in order to contribute to understanding in the area of professional conduct and ethical issues in practice.

Two new projects are currently underway:
1. Research into sexual boundary violations in counselling and psychotherapy
2. Why people don't complain