We’re today announcing that Natalie Bailey has been removed as BACP’s Chair and as a member of the Board of Governors.

Sekinat Adima has been removed as Deputy Chair.

As a Board, we’ve taken these decisions collectively to secure a future for BACP defined by new ethical, accountable and responsible leadership.

We acknowledge there have been governance failures at Board level that have allowed leadership behaviours to fall short of our Trustee Code of Conduct.

We’re truly sorry this has happened and we’re making changes to ensure it doesn’t happen again.

While Natalie was due to stand down in November, we recognise our responsibility to take decisive action now in light of information presented to us as part of an independent forensic audit.

This audit revealed instances where remuneration and expenses claims by our Chair exceeded what was permitted, undermining expectations of ethical, accountable, and responsible leadership. There were also occasions where these findings related to our Deputy Chair.

Throughout the process of making this decision, we’ve been in contact with the Charity Commission and sought extensive external legal and governance advice.

We’ve also informed the Professional Standards Authority and Companies House of these actions.

Governance changes

As a Board of Governors, we’re committed to making changes so we have a stronger and more accountable Governance system and to rebuild trust.

We have already:

  • Launched a review of the purpose and scope of the roles of Chair and Deputy Chair.
  • Suspended our Chair and Deputy Chair Remuneration Policy until a Board that includes new trustees can review this in full to ensure it’s aligned with governance best practice, Charity Commission guidance and member expectations.
  • Working with CEO Phil James, we’ve started a review of BACP’s Articles of Association to ensure they are fit for the future. We’ve begun to implement overdue changes to our governance framework internally.

Phil has appointed an independent Governance advisor to provide external expertise and strengthen Board processes, and has restructured BACP’s in-house governance team to better support the Association.

He’s committed to supporting us to move on as a Board and we’re looking forward to continuing to work closely with him and BACP’s Senior Leadership Team.

New Trustees

Within the past few months, we’ve welcomed two new appointed Trustees, who bring a fresh perspective and clearly understand the expectations of being a member of our Board.

We’re also recruiting for additional appointed Trustees and will be looking for them to bring solid experience of charity governance to help us through a period of rapid and sustainable improvement.

In November, we’ll announce three new Trustees to the Board who’ll have been elected by members as part of our AGM voting process, which is open until 15 August.

As Trustees, we’re now considering the leadership we need to put in place on the Board itself. We’ll be looking at options for an interim Chair who’ll give us the best opportunity to secure change and renewal at Board level.

We have a positive way forward for BACP’s Governance.

And we’re determined that these improvements benefit our Association as a whole, our members and the profession, as we all work to ensure that counselling changes lives.

BACP Board of Governors