Our mission for the General Election
We’re urging the next Government to adopt policies that promote and enhance mental wellbeing, remove barriers to accessing mental health services, and fully utilise the skills and expertise of counsellors, psychotherapists and therapeutic coaches.
It’s essential to see action on tackling social issues such as poverty, racism and ableism, and to expand support to counselling and psychotherapy for preventable mental health conditions.
Our manifesto and key asks
To read all our asks in full download our BACP General Election 2024 Manifesto (PDF 0.1MB)
What we're asking of the next Government:
Lead a stronger vision for our nation's mental health
- Appoint a cabinet-level Minister for Mental Health to lead a new cross Government 10-year mental health and wellbeing plan
Improve access and choice
- Deliver counselling across all England’s primary schools, secondary schools, further education colleges and sixth form settings
- Fund the roll out of early help community hubs for 11 to 25-year-olds across England
- Recruit more trained counsellors and psychotherapists into the NHS to meet workforce expansion targets and increase access to treatment
- Expand the range of evidence-based psychological interventions available in the NHS
Support services and practitioners
- Provide tax incentives to support more employer investment in workplace counselling and therapeutic coaching
- Ensure that third sector mental health providers are given sustainable contracts and appropriate funding for NHS referrals
Remove VAT
- Remove VAT on counselling and psychotherapy services to improve accessibility
Ban conversion therapy
- Bring forward a ban on conversion therapy within the next Parliament
Support our asks by writing to your candidate
We’re asking our members to join us in advocating for better mental health support across the UK.
We've developed a simple template which sends an email to all prospective parliamentary candidates in your constituency. This is a huge opportunity to promote the benefits of counselling and psychotherapy to the next group of MPs in Westminster and to demonstrate that the mental health of the nation matters.
Send your letter to your candidate.
Who is standing in your constituency?
There will be a range of candidates campaigning for votes in your constituency.
Find details of your candidates.
Register to vote
You can ensure you are registered to vote by clicking the following link. Deadline for applying is 11:59pm on 18 June 2024.
To vote please see: Register to vote
Feedback
If you do speak to your candidate about counselling and psychotherapy over the election period, please feedback to us at publicaffairs@bacp.co.uk