Counsellors and psychotherapists call for UK statutory regulation in ‘watershed moment’

Anyone without a qualification can call themselves a therapist, and can continue to practise even after an episode of misconduct. Photograph: Johner RF/ View image in fullscreen Anyone without a qualification can call themselves a therapist, and can continue to practise even after an episode of misconduct. Photograph: Johner RF/ Counsellors and psychotherapists call for UK statutory regulation in ‘watershed moment’ Exclusive: Professional bodies call for regulation to boost confidence and protect public from abuse in ‘landmark’ report Ministers should introduce statutory regulation for counsellors and psychotherapists to protect the public from abuse, according to a report that has been hailed as a “watershed moment” for the profession. Unlike most other healthcare roles, including doctors, midwives and osteopaths, “psychotherapist” and “counsellor” are not protected titles nor statutorily regulated professions in the UK. This means that anyone can call themselves a therapist without a qualification, and can continue to practise even after an episode of misconduct, under a system that is poorly understood . For the first time, the professional bodies that represent counsellors and psychotherapists, and which run the current voluntary accreditation scheme, are calling for statutory regulation to boost confidence in the profession and protect the public from the growing number of cases of abuse and malpractice. The report, the culmination of an independent review launched in October 2025 , argues that counsellors and psychotherapists are an untapped resource that could fill a mental health treatment gap estimated at about 1.8 million people on waiting lists. Practitioners told the commission they had extra capacity, which the report estimated could cumulatively provide more than 370,000 hours of additional therapy appointments every week. She said it had taken “years and a lot of honest and difficult conversations between victims, other campaigners and conscientious professionals”. “Statutory regulation would lock abusive and unethical people out of the system. The current lack of centralised regulation allows for repeat offenders to continue practising with no oversight. That is reason enough to bring in regulation,” Janneh said. The report cites her “powerful testimony” as an illustration of the “devastating, ongoing impact” the absence of statutory regulation can have, since her therapist is still able to practise despite the outcome of her civil case. “One of the main reasons why the lack of government regulation has skated under the radar of public awareness,” said Janneh, “is that most people assume it’s already in place. They only realise it’s not when something’s gone wrong … Currently your Friday night kebab is subject to stronger regulation than a therapist who sits in rooms alone with vulnerable people.” The report’s co-chair Andrea Sutcliffe, the former chief executive of the Nursing and Midwifery Council and an expert on regulation, said: “We’ve been on a journey around regulation with counselling and psychotherapy over many, many, many years, and the coalition government set its face against statutory regulation in 2011. “We heard some really powerful testimony about the risk and the fact that people have been harmed.