Joining Our Register
The BPC enjoys an excellent reputation for maintaining high professional standards for psychoanalytic practice. Your BPC registration means that the public can be confident that your training and clinical work are of the highest standard and are underpinned by a growing evidence base showing the efficacy of psychoanalytic psychotherapy.
Our 2,000+ registrants are required to be members of one of our Member Institutions, meet our Practice and Theory Requirements, comply with our Code of Ethics, undertake Continuing Professional Development (CPD) and sign an annual declaration. Registrants appear on our public Register. This is accredited by the Professional Standards Authority, who report to the UK Parliament.
Being a BPC Registrant means you are part of a uniquely psychoanalytically orientated and highly regarded organisation.
Eligibility to Join Our Register
You must demonstrate you meet our Practice and Theory requirements to join our register. The two routes to do this are;
- Completing one of our accredited trainings
- Being granted equivalence by one of our Member Institutions
Once you have completed the training or been granted equivalence, you must register with one of our Member Institutions before you can join our register. See our Member Institutions here. Your Member Institution will then provide you with the form to register with the BPC.
When applying, prospective Registrants will be asked to provide the BPC with the correct information, as well as being in accordance with the Code of Ethics and Duty of Candour. An assessment will be made if they are of good character, good health and are a competent professional. If they do not declare relevant details which the BPC later becomes aware of, disciplinary action could be taken against them, including removal from the register.
A request to join the register may be rejected if they do not meet our standards. There is a right to appeal this decision administratively.
If you have any queries about this, please email us.
Registrant Benefits
Registrants receive:
- an entry on our Professional Standards Authority accredited public register with ability to upload details about your clinical practice and a photo if you wish
- a monthly eNewsletter that provides timely updates on the latest events and publications to support your work, information about campaigns we are working on, and details of job opportunities in the profession
- a termly edition of our highly regarded magazine, New Associations, and opportunities to contribute to the publication
- discounts and priority booking to our seminars and conferences
- opportunities to network with your colleagues, some of whom are internationally regarded as experts in the field
- opportunities to engage with our Scholars Network that is designed to be a bridge between academic thinking and clinical work
- opportunities to join our committees and task groups to help support the growth and development of psychoanalytic thinking, training and clinical standards to support us in pursuing our charitable objects
Use of Our Logo
Current BPC Registrants are permitted to use the BPC and PSA logos in their signatures or on their websites, ensuring they use the most up to date versions. You can download a PNG or JPEG file of the logo in the ‘Resources’ section once you’ve logged into your account or you can contact us if you’d like a copy. If you have deferred membership with the BPC, you should not be seeing patients and therefore should not be advertising for new patients using the BPC logo.
If you end your membership as a BPC Registrant, you must remove the logos with immediate effect.
Kite marked therapists are not permitted to use the BPC logo unless they are also a current BPC registrant, please see further information here.
Registration Fees and Categories
Our membership year runs from 01 April – 31 March. Our registration fees for 2024-25 are as follows:
- Registrant (full) £357.00
- Registrant (newly qualified) £289.00
- Registrant (pre retired) £149.00
- Registrant (NHS only) £149.00
- Registrant (teaching and/or supervisory only) £149.00
- Deferred Registrant £149.00
- Registrant (conditional) £357.00
Registration fees are pro-rated throughout the year. After each quarter period of the membership year, we lower the fee by a quarter as follows:
01 April-30 June: Full annual fee
01 July-30 September: 75% of the annual fee
01 October-31 December: 50% of the annual fee
01 January-31 March: 25% of the annual fee
Please ensure you have carefully read the descriptions of Registrant categories below, including the change to the Supervisory/Teaching categories from the 2024-25 membership year. Please contact us if you have any questions:
Registrant (full) category: Most Registrants are in this category, it is for Registrants who have been qualified for two or more years, are clinically active and seeing patients in the UK or abroad. Registrants working with patients online internationally should be aware of the relevant BPC guidance here.
Newly qualified category: Registrants who graduated from a BPC accredited training within the last two years and have not been a BPC Registrant prior to this.
Pre-retired category: Registrants significantly reducing their clinical hours and not taking on new patients as they work towards retirement. Registration under this category is limited to a maximum period of 3 years.
NHS category: Registrants only working clinically in the NHS, have no other clinical work and are subject to the NHS clinical governance requirements.
Supervisory and/or Teaching category: From the 2024-25 registration year, we have combined the Supervisory and Teaching categories into one. This category is for Registrants not seeing patients but who wish to continue to supervise and/or teach within training courses which require BPC registration. If you only supervise or only teach, please choose this category.
Deferred category: Registrants not currently seeing patients (for example, taking a career break). Deferred Registrants are not required to undertake CPD but are subject to our Ethical Guidelines and our Complaints Procedure.
Registrant (conditional) category: Few Registrants will be in this category, it is for Registrants who have recently joined, returned to or renewed their registration and have a pending Fitness to Practise investigation.
View our CPD information and requirements
If you join us later in the registration year, your initial fee will be a pro rata amount, calculated quarterly, of the above rates.
We only offer refunds for membership fees part way through the registration year in exceptional circumstances.
If you are an existing Registrant and wish to update your online profile then please click here.
The BPC has the right to refuse an application to join the register or to refuse the renewal of an existing Registrant. We may remove a Registrant’s name from the Register should we consider a Registrant has failed to adequately fulfil our CPD requirements or our annual declaration.
