Your membership fees for the year 2026/2027

As a professional body, we're committed to delivering a consistently high standard of service, giving you access to a range of benefits and the tools, CPD, guidance and resources you need throughout your career.

Continuing to support our members in this way is dependent on our ability to respond to economic shifts and manage rising operating costs.

When we set our fees, our aim is to keep any increase as low as possible – we know this is in members' interests and we are mindful of the effect that any increase will have not only on our members but also on clients. For the 2026/2027 financial year, we’ve made the difficult decision to increase our membership fees by 5%.

The 5% increase to fees ensures we can maintain our current level of service and continue to invest in new initiatives to benefit our members and the wider public. As a registered charity, we operate on a not-for-profit basis, and every pound of your membership fee is spent on supporting our charitable objects.

The fee increase will take effect for members renewing from 1 October 2026 and will be applied from the date your annual membership is renewed.

What does this mean for me as a member?

The changes will mean that from 1 October 2026, a full clinical member will pay an extra £1.25 a month. For full non-clinical members, there will be a change of £1.17 a month and a trainee member will pay an extra £0.33 a month. Members paying by annual direct debit receive a discount off the annual fee. Members will be able to pay their 2026/2027 fees from 15 July.

Full clinical and non-clinical members also have the option to spread the cost of membership by paying via Direct Debit in four payments, although payments by instalments are not subject to the discount offered for annual direct debit payments.

What your membership supports

The majority of UKCP's income comes from membership fees. These funds are vital to delivering the three-year strategy that members helped shape and ensuring that our registrants continue to meet the highest standards of education and practice.

Over the past year, membership fees have helped us to:

• redesign the direct member reaccreditation process using the Professional Standards Authority’s ‘right touch regulation’ principles, with a pilot of the revised process now running
• deliver an events programme, including a series of webinars on boundaries led by our Ethics Committee
• deliver the UKCP annual conference, which took place in June and brought members together to explore key issues facing psychotherapy in a changing world
• support the work of key working groups, including the statutory regulation working group and the governance working group, whose recommendations will shape our future direction
• strengthen our advocacy work, ensuring the voice of psychotherapy is heard in policy discussions including our highly successful NICE campaign for a review of their anxiety guideline
• support members, including faster response times to emails and calls, engagement on key topics, such as statutory regulation.

Why the increase?

Like many organisations, UKCP faces increased costs due to inflation. We work hard to absorb significant cost increases and make long-term cost savings, but we must be realistic about rising costs and ensure that our organisation is sustainable.

In setting any subscription rates we take account of market conditions and the needs and requirements of our members and the organisation as a whole. We have kept rate increases deliberately low for a significant number of years; we now feel it is the right time to review these rates if we want to deliver our programme of work and continue to provide and increase the services members ask for.

A core function of UKCP is delivered through the Professional Conduct Committee (PCC), which oversees the effective operation of the Complaints and Conduct Process (CCP). This work is central to UKCP’s ability to fulfil its charitable purpose of protecting the public and upholding high standards of professional practice across the profession.

In recent years, the demand has grown significantly. In 2025, UKCP received 106 complaints, representing a 34% increase since 2020. This rise reflects not only increased activity but also a broader shift within the sector. Ongoing public and policy discussions around statutory regulation and the role of professional bodies have heightened awareness of regulatory frameworks, including UKCP’s processes for managing complaints and ensuring accountability.

While this increased visibility strengthens public confidence in UKCP and its members, it also brings with it a substantial rise in operational complexity and cost. Managing a higher volume of complaints requires:

• greater administrative and case management capacity
• increased use of legal and independent professional expertise
• enhanced governance and oversight arrangements
• continued investment in ensuring fairness, transparency and robustness of the process.

To ensure that UKCP can continue to meet its public protection obligations, maintain rigorous professional standards and deliver a fair, timely and robust complaints process, a fee increase is necessary. This adjustment will enable continued investment in core regulatory functions, ensuring that UKCP remains a trusted, effective and sustainable professional body in a changing regulatory landscape.

The complaints and conduct process is just one example of the areas where our costs are rising.

We recognise that any fee increase has an impact and we have carefully considered this decision. However, it is necessary to ensure we can continue to support our members, uphold professional standards and respond to the evolving needs of the sector.

Looking ahead

In the coming year and beyond, we are excited to introduce and make progress on:

• the work of our statutory regulation and governance working groups
• expanding our CPD offer to include more webinars, broader and more relevant topics, providing increased value to members and supporting their ongoing development
• reviewing how we engage with members across all grades and locations
• increasing the profile of psychotherapy and UKCP in the media, including raising awareness of high-quality psychotherapy
• exploring and developing new income-generating initiatives
• strengthening our partnerships with other bodies such as the PCPB to support our members.

2026/2027 fees

UKCP is one of the HMRC approved professional bodies. If you are a UK tax payer and pay your own membership subscription fee, you may be entitled to claim tax back on your membership fee (between 20% and 40%). Here is the list of approved professional organisations and learned societies.