Supervision offers you a reflective space in which to develop your practice and so benefits client safety. All aspects of your practice should be open to supervision. 

As a registered member, you must: 

  • understand the role and value of supervision and make sure that you have appropriate supervision in place
  • keep records of your supervision sessions
  • end your supervision record(s) to the Register team if required for audit
  • provide details of your supervisor(s) to the Register team if required for audit
  • give consent for your supervisor(s) to share information with the Register team on request 

When you join the Register, and when you renew your membership, we'll ask you to confirm that you have appropriate supervision in place and that you've discussed the Register requirements with your supervisor(s). The specific requirements are included in our Register terms and conditions. 

How much supervision should I have? 

Registered members 

For registered members we don’t give a specific number of hours. Different members will have different requirements and you must take responsibility for your own supervision needs. You should have supervision at a frequency and duration that allows you to discuss all aspects of your work in all work contexts, when necessary, and enables you to develop a constructive supervisory relationship. You can use face-to-face, phone or online supervision. 

You should review your supervisory arrangements regularly.  When making your decision, consider:

  • the amount of counselling and psychotherapy work you undertake
  • the contexts or settings
  • the complexity of your work
  • your experience and training
  • your development needs and aims
  • any specific issues and difficulties  


Additional requirement for Accredited members 

If you are an accredited member, or applying for accreditation, you must have a minimum of 1½ hours of supervision per calendar month.  

You can use face-to-face, phone or online supervision. You can combine individual, group and peer supervision to meet the minimum requirement. When calculating supervision hours, don't count the facilitator or supervisor for group supervision. For peer supervision, count all members of the group. 

  • For groups of four supervisees or less, you can claim half of the time 
  • For five supervisees or more, divide the number of hours by the number in the group and claim the resulting time 

It's not acceptable to average out supervision time over the year. Arrangements such as one hour every three weeks or two hours every six weeks do not meet the requirement, unless combined with another supervision arrangement. 

If you work in more than one setting, each setting must be supervised, but you do not need to have 1½ hours of supervision for each setting. 

You may miss some supervision sessions due to holidays or sickness, but the contract must remain in place. If you're likely to miss more than one session in a row, you should consider putting in place a temporary arrangement.  

Who can be my supervisor?

Your supervisor should have experience in counselling and psychotherapy, or a similar profession. Ideally, they will also have some training or a qualification in supervision. 

A contract is needed with your supervisor. This needs to cover practical arrangements such as fees as well as the length and frequency of sessions. The supervisor's role and responsibility should also be discussed and included in the contract. 

How should I record my supervision?

You can keep an ongoing record of your supervision sessions using the Registered member record of CPD, supervision and indemnity insurance form.   

This sample Registered member record shows how you might complete the form. 

Please do not include personal, confidential or identifiable material in your records, unless this information is requested for audit purposes.

Register audit

If you're selected for the Register audit, you will be asked to provide your Registered Member Record of CPD, Supervision & Indemnity Insurance. You may also need to provide contact details for your supervisor(s) so we can confirm your supervision arrangements.  

If you have any questions about supervision or audit, please email us at audit@bacp.co.uk  

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