PSA welcomes report of the Commission for the Future of Counselling and Psychotherapy
02 Nov 2026
The Professional Standards Authority (PSA) welcomes the publication of the Commission for the Future of Counselling and Psychotherapy’s report: Unlocking Potential: Transforming Lives. The report is a significant step forward in considering how the public can be protected and how counselling and psychotherapy can best contribute to meeting growing mental health needs.
We particularly welcome the breadth of the Commission’s work. More than 4,000 people and organisations contributed, with lived experience placed at the heart of the process, alongside consideration of the different contexts in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
The PSA independently accredits registers of health and care practitioners who are not regulated by law, to give the public, employers and service commissioners confidence in their services. We have advocated for a more strategic approach to regulation and registration alongside workforce planning, so that the right safeguards are considered as health and care roles and services evolve. We welcome the emphasis in the report on ensuring that any next steps towards regulation of counselling and psychotherapy must be based on a clear assessment of risk to the public.
Melanie Venables, Director of Policy and Communications said:
“We gave evidence to the Commission and welcome this important report and its focus on strengthening public protection and making better use of the counselling and psychotherapy workforce.
“The PSA’s view is that the level of regulatory assurance should be proportionate to the risks to patients and the public. As the Minister of State for Health, Karin Smyth, has recognised, the Accredited Registers programme provides assurance for existing and new roles and can support a changing health and care workforce. Where risks change or new evidence emerges, the PSA is well placed to advise on the right level of regulation, drawing on our Right-touch regulation principles.
“We look forward to considering the recommendations in detail and working with partners to build on the protections already provided through Accredited Registers. We continue to explore new and innovative ways to raise awareness of our Accredited Registers in this field to support public protection.”
The PSA’s work to strengthen understanding and use of Accredited Registers includes our ‘Look Before You Book’ campaign, highlighting how people can find practitioners who meet appropriate standards. This aligns well with the Commission’s recommendation for a national awareness campaign, supported by governments and the PSA, to help the public identify qualified practitioners on PSA-accredited registers.
We also support the Commission’s emphasis on greater consistency and clarity across the regulatory landscape. The PSA has developed a single, coherent set of standards for the organisations we oversee, including both statutory regulators and Accredited Registers, which provides an opportunity to strengthen consistency across both regulated and unregulated roles.
Six PSA Accredited Registers form the Partnership of Counselling and Psychotherapy Bodies (PCPB), and the Commission reports that around 82,000 qualified practitioners are registered across those six registers.
ENDS
Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care
Contact: media@professionalstandards.org.uk
Notes to the editor
- The Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care (PSA) is the UK’s oversight body for the regulation of people working in health and social care. Our statutory remit, independence and expertise underpin our commitment to the safety of patients and service-users, and to the protection of the public. There are 10 organisations that regulate health professionals in the UK and social workers in England by law. We audit their performance and review their decisions on practitioners’ fitness to practise.
- We also accredit and set standards for organisations holding registers of health and care practitioners not regulated by law. We collaborate with all of these organisations to improve standards. We share good practice, knowledge and our right-touch regulation expertise. We also conduct and promote research on regulation. We monitor policy developments in the UK and internationally, providing guidance to governments and stakeholders. Through our UK and international consultancy, we share our expertise and broaden our regulatory insights.
- The PCPB partners are: the Association of Christians in Counselling and Linked Professions (ACC), the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP), the British Psychoanalytic Council (BPC), the Humans Givens Institute (HGI), National Counselling and Psychotherapy Society (NCPS), and the UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP)
- Our values are – integrity, transparency, respect, fairness and teamwork – and we strive to ensure that they are at the core of our work.