Wider Psychological Workforce

Registration on the British Psychological Society (BPS) Wider Psychological Workforce Register refers to five psychological practitioner roles that are not regulated by law.

• Psychological Wellbeing Practitioners (PWP)
• Children’s Wellbeing Practitioners (CWP)
• Education Mental Health Practitioners (EMHP)
• Clinical Associates in Applied Psychology (CAAP) Scotland
• Clinical Associates in Psychology (CAP)

The BPS and the British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies (BABCP) have been approved by NHS England to provide an individual registration scheme for PWPs, CWPs and EMHPs, having met the requirements for NHS England and NHS Improvement recognition.

It has been agreed with NHS England, BABCP and BPS that collectively these three occupations will be referred to as Wellbeing Practitioners within the framework of the twelve core psychological professions as defined by NHS England.

The BPS will also be registering other roles in the psychological professions across the four nations that are not regulated by law and fall outside of NHS England’s registration scheme.

This includes the CAAP role in Scotland and the new CAP role developed in England.

The register is for individual practitioners who commit to maintain high quality standards in clinical practice, supervision and CPD.

It also signifies that the registrant is working in the context of an appropriate system of care, working within their field of competence and working under appropriate supervision.

People on the register will adhere to a fitness to practise framework.

The aim of the register is to protect the public, employers and other agencies to help them find psychological practitioners who meet these standards.

 The PWP, CWP and EMHP roles are recognised as important roles to meet the growing needs of those seeking mental health support and expanding access to psychological approaches to healthcare.

These psychological professions are not regulated by law. This means that there is no overarching body or bodies which assure the fitness of these roles to practise.

Registration of these roles will help to provide recognition for this growing workforce and will promote public confidence in the competence of these psychological professionals. Registration also provides additional benefits of belonging to a professional community and having access to appropriate CPD, knowledge exchange and interprofessional networking.

CAAPs are an established role within Scotland and NHS Education for Scotland, Heads of Psychology Scotland and other important stakeholders are supportive of the development of a registration scheme.

Similarly for the new CAP role in England, employers see the importance of registration to recognise these practitioners and provide an extra layer of governance for this role, assuring employers and the public of professional competence.

As with the other roles, registration also provides additional benefits of belonging to a professional community and having access to appropriate CPD, knowledge exchange and inter-professional networking.

The Wider Psychological Workforce Register is expected to launch in June 2021, starting with the PWP and CAAP role.

Registration of EMHPs and CWPs will follow once course accreditation is approved and in place for these roles.

Registration for CAPs will follow once training programmes have applied and become accredited against the BPS course accreditation standards.

Although voluntary and not mandated by law, it is expected that employers will see registration as good practice and it is likely that registration will become a requirement for these roles.

Both schemes have been designed to meet the specification set by NHS England. They require equivalent standards and have equivalent processes for addressing complaints or problems.

They will also share information about disciplinary processes that result in a change in registration status, so that an individual's record travels with them if they leave one register and join the other.

There are distinct registration requirements for each occupation and those wishing to register must register against the role that they are employed in.

The eligibility requirements include:

• the completion of an accredited training programme for the role, currently this is only the British Psychological Society.
• confirmation of employment in an appropriate specified system of care through the provision of a supervisor reference.
• six months experience working within a specified system of care. This six months can include time spent working as a trainee.

Further details of the registration requirements will be available on our website when the register launches, including details of the requirements of an appropriate specified system of care.

For PWP, CWP and EMHP registration you will need to have undertaken and successfully completed an accredited training at a Higher Education Institution that successfully delivers the HEE/NHSE/I recognised national curriculum for the role and is accredited by the BPS.

For CAAP and CAP registration you will need to have undertaken and successfully completed a training programme for the role that is accredited by the BPS.

Currently for CWP and EMHP training programmes course accreditation is not in place. We expect that formal approval of an NHS England recognised course accreditation process with the BPS will be in place by the summer.

There will be recognition that formal accreditation has not been in place for past cohorts and the BPS will work with NHS England and Health Education England (HEE) to recognise and backdate course accreditation for those courses that meet BPS accreditation standards and HEE quality assurance requirements.

We expect CWP and EMHP training programmes to be able to apply for course accreditation from the summer and for registration for individuals in these roles to commence from the autumn.

As CAPs is a newer role, there are not currently any training programmes that are accredited by the BPS, however a number of education providers have expressed an interest and/or are in progress of applying for accreditation.

There will be recognition for those CAPs already in the workforce who did not take an accredited programme and the BPS will recognise and backdate accreditation for those programmes that meet BPS accreditation standards.

Accreditation and registration are used interchangeably across organisations.

When the BPS talks about accreditation, we are talking about the accreditation of training programmes.

Accreditation Through Partnership is the process by which the BPS works with education and training providers to ensure quality standards in education and training are met by programmes on an ongoing basis.

When these standards are met a programme or course is said to be accredited by the BPS.

Registration refers to the individual practitioner and recognising the individual practitioner in meeting the required standards to be registered in their role.

It is recognised that these occupations are found in public and private sector organisations. If you are employed in one of the registered roles working in the private sector (for example a private hospital, school or clinic), you must be working in the specified system of care for your role, with provisions for stepped care specified for PWP, CWP and EMHP roles.

For all 4 roles this includes working within your field of competence and under appropriate supervision which must be evidenced in your application.

PWPs, CWPs, EMHPs, CAAPs and CAPs are not able to use their registration to practise independently due to the requirements that these occupations must operate within a specified system care under appropriate supervision.

You will not be eligible to register if you do not operate within the defined specified system of care.

Inappropriate use of job title is against the terms of your registration and is likely to result in removal from the register.

Registration represents a significant step forward in public protection and in professional recognition of these vital occupations.

It will also provide access to continuing professional development in line with the specific needs of the occupation. It will also give you the benefits of belonging to the body which you are registered with.

For those registering with the BPS that includes The Psychologist magazine, access to conferences and events, reduced fee CPD and the ability to join a wide range of member networks and communities.

To remain on the register you will need to pay the registration fee annually, which you’ll be invoiced for each year around the anniversary of your joining or can arrange to pay via direct debit.

The registration fee is £50 for Wellbeing Practitioner roles (PWP, CWP and EMHP) and £62 for Associate Psychology roles (CAAP and CAP).

You will also need to meet the required supervision and Continuing Professional Development (CPD) activities for your role.

Further information about the CPD and supervision requirements will be made available on the BPS website on launch of the register.

We are at the very beginning of registration and registering psychological practitioner roles.

The five roles on the Wider Psychological Workforce Register are the first roles we will be registering as they have a course accreditation route which provides a pathway into individual registration as one of the eligibility requirements to register.

For the wellbeing practitioner roles we have ensured close adherence to the national competence frameworks for the roles and this was also a requirement for NHS England recognition of the registration scheme.

We recognise that there are many other routes where competencies are developed and also other psychological practitioner roles outside of the NHS and we will be exploring registering other roles in different employment settings that have similarities to the current roles to be registered in terms of the role, population and settings that they work.

Whilst we explore and build on our registration for non-regulated roles, we want to ensure that individuals working in the broad range of psychological professional roles are able to have a membership home with the BPS and so the review of our membership grades seeks to include wider psychological professionals, recognising the knowledge, skills and competence of these practitioners and these changes should come in to place in 2022.

The decision for regulation of roles rests with the UK Government and is based on the level of potential for harm or risk to patient safety.

Currently, the Government’s preference is for voluntary registration.

Voluntary registers are not regulated by law but the Professional Standards Authority helps to provide a level of assurance by accrediting registers held by professional bodies.

At present there is not a formal process for transferring from one role to another unless you have undertaken the appropriate training.

Individuals will only be able to register against the role that they have trained for and are currently working in.

There is likely to be further discussions about movement across roles with funding bodies across the four nations and employers in the future.

Registration is only for individuals currently practising in these roles.

As part of the application process you are required to evidence that you are currently working in the role that you are registering with through the provision of a supervisor reference.

Membership of the society is still available and our Membership Team can help to illustrate the options based on your individual circumstances

Some of the roles on the register are in the workforce across the four nations. For example the PWP role has been established in Northern Ireland and we accredit the training for this role.

Your registration will be recognised in different nations as long as you can evidence that you meet the requirements of working in the specified system of care for the role as described when you join the register and have a supervisor reference as evidence of you working in this specified system of care under supervision.

The CAAP role for example is only established in Scotland and is not a recognised role in the English workforce.

We are hoping that these registration developments will provide recognition for individuals that have trained to work in a particular role and we are working with programme leads to facilitate a way for individuals that have trained in these roles to evidence their competence when applying for roles in a different nation.

Employers will continue to have their own local and national recruitment practices in place and registration is to provide a further layer of governance and assurance for employers that high standards are maintained by individuals in these roles.

We are ensuring compliance with the PSA and are in the process of seeking PSA approval of the register.

This will afford protection to those accessing services provided by registrants.

We are aiming to receive PSA approval within a year of the register launching.

For any further questions, please contact [email protected]