Our policy goals
Our vision as a charity is of a society that understands the value and impact of high-quality psychotherapy, the importance of making psychotherapeutic services available to those in need and the relevance of psychotherapy for improving lives. Our campaign work focuses on the processes we can influence to achieve this goal. Central to our ambitions for policy change is making a wider range of therapies available to people free at the point of use, especially through the NHS.
Currently, there are too few opportunities for psychotherapists to work in NHS services. This not only limits the choice of working contexts for psychotherapists, but it also denies many NHS service users access to the talking therapies they need. For those who are not able to pay for therapy privately, the lack of access to appropriate talking therapy through the NHS can be devastating. With many pressures on people’s health and cost of living, this problem only stands to get worse. That’s why we are calling on the national government, local government, MPs and NHS decision-makers across the four nations to take action now.
To improve access to high-quality psychotherapy and psychotherapeutic counselling in the private and public sectors, we are calling for
1. A Government commitment to provide a genuine choice of talking therapies throughout NHS mental health services for adults and children across the four nations.
We’ve met MPs and Peers from all major parties to build political awareness of the need to provide service users with a choice of therapies and raise the profile of the unique value of relational psychotherapies. It is vital that anyone struggling with their mental health has access to the right treatment for them and this must extend beyond a choice between medication and a single therapeutic approach.
2. Expansion of a fully funded NHS pathway to becoming a psychotherapist or psychotherapeutic counsellor.
Becoming a psychotherapist or psychotherapeutic counsellor can be a prohibitively expensive process. The NHS fully funds the training pathway for other psychological professionals it uses within its mental health workforce, yet there has only been one three-year pilot for psychotherapeutic counselling. As the lead accrediting organisation for this programme we are calling on NHS England to expand this funded qualification pathway that will create far more equitable access to training across the professions, diversify the psychotherapeutic workforce and increase the supply of these professionals to the NHS mental health services. As this work progresses, we will target the same outcome in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
3. People with complex mental health needs to have access to longer-term therapies, instead of being funnelled through NHS Talking Therapies services designed for mild to moderate difficulties.
As part of our work with the Talking Therapies Taskforce, we’ve commissioned the Centre for Mental Health to conduct a health economic analysis of the use of NHS services by people with complex needs. From people inappropriately signposted to NHS Talking Therapies to people who end up as long-term inpatients, we hope to demonstrate the cost benefit of investing in long-term psychotherapy services in secondary and tertiary care.
4. NHS England (NHSE) to commit to rectifying the proportionate underrepresentation of Dynamic Interpersonal Therapy, Counselling for Depression, Couples Therapy and Interpersonal Therapy in IAPT services in England as part of the expansion promised in the NHS Long Term Plan.
As a member of the NHSE National Psychological Professions Workforce Planning Stakeholder Working Group, we have a unique opportunity to influence workforce planning for the implementation of the NHS Long Term Plan, including NHS Talking Therapies provision. These therapies, which our members are qualified to deliver, are already NHS-approved but remain significantly underrepresented in NHS Talking Therapies provision. This must change.
5. VAT exemption for counselling and psychotherapy.
Many health services are exempt from VAT, but counselling and psychotherapy are not. Extending VAT exemption to talking therapies is long overdue and would remove a needless barrier to people accessing care. Currently, VAT requirements on therapists contradict legislation on ‘parity of esteem’ between physical and mental health, and represent unfair and unfounded distinctions between mental health practitioners. Earlier this year we submitted a proposal to the Government regarding this exemption and are renewing our efforts in light of separate changes to Government fiscal policy in the wake of Covid-19.
6. An updated NICE Guideline for Depression in adults which is fit for purpose.
The NICE Guideline for Generalised Anxiety Disorder in adults will have major implications for service provision in the public and private sector. The guideline has not been meaningfully updated for over a decade and needs an urgent review in collaboration with the psychotherapy and counselling professional organisations.
Campaign collaboration
To support our campaign asks we acknowledge that a collaborative approach can have a great impact on our influence on government and policymakers, we are therefore a member of the following working groups and coalitions:
- Beyond Pills All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG)
- Children and Young People’s Mental Health Coalition (CYPMHC)
- Climate Minds Coalition
- Coalition for Inclusion and Anti-Oppressive Practice (CIAOP)
- Expert reference group on AI in counselling and psychotherapy
- Inclusive and Relational Approaches Working Group
- Mental Health Alliance
- National Psychological Professions Workforce Planning Stakeholder Working Group
- Scotland’s Mental Health Partnership
- Talking Therapies Taskforce (TTTF).
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