The Scope of Practice and Education (SCoPEd) framework is a ground-breaking shared standards’ framework, developed by six Professional Standards Authority accredited bodies, including BACP, which represent approximately 75,000 counsellors and psychotherapists.

It transparently sets out the core training, practice and competence requirements for counsellors and psychotherapists working with adults.

You can download the January 2022 SCoPEd framework or background methodology information by clicking on the links in the box.

A joint publication

The January 2022 SCoPEd framework is the first to be developed jointly by the six Professional Standards Authority register bodies that make up the SCoPEd Partnership and together represent approximately 75,000 counsellors and psychotherapists.

All SCoPEd partners have formally decided to adopt the SCoPEd framework and are continuing to work together as they move towards implementing the framework.

Intellectual property notice

The SCoPEd framework has been developed using an evidence-based process. The contents remain the property of the Association of Christian Counsellors (ACC), the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP), the British Psychoanalytic Council (BPC), the Human Givens Institute (HGI), the National Counselling Society (NCS) and the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP) as part of the SCoPEd collaboration. The intended use of the framework is to inform the development of course content, curricula and practice standards, and therefore the contents of the SCoPEd framework may not be altered in any way.

Copyright notice

These materials are subject to copyright of the Association of Christian Counsellors (ACC), the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP), the British Psychoanalytic Council (BPC), the Human Givens Institute (HGI), the National Counselling Society (NCS) and the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP) as part of the SCoPEd collaboration ©January 2022. All rights reserved.

Shared ownership

From the outset, the partners’ vision has been that the framework would be freely available for anyone to use with the appropriate acknowledgements.

All partners are co-owners of the copyright and framework, with the project and framework overseen by the SCoPEd Oversight Committee.