Membership Renewal Forms
Please download the form for the category of membership you wish to renew.
Student Membership Renewal
Open to all non-practising current students of a UPCA accredited programme in psychotherapy or psychotherapeutic counselling
Trainee Membership Renewal
Open to all current students from a UPCA accredited programme in psychotherapy or psychotherapeutic counselling, who have been approved by their training programme to begin clinical practice.
Non-Accredited Clinical Membership Renewal
Open to graduates from an accredited UPCA psychotherapy or psychotherapeutic training programme and not yet met the full requirements of the programme and training, or fulfilled the necessary criteria for registration.
Accredited Clinical Membership Renewal
Open to graduates from a UPCA accredited, psychotherapy and psychotherapeutic counselling training programmes. Graduates will have completed all requirements of the programme and training, and fulfilled the necessary criteria for registration.
Non-Clinical Associate Membership Renewal
This membership category is open to any non-practising member of a university with an interest in psychotherapy or counselling. This category is also open to retired UPCA members who are no longer in clinical practice.
CPD and Annual Renewal of Membership
The purpose of CPD
The fundamental intention for undertaking CPD activity is protection of the public through maintenance and improvement of professional standards. Accreditation of university and university-linked courses includes the provision of continuing professional development for graduates.
UPCA registered practitioners are required as a condition of membership to keep a portfolio of their CPD activities (with certificates of attendance where possible) demonstrating that clinical professional development has been maintained and that clinical practice is up-to-date.
Please download our CPD Resource to help you keep track of your CPD.
As part of the annual membership renewal process a CPD declaration needs to be completed and signed confirming:
- Client Contact Hours each week (normally, a recommended minimum of 4 client contact hours per week for the first five years of practice)
- Number and frequency of Supervision Hours
i) a ratio of 1:6 hours supervision hours to client work (consistently for the first five years) pre-accreditation
ii) Post accreditation, a minimum of 1.5 hours supervision per month is required. Members with high or complex caseloads should consider additional supervision to the minimum requirement - Personal Therapy (continued personal therapy is recommended in the first years of clinical practice)
- 50 Hours CPD Activity (50 hours is a minimum guideline not including practice hours i.e., client contact hours).
Items that could be included as part of the CPD activity are:
- Core training meetings, workshops/seminars; workshops/seminars providing development across other models
- Experiences outside the consulting room that contribute to new ways of thinking about/engaging in clinical work
- Complementary professional activities, research, writing, reading and spiritual practice
- Clinical supervision.
Evidence of CPD
UKCP Universities Training College (UTC) requires its members (UPCA is a member) to undertake a minimum of 50 hours of CPD activities per year (in line with current UKCP requirements of a minimum 250 hours over 5 years).
Evidence of CPD such as copies of qualification certificates; certificates of attendance, book references, minutes of exam boards results are not required as part of the annual renewal process.
However, please retain original documents in your CPD portfolio, as you may be requested to submit this documentation if selected for a random annual CPD Audit.
Please see UKCP CPD Notice for further information.
Reflective Practice Statement
A reflective practice statement should be completed by all clinical members at annual renewal.
With UKCP agreement, UPCA has replaced the requirement for 5-yearly reaccreditation, with an annual CPD audit of 20% of its members and a requirement for all members to write a 500-word reflection.
This piece should involve reflecting on your own process in response to your selection of CPD and the impact of this CPD on your practice.
You should reflect upon your Self-Care and how this enhances and enriches your practice.
Consider and reflect upon the impact of your Supervision and describe in light of this reflection, how you feel you and your practice have developed.
This reflection should be discussed with your supervisor or another clinical peer before submission.
Break in Practice
If you are having difficulty in meeting your CPD target or need a break you’re your clinical practice due to ill-health or for other reasons, there is a procedure to support you through this period.
UPCA takes the view that the situation of each individual will be different and that the needs of those requiring a break in practice will be considered on a case-by-case basis. However, mechanisms need to be in place that ensure that UPCA have adequate information and records as part of their responsibility to patients and the individual practitioner.
The procedures for breaks in practice are as follows:
1. Notification of a break in practice
- Members are required to notify UPCA of any interruption, of over 3 months, from their practice.
- Depending on circumstances this may need to be done prospectively or retrospectively. A form is available for recording this intention along with any mitigating circumstance.
- Members will also need to complete a summary of their CPD plans while on a break from practice as part of the above form. However, UPCA also recognises that some situations may mean it is not possible to undertake such CPD and again the member needs to inform UPCA of this.
Maintaining Membership During a Break in Practice
During a Break from Practice members are required to maintain their membership status and pay their annual membership fees.
Reminder to Renew Membership
You will be sent a reminder to renew your membership of UPCA every July/August for the coming membership year. The UPCA membership year starts every 1st September until 31st August (CPD declarations should include activities for the previous 12 months).
Please note: If you have lapsed membership previously and need to backdate your renewal, please contact us.
Notification of Return to Practice
- When the member intends to return to practice, they will also be required to complete a summary of their CPD plan for that year of practice. A form is available for this.
- Where there has been a break from practice for a period of up to 18 months, and where appropriate CPD has not been possible, members would normally be required to provide evidence of structured / verifiable CPD or alternative / equivalent retraining, undertaken over a period of 6-12 months.
- Where there has been a break from practice of more than 18 months members would normally be required to provide evidence of structured / verifiable CPD or alternative / equivalent retraining, undertaken over a period of 12-18 months.
Breaks in Training
When a student member takes an approved interruption from training and a concurrent break from supervised practice, this may be deemed as a break in training.
The student will not be liable for membership fees provided the programme leader informs UPCA that the student is not training and is not in supervised practice.
Please ask your programme leader to contact us in these circumstances to temporarily suspend your membership.
UPCA Bursury and Hardship Fund
The UPCA Bursary and Hardship Fund is there to support those studying and training to be psychotherapists and psychotherapeutic counsellors or UPCA members (post-training) who may need financial assistance.
The UPCA Bursary and Hardship Committee meet three times a year and applications will be considered at the first available date. If successful the administrator will be in contact asking for bank details to transfer the amount awarded and in the case of a bursary to inform the course leader.
If you are unwaged or experiencing financial hardship, for example due to a break in practice, please contact us or complete the UPCA HARDSHIP_BURSARY-v14.12.22 form for our consideration.
Neurodiversity
What help is available for members wishing to join or renew who experience neurodiversity issues?
While there’s no single agreed definition of what neurodiversity is, it does help as an umbrella term to identify specific needs of therapists and clients. UPCA wants to encourage its members and so if there are specific issues we can support you with related to membership, audit or accreditation please contact Helen Fisher the administrator. With a more detailed knowledge of your specific needs, we could then tailor-make a more enabling process.
5-Yearly Re-accreditation and Annual CPD Audit
UPCA are required by UTC/UKCP to carry out a yearly audit of members CPD and currently this is set at 20% of clinical members. Selection for audit is carried out on a random basis. If you are selected for audit, you will be contacted and will receive an additional set of papers for completion. The audit seeks to confirm the details of the CPD submitted at your last membership renewal. A copy of your renewal form can be provided. Based on the information from your renewal you will be asked to provide:
- Written confirmation of supervision arrangements by your supervisor(s)
- Confirmation of indemnity insurance
- Summary of relevance and evidence of CPD activity
- A reflective statement
- Supporting documentation (Scanned copies or photos of Certificates of attendance or Qualifications attained, References for articles or books, Links to Online resources)
- Confirmation that your practice and CPD reflects the Diversity and Equality Policy of UKCP. This will include such things as demonstrating an understanding of power, prejudice and the impact of oppression, and the needs of the diverse group of clients with whom you work.
You are required under the terms of UPCA membership to comply with a request for audit. Failure to submit audit documentation may result in your membership being lapsed, which will also have implications for UKCP Registration.
The CPD audit also serves the purpose of the 5-yearly reaccreditation for full clinical members of UKCP. UKCP membership may be at risk if members fail or refuse to respond.
Audit Outcomes
The majority of UPCA members readily fulfil the annual CPD requirements and meet the requirements of audit.
The possible outcomes of audit are as follows:
- Approved – all audit requirements are clearly met.
- Request for further information – where the auditor believes that the documents provided are insufficient to conclude the audit.
- Referral – by the auditor, for further review or action; this will occur where the auditor identifies a specific issue that would indicate that criteria for registration have not been met or another problem identified.
- Failure – where it is clear that an audit submission indicates that a member does not meet UPCA/UKCP registration requirements, the Auditor will notify Council who may then either:
- Suspend the individual’s registration pending specified action by the member to address concerns – a time period for the suspension will be specified along with details of what action is required on the member’s part and time limit;
- Remove the individual’s registration and require the completion of a full re-registration / re-accreditation process;
- Impose Conditions of Practice for a specified period.
Note on registrant reaccreditation requirements from UKCP 22.01.2024
In the early days of the pandemic, UKCP encouraged organisational members to be supportive and flexible when reviewing reaccreditation submissions in relation to requirements around client hours and variety of CPD.
While ample CPD was available initially in the form of reading, eventually online workshops, videos and webinars became more readily available, providing the recommended variety. Due to health and safety concerns, many of our registrants were unable to meet all of their client and/or supervision hours during the pandemic, especially at the beginning. This shifted slowly as different ways of working were introduced, such as online client work.
We anticipate our registrants have been able to meet the minimum 250 hours of CPD for the past five years of practice, despite the variety being low. We also anticipate that our registrants have now moved back towards their usual client loads. While we encourage the registrants to communicate with their OMs (UPCA) when challenges arise, we recognise this doesn’t always happen, and you may receive a submission which isn’t where it should be. Those low numbers will now be showing up in their reaccreditation submissions from the past five years. While still actively considering risk to public and clients, we encourage OMs to continue flexibility in relation to requirements being met.
For example, if total hours were a little low in the submission (for CPD, client hours or supervision), then consider, rather than removal from the register, setting an increased requirement for a specific probationary timeframe and requesting a resubmission at that point to evidence the requirements are being met.Risk to the register and to clients must be considered as priority, but this should be weighed against experience, ability and what they have managed to achieve during those years.
Please contact your relevant college committee or the UKCP regulation and quality assurance team (regulation@ukcp.org.uk) if you wish to discuss a particular situation and how to proceed with it.