All eight motions which were put forward by our members will go to our AGM following a vote.

You will have a further chance to vote on them either online or at the event in Salford, Greater Manchester, on 7 November.

Two resolutions that had been proposed by members did not receive the required support of 5% of the membership.

Our Chief Executive Hadyn Williams said: “I would like to say a massive thank you to all of you who voted. We are absolutely delighted with the level of engagement from our members. This is your association and your views are vital to us.

“I especially want to thank the proposers and seconders of all these motions and resolutions. Your passion for these issues has shone through during this process. You have encouraged members to think about these topics, prompted discussion and urged people to have their say. You have given us all an opportunity to talk about the things we believe can make a positive change to our association and our profession.

“We will continue to engage and listen to you on these issues and I am looking forward to meeting and talking to many of you at our AGM next month.”

Motions needed the support of 0.1% of the membership.

The motions are:

  • For Practitioners nearing retirement (65 plus), the hours of supervision required should be proportionate to the hours worked, rather than a flat rate per month.
  • On ethical grounds, replacing the prescriptive target of 100 client hours (on a BACP accredited course) with a safe zone of 90-110 hours, where the former target is held loosely; hence, the institution will look behind the numbers, before making a judgement in terms of where the trainee should end up.
  • For reasons of sustainability and ethical consumption can the Governors consider an 'opt out' option for members who do not wish to receive a paper copy of Therapy Today.
  • Considering the strong correlation between poverty and mental health problems, BACP should prioritise ensuring that people with low incomes can access counselling. Otherwise we are failing to reach those who need us most.
  • Moving on to senior accreditation is a slow process and needs to be reviewed. Members who have been practising counsellors for more than 10 years, but who are as yet unaccredited may have other qualifications and experience equal in status.
  • The financial involvement of private equity companies with services accredited by BACP is an undesirable trend, causing damage to our profession and requiring scrutiny by BACP. The pursuit of profits, as the primary objective, conflicts with the ethics of our profession and compromises the integrity of many BACP practitioners.
  • That BACP appreciates it has a mission to advance counselling performance and will establish a team to identify existing novel and successful methods of practice with a view to enhancing the training of counsellors and supervisors.
  • To survey other registered professional qualifications held by members in related fields (mental health/wellbeing/fitness): to understand the possibilities for SCoPEd developments. To open a dialogue between counselling and psychotherapy governing bodies and health & social care professional bodies: to explore opportunity and potential to reduce waiting lists, expand choice for public and to value dual profession.

The resolutions, which did not pass, were:

  • It is proposed that the BACP discontinue their association with the SCoPEd project. This received 3.5%.
  • BACP members have an ethical duty to recognise the physical, emotional, psychological, societal and spiritual impact of climate change and take action to address it. This received 1.3%.

We will send you further information about the next round of voting for our AGM soon.

All members are welcome to join online to observe the AGM and watch content from our Making Connections event.

This live webcast is free of charge for BACP members. The webcast timings are 10am – 5pm and the programme will be added shortly (TBC). Book now.

Or if you prefer to attend in person, you can choose to attend the Making Connections event and the AGM or just the AGM.