UK Therapy Bodies Urge Law to Regulate Counsellors
Anyone in the UK can set up as a therapist, and for the first time the bodies that accredit therapists say that has to change. They want ministers to bring in statutory regulation for counsellors and psychotherapists.
A gap in the rules
Doctors, midwives and osteopaths work under statutory regulation. Counsellors and psychotherapists do not. "Psychotherapist" and "counsellor" are not protected titles, so a person needs no qualification to use them.
A practitioner can also keep working after an episode of misconduct. That system is poorly understood by the public.
The case for statutory rules
The report comes from an independent review that the Commission for the Future of Counselling and Psychotherapy launched in October 2025. The professional bodies that run today's voluntary accreditation scheme are behind the call. They say regulation would raise trust in therapists and protect the public amid a rising number of abuse and malpractice cases.
Co-chair Andrea Sutcliffe, a former chief executive of the Nursing and Midwifery Council, pointed to the history. In 2011 the coalition government opposed statutory regulation. Government, she said, asks for a compelling case because regulation costs money and is hard to do. The independent co-chairs, she said, believe that case exists.
Her reasoning rests on how therapy works. It is a complex intervention that takes years of training. In practice, a therapist sits alone with a patient, usually has no employer watching, and treats people who are often in a fragile state. Sutcliffe also said the lack of regulation feeds mistrust that keeps some people from seeking help.
A survivor's testimony
Ella Janneh won a high court case in 2024 against her therapist for rape and sexual assault. She has campaigned for regulation with the support of the law firm Leigh Day. The report cites her testimony as an example of the lasting harm the current setup can cause, since her therapist can still practise despite the civil case.
Janneh said most people assume regulation already exists and learn otherwise only when something goes wrong.
Capacity and the waiting lists
The report also makes an argument about supply. It describes counsellors and psychotherapists as an untapped resource for a treatment gap of about 1.8 million people on waiting lists. Practitioners told the commission they had spare capacity. The report estimated it could add more than 370,000 hours of therapy appointments every week.
Regulation would also set standards for education and training, Sutcliffe said, and the report notes this would improve diversity in a profession that needs it. Commission co-chair Phil Hope, a former Labour minister for care services, said NHS and local government commissioners often ask whether a therapist is qualified. Weak evidence for the field, the report says, leads to insufficient and unsustainable public funding.
Reaction from the field
Labour MP Sojan Joseph chairs the all-party parliamentary group on mental health. He supports the case and said he would raise it in parliament.
Jon Levett, chief executive of the UK Council for Psychotherapy, said he would welcome rules that protect the public and preserve people's choice of therapy. He added that practitioners and people with lived experience should help design any new system.
Dr Lisa Morrison of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy agreed that collaboration is key. She said regulation should avoid barriers to access, diversity and established practice.
Our View
The profession itself, through the bodies that run accreditation, has now asked for oversight. The harder test is the one Sutcliffe named: government wants a compelling case, since regulation costs money.
The shape and cost of a regulator remain open questions, and much depends on whether ministers take up the commission's call.
Source: the Guardian