Thank you to everyone who took the time to complete this year’s membership survey. We sent the survey to all members, giving you the chance to tell us what we’re doing well, where we can improve and to share your experiences and relationship with us. 

This year, about 8% of members responded - a higher rate than last year. We appreciate everyone who engaged in the process; your feedback is invaluable. We use it to keep improving the support and services we offer, so you can enjoy the best possible membership experience. 

Survey key findings

What matters to you

You told us about the areas of our work that are most important to you, and shared what you think our priorities should be when working on your behalf.

This year, you said it’s still important we:

  • keep you informed about our work
  • support your professional and ethical practice
  • provide events and opportunities for CPD
  • set and maintain standards for the profession
  • provide services for members and the public to raise concerns or complaints
  • share best practice in ethics, standards and policy making with membership and professional bodies in the UK

What we’re doing well

  • 69% say we keep you informed about the work of BACP
  • 51% say we provide opportunities for you to communicate with us
  • 66% say we support your professional and ethical practice well
  • 68% agree we do well in providing events and opportunities for continuing professional development (CPD)
  • 51% say that we support you by increasing the awareness of equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in the profession
  • 63% agree that we set and maintains standards for the profession
  • 56% say we share best practices in ethics, standards and policy making with membership and professional bodies in the UK

We’re encouraged by the feedback in each of these areas and will continue working hard to represent our members and the counselling professions. We’re also pleased to see many of the areas you believe we’re doing well align with those highlighted in our first Year of Impact report, published earlier this year. This report delves into many of the initiatives we’re undertaking on your behalf. Read more about the BACP Year of Impact report. 

Your membership

  • 76% say you’re likely to renew your membership
  • 68% say your membership is important to you

We’re pleased to see that your membership remains important to you, and while we’re pleased 76% of those surveyed said they’re likely to renew, we’re disappointed in a slight reduction in this from 2023 (which was 77%). We acknowledge it’s been a challenging year for both BACP and our members, but we remain committed to championing your work and that of the wider professions. We’ll also continue to provide you with the best possible member experience and communicate about what we’re doing on your behalf. 

What we could do better

  • 24% say we provide opportunities for you to communicate with other members

We're disheartened to see the decrease in this figure since 2023 and that it remains a low score. We want all members to feel as though they belong to a community who wish to learn from one another and champion the work of counselling and psychotherapy.

We encourage all members who want to use some of the many networking opportunities we’ve put in place. All members have access to our Communities of Practice, a member-only platform where you can connect, collaborate and network with your peers. We created the Communities of Practice following a successful member motion in 2021 and you can access it through our Learning centre.

We also host regular events such as Making Connections and our local network meetings, which take place online and in-person at locations throughout the four UK nations. These events provide members with the opportunity to learn, share best practice and engage with likeminded individuals and BACP staff.

  • 24% say we listen and respond to member concerns  

We understand this is an area of concern for many members, and we’re troubled that this figure remains low. We’d like to reassure members that we’re dedicated to listening to you, appreciate all the feedback we receive and are always looking for new opportunities to engage with and hear from our members. Members can currently provide feedback, comments and suggestions on any element of their experience in a variety of ways. This includes emailing or calling our customer service team, through our regular member surveys, our eBulletin, by attending our events, raising complaints and taking part in our formal AGM processes.   

  • 46% say we’re contributing to building the evidence base for the profession through research

Research is a hugely important area for us and for the counselling professions. It’s important for clients, for practitioners and politically to continue to demonstrate that counselling changes lives. Research provides evidence for the range of issues where therapy can be effective and the positive outcomes for clients. Visit our research web pages to discover more about our work in this area, and what we’re doing to support members wishing to undertake research. 

  • 46% say we provide services for members and the public to raise concerns or complaints

We want all members to be completely satisfied with the service they receive from us, and our goal is to ensure our standards remain consistently high. However, we understand that this may not always be the case. In addition to writing to our listening inbox, members who are dissatisfied also have the option to submit a formal complaint. There’s more information on this complaint process on our website. 

Our professional conduct procedure is in place to help us protect the public, our members and clients from harm. Our aim is to help uphold high standards of proficiency and ethical practice within the counselling professions. We rely on clients, the public and members to bring complaints about poor or unethical practice to our attention so we can take appropriate action. You can read more about our professional conduct procedure on our website. 

We also have the Get help with counselling concerns service. This provides confidential telephone and email guidance for the public and clients on what to do if you have any concerns about therapy. There's more information about Get help with counselling concerns on our website. 

Your relationship with us

  • 56% say you trust us to represent the best interests of its membership and profession
  • 56% thinks BACP membership supports you with your practice
  • 60% say that you have opportunities to be involved with BACP if you wanted to be
  • 53% say that we inform the public about the value of counselling
  • 58% agree that BACP is the professional body that you most identify with
  • 48% agree that BACP is an inclusive association reflecting who its members are, what they stand for and their values and beliefs

As above, our annual member survey is just one of the ways you can share your views with us, and we’re committed to ensuring there's opportunities for you to share your concerns, ideas and suggestions with us throughout the year.

All members receive a renewal survey following their annual review. This allows us to gather consistent feedback and respond to any concerns throughout the year. We encourage all members to complete this survey whenever possible.

You can also reach out to us at any time via our listening@bacp.co.uk email address. We review all feedback received in this inbox and pass it on to the relevant department.

Download the Member survey results 2024 infographic accessible Word document 0.1MB)