UKCP

What UKCP does

UKCP (UK Council for Psychotherapy) is a registered charity (no. 1058545) and company limited by guarantee (no. 3258939) domiciled in England, operating as the leading professional regulatory body for psychotherapists and psychotherapeutic counsellors in the United Kingdom. Its core asset is a national register accredited by the Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care, which confers official regulatory recognition and underpins its public-protection mandate. UKCP serves approximately 12,000 individual members organised through a federated structure of 10 colleges and 72 training, accrediting and listing organisations, with membership tiers spanning full clinical, trainee, student, and organisational categories. Revenue is generated primarily through recurring membership fees, supplemented by training-listing, publication, and event income, with no public pricing disclosure.

UKCP's product surface consists of a public-facing Find a Therapist directory on psychotherapy.org.uk (the principal demand-generation asset), tiered membership programmes for individual and organisational members, complaints handling, policy and research output, and member-facing media including the New Psychotherapist publication and podcasts. The technology stack is not disclosed; no proprietary technology, APIs, SDKs, or AI capabilities are documented in the available material. Distribution combines a self-serve consumer-facing therapist finder, direct membership sales to professionals, and a partner channel of 72 training organisations that supply trainee and student members into the pipeline.

The go-to-market motion is sales-led via membership acquisition, supported by content marketing (news, explainers, podcasts), organic social media across Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and X, events and conferences, and regional community groups (e.g., UKCP Scotland). The primary customer segment is practising and trainee psychotherapists seeking accredited registration; the secondary segment is members of the public using the therapist directory to access care, and the tertiary segment is training and accrediting organisations. UKCP's strategic positioning centres on standards enforcement, public protection, and advocacy for improved access to psychotherapy within the UK mental-health ecosystem.

Name

UKCP

Legal name

UK Council for Psychotherapy

Website

https://psychotherapy.org.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

1993

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

UKCP (UK Council for Psychotherapy) is a UK registered charity and the leading professional regulatory body for psychotherapists and psychotherapeutic counsellors, maintaining a PSA-accredited national register of approximately 12,000 individual members and serving the public via a therapist finder directory.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Professional Psychotherapy Membership and Regulation

NAICS

Labor Unions and Similar Labor Organizations (813930)

akta.pro primary industry

Continuing Education (CE/CPD) & Provider Accreditation Bodies (EDADACAF)

Keywords

• Psychotherapy professional regulation
• Therapist accreditation register
• Professional membership body
• Mental health therapist directory
• Psychotherapy training standards

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Membership fees: UKCP generates revenue primarily through membership fees charged to individual psychotherapists, trainees, students, and organisations. Annual membership fees fund the organization's operations, register maintenance, and regulatory activities.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

UKCP is a professional membership and regulatory body for psychotherapists and psychotherapeutic counsellors in the UK. It maintains a national register accredited by the Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care, operates a public therapist finder directory, offers tiered professional membership (Full Clinical, Trainee, Student, Organisational), administers complaints handling, and provides policy advocacy, research, and training resources.

Product overview

UKCP (UK Council for Psychotherapists) operates as a professional membership organization and regulatory body, not a software technology company. Its core offering consists of a therapist finder directory integrated with a national register of accredited psychotherapists. The organization provides tiered membership services (Full Clinical, Trainee, and Student) alongside educational resources, policy advocacy, and complaints handling. The product portfolio centers on public protection through standards enforcement and professional development, with no technology product offerings.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Find a Therapist Directory A searchable public-facing online directory that enables individuals in the UK to find accredited psychotherapists and psychotherapeutic counsellors near them, filterable by location, therapeutic modality and specialism. Covers 100+ modalities (e.g. psychoanalytic, CBT, existential, Gestalt, EMDR, family therapy, child and adolescent therapy) and supports both in-person and remote therapy options.
• National Register of Psychotherapists and Psychotherapeutic Counsellors
• Full Clinical Membership
• Trainee Membership
• Student Membership
• Organisational Membership
• Psychotherapy Training Resources
• Complaints Handling Service
• Policy and Research

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social CarecoreOthersUKCP's national register is formally accredited by the Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care, a regulatory body. This accreditation is the primary mechanism by which UKCP provides public protection and confidence in the psychotherapy profession. It is a core regulatory partnership rather than a commercial one.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Broad incumbents

• BPS (British Psychological Society): BPS is the UK professional body for psychologists across all disciplines. While broader in scope and serving a different practitioner population, it is an adjacent incumbent with overlapping policy, training accreditation, and public-facing directories.
• HCPC (Health and Care Professions Council): HCPC is a UK statutory regulator of selected health and care professions. While it does not currently register psychotherapists, it sets the broader regulatory backdrop against which PSA-accredited registers such as UKCP operate and is the benchmark for any future statutory regulation.
• Royal College of Psychiatrists: The Royal College is the UK professional body for psychiatrists. It is not a direct competitor for psychotherapist membership but operates in the same mental health regulatory and policy ecosystem and influences NHS referral pathways relevant to UKCP members.

Direct peers

• BACP (British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy): BACP is the largest UK membership body for counsellors and psychotherapists, with a materially larger member base than UKCP. It runs the same core model - PSA-accredited register, membership tiers, public therapist directory, and training organisation accreditation - making it UKCP's closest direct competitor.
• National Counselling Society (NCS): NCS is a PSA-accredited register for counsellors and psychotherapists in the UK, competing with UKCP on practitioner accreditation, public therapist directory visibility, and training programme listing.
• BPC (British Psychoanalytic Council): BPC is the UK body registering psychoanalytic psychotherapists and psychodynamic counsellors under a PSA-accredited register. It overlaps significantly with UKCP's psychoanalytic and psychodynamic colleges in modality scope and member population.
• BABCP (British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies): BABCP is the UK professional body accrediting CBT practitioners. It maintains a PSA-accredited register, accredits CBT therapists and training, and runs membership programmes, overlapping with UKCP's accreditation and membership functions but focused specifically on the CBT modality.
• NCPS (National Council for Psychotherapy and Counselling Standards): NCPS operates a PSA-accredited register for counsellors, psychotherapists, and hypnotherapists, providing direct competition for both practitioner members and public-facing search traffic alongside UKCP.

Regional players

• IACP (Irish Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy): IACP is the largest professional body for counsellors and psychotherapists in Ireland, with a comparable membership and accreditation model but operating in a different national market from UKCP.
• COSCA (Counselling & Psychotherapy in Scotland): COSCA is Scotland's professional body for counselling and psychotherapy, operating a similar accredited-register and membership model but focused geographically on Scotland rather than competing head-on across the whole UK.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/UKCP_Updates
• Facebookfacebook.com/UKCouncilForPsychotherapy
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/ukcp
• Instagraminstagram.com/psychotherapiesuk

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about UKCP