Statutory Regulation FAQs

General questions

What is statutory regulation?

Statutory regulation exists to protect the public against the risk of poor practice. It works by setting agreed standards of practice and competence by registering those who are competent to practice and restricting the use of specified (protected) titles to those who are registered.

Sanctions may be applied to registered psychologists, such as removing from them from the register if their fitness to practice is impaired.

Why is statutory regulation being introduced?

Statutory regulation of psychologists is a stronger form of regulation than the current voluntary system and is therefore potentially a better means of protecting the public. The Society has argued for a long time that a statutory system is necessary to protect the public from charlatans and poor practice.

Current proposals

What are the government's current proposals for Statutory Regulation?

The government’s policy is that statutory regulation of psychologists by the Health Professions Council (HPC) is the only option they will support.

When will statutory regulation be introduced?

The government has indicated that the earliest date that psychologists could be regulated via the HPC is now 1 July 2009. We are awaiting further details.

What happened to the proposal for a Psychological Professions Council?

The Society together with a number of partner organisations proposed a separate registration council for psychologists and other providers of psychological services. However, the government has made it clear that it was not prepared to countenance this proposal.

What standard of training will be required for entry to the Health Professions Council register?

The Society has submitted an official response to a Health Professions Council consultation on the threshold level of training and qualifications. As yet, HPC has not published its response to this consultation.

What standards of proficiency will be required of registered psychologists?

The Society has submitted an official response to a Health Professions Council consultation on the standards of proficiency. Again, the HPC has not published its response to this consultation.

The role of the Society

Does the Society support the government's proposal?

The Society’s position is that the government should have simply protected the title ‘psychologist’ as this would have been comprehensive and less confusing for the public. However, the government have not accepted this argument.

The Society has argued for over two years that the public need better protection than will be afforded by the current proposals as many practitioners are likely to be left out of regulation.

Why should I remain a member of the Society if I have to register with Health Professions Council?

The Society is the professional body responsible for developing and supporting the discipline of psychology and disseminating psychological knowledge to the public and policy makers. Its role as the keeper of a voluntary register is just one part of its functions: it is still the key professional body for psychology and psychologists, with numerous benefits of membership.

The Health Professions Council (HPC) is only a regulator, with the role of ensuring that the public is protected from exposure to bad professional practice. The HPC will do nothing to further the discipline and practice of psychology; it will not help psychologists develop their competencies and careers, and it will not provide a professional network. That is the role and value of the British Psychological Society.

Practitioners and academics

I am a Chartered Psychologist - how will this affect me?

If you wish to continue to offer the public services as a psychologist in one of the seven protected areas, you will have to register with the Health Professions Council.

In its draft proposals, the government says all of the Society's Chartered Psychologists with practising certificate and one of the seven adjectival titles will be automatically transferred to the HPC registered psychologist register on the day that it opens, unless there are outstanding fitness to practise proceedings relating to them.

I am Exempt from a Practising Certificate (EPC) - how does this affect me?

By definition, to be exempt from a practising certificate you must not be offering services to the public so you will not need to register with HPC.

If you plan to offer services to the public at a later date, you will need to be registered under one of the seven protected titles.

I am a Society member but not Chartered - how will this affect me?

Statutory regulation will not affect you unless you wish to offer services as a psychologist using one of the protected titles. In this case you will need to register with HPC when responsibility for regulation is passed to that body.

I am not Chartered Psychologist - how can I offer services to the public as a psychologist?

If you wish to offer services to the public using a protected title you will be required to be regulated. If you are eligible for Chartership and Division membership then it will be worth considering applying for these now.

To join the Society's Register costs £65 and full Division membership ranges between £35 and £85, giving a total of no more than £150. You will then be able to be automatically transferred to the Health Profession Council's register. Otherwise, you will have to apply to the HPC via a process called ‘grandparenting’.

How does grandparenting work?

You will need to apply to the HPC stating how you meet the criteria for entry to the register in a particular domain of practice. For further details, please visit the Health Professions Council website.

Trainees and overseas members

How am I affected as an overseas member of the Society?

The government proposals will only apply if you want to provide services to the public in the UK. If you trained overseas but hold a current practising certificate (in one of the areas of psychology to be protected) you will automatically be eligible to join the HPC register. See the draft legislation for more details.

If you do not fit these criteria but want to offer services to the public in the UK, you will have to apply to the HPC (see below).

How will the Health Professions Council deal with overseas applicants?

If you are a psychologist qualified overseas and already practising in this country, and on the Society’s Register of Chartered Psychologists with a practising certificate and one of the seven protected adjectival titles, you will be entitled to register automatically with Health Professions Council (HPC) when it takes responsibility for regulation.

If you move to the UK on or after the date when registration is enacted, and wish to offer services to the public, you will need to apply to the HPC, which will deal with your application either under the terms of the relevant EU directive or through its overseas applicants routes.

Course accreditation

I am applying for undergraduate university programmes. Do I still need to get the Graduate Basis for Registration if I want to become a psychologist?

Graduate Basis of Registration (GBR) remains an essential pre-requisite for entry to postgraduate professional training programmes in the applied psychologies. To be eligible for GBR you will still need to complete an accredited undergraduate or conversion programme.

We do not know yet whether once statutory regulation has been introduced GBR will be required by law. However, even if it is not, postgraduate programme providers may choose to maintain GBR as an entry requirement beyond the minimum standards set out by HPC. We would therefore recommend that you apply for undergraduate courses that have been accredited by the Society as conferring eligibility for GBR to keep your options open.

HPC will not accredit undergraduate or conversion programmes as these do not confer eligibility to practise psychology independently. The Society will continue to accredit those programmes.

I am applying for entry to, or studying on, an accredited Masters programme. Will I need to register with the HPC when I complete my studies?

Because Masters level qualifications are at present below the threshold for independent practice, our current understanding is that the independent regulator will not accredit such programmes. The Society will therefore continue to accredit these programmes.

Accredited Masters programmes typically cover the underpinning knowledge component of the requirements for practising psychology without supervision. Therefore, if you wish to practise independently as a health, forensic, occupational, or sport and exercise psychologist in the UK, or as an educational psychologist in Scotland, you will need to complete the remainder of the prescribed training route for the branch of applied psychology in question. Only then will you be eligible for Chartered Psychologist status and membership of the relevant Division of the Society, and able to register with HPC.

I am applying for entry to, or studying on, an accredited Doctorate. Will I need to register with the HPC when I complete my studies?

If you wish to practise independently as a psychologist once you are qualified, you will need to register with the HPC in order to be able to use one of the titles whose use will be protected by statute. Our current understanding is that, at the point of opening the statutory register, the independent regulator will automatically approve all programmes that the Society accredits as conferring eligibility for Chartered Psychologist status.

Anyone completing an approved programme will be able to register with the HPC via the UK approved programmes route. Provided that the programme in question maintains its Society accreditation, they will also be eligible for Chartered Psychologist status and membership of the relevant Division of the Society.

I am studying for one of the Society’s postgraduate qualifications. What impact will statutory regulation have on me?

Our current understanding is that at the point of opening of the statutory register, the independent regulator will automatically approve the Society’s postgraduate qualifications as an approved training route. Therefore, when you complete the qualification for which you are registered, you will be eligible for Chartered Psychologist status and membership of the relevant Division of the Society, and able to register with the HPC.

Will the HPC want to visit all programmes currently accredited by the Society?

Although the results of the two HPC consultations on threshold entry level and standards of proficiency have yet to be published, our present understanding is that the regulator will approve qualifications that enable trainees to meet the requirements for safe, effective and autonomous practice in the applied psychologies. In practice, this means that they will accredit only Doctorate/Stage 2 programmes and the Society’s own postgraduate qualifications as the competences required for independent practise are set at Doctoral level/level 12. Therefore, the HPC will not accredit any undergraduate or Masters level programmes.

We also understand that once the register is open HPC will automatically approve those programmes accredited by the Society as conferring eligibility for Chartered Status and Division membership, allowing graduates to apply for registration. Depending on the timing of the opening of the register, the HPC will then commence a programme of visits to Doctorate/Stage 2 programmes. These visits are likely to take place over a three year period and the HPC is presently agreeing its priorities for those visits. The HPC will write to all programmes as soon as its plans have been finalised.

Directors of all programmes that the Society currently accredits are reminded that maintaining Society accreditation will enable graduates to be eligible for Chartered Psychologist status and membership of the relevant Division of the Society.

Will course and programme providers will have to plan for two separate quality assurance processes?

The HPC’s programme approvals processes and the Society’s own accreditation processes will operate independently from each other. However, both the Society and HPC are committed to reducing the quality assurance burden on programme providers wherever possible. To that end, programme providers are free to combine their HPC approvals visit with both a Society accreditation visit and any internal validation events for which they may be planning. The HPC and the Society generally meet with the same groups of people as part of their processes, and programme providers will be asked to negotiate a timetable for any concurrent event that meets the needs of everyone who is attending. Similarly, the documentation requirements of the HPC and the Society are very similar, which will enable programme providers to produce one set of paperwork for both processes. However, providers should note that the two processes and their respective outcomes remain independent.

My university offers a portfolio of accredited postgraduate programmes in psychology. Will the HPC wish to visit each programme separately?

In due course you will be able to suggest to the independent regulator that multiple programmes at your institution are visited at the same time. You would need to indicate the degree of overlap across the programmes in question in order to enable the HPC to decide whether a combined visit would be appropriate. Similarly, the Society would be more than happy to consider any request for a combined visit for accreditation purposes.

Programme Directors, Heads of Department and Heads of School are advised to contact Lucy Kerry, Quality Assurance Manager, in the first instance.

I haven't found the answers I was looking for. What should I do?

If your query has not been answered above it may well be included in the draft legislation for the Statutory Regulation of Psychologists so please refer to this document in the first instance.

Otherwise contact the British Psychological Society (e-mail: enquiries@bps.org.uk; tel: +44 (0)116 254 9568).