14/09/2026
Ofqual, CPCAB, BACP and NCPS
What Does It All Mean?
If you're new to counselling training, the different organisations, qualifications and acronyms can be incredibly confusing.
We are often asked:
“Is your course Ofqual regulated?”
The short answer is that Ofqual regulation is one route to recognising the standard of a qualification – but it is not the professional regulation of counselling, nor is it the only thing you should look at when choosing counselling training.
First, it helps to understand who does what...
• OFQUAL – regulates qualifications
Ofqual is the government-appointed regulator of qualifications in England.
Its role is not specifically about counselling. It oversees qualifications across a huge range of subjects and industries and regulates recognised awarding organisations and the qualifications they offer.
An Ofqual-regulated qualification therefore gives useful assurance that a qualification has been formally placed within the national qualifications framework and that its awarding organisation must meet Ofqual's regulatory requirements.
Ofqual does not decide whether somebody is a safe, ethical or professionally competent counsellor.
That is where counselling's professional bodies become particularly important.
• BACP and NCPS – professional bodies for counselling and psychotherapy
The British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) and National Counselling & Psychotherapy Society (NCPS) are professional bodies specifically concerned with counselling and psychotherapy.
They set professional and ethical standards relating to areas such as:
• counsellor training and competence
• supervised clinical practice
• ethical practice
• professional conduct
• supervision
• continuing professional development
• registration and professional membership
For someone hoping to become a practising counsellor, these professional standards matter enormously.
Counselling is not currently a statutorily regulated profession in the UK. This means there is no law stating that every counsellor must hold one particular government qualification.
Instead, reputable counsellors normally demonstrate their professional standing through appropriate practitioner training and membership or registration with recognised professional bodies.
So there are really two different questions:
1. Is the qualification nationally regulated as an educational qualification?
and
2. Does the training meet the professional standards expected of somebody entering the counselling profession?
They are related questions – but they are not the same question.
• So where does CPCAB fit in?
CPCAB – the Counselling and Psychotherapy Central Awarding Body – is a specialist awarding organisation for counselling qualifications.
Many colleges choose to deliver CPCAB qualifications. CPCAB writes the qualification specification, sets requirements for approved centres, quality assures delivery and assessment, and awards the qualification.
Many of its qualifications are regulated by Ofqual.
CPCAB is therefore a perfectly valid and well-established route into counselling.
But it isn't the only possible model for counselling training.
• Why doesn't the HUB simply buy and deliver a CPCAB course?
This is an important distinction for us.
We are an independent specialist counselling college and have chosen to develop our own training rather than simply purchasing and delivering somebody else's standard qualification specification.
That gives us considerably more freedom over what we teach and how we teach it.
We can continually develop our curriculum around what we see happening in real counselling practice, changes within the profession, feedback from students, supervisors and placements, and the skills we believe newly qualified counsellors genuinely need.
Our students therefore aren't simply being taught to satisfy the requirements of a generic national qualification specification.
We can build training around the realities of becoming a counsellor.
That includes substantial skills practice, personal development, ethics, safeguarding, risk, formulation, different therapeutic approaches, supervised placement experience and the transition from student to competent practitioner.
It also allows us to update and improve our curriculum without waiting for an external awarding body's qualification specification to change.
• Does that mean CPCAB or Ofqual regulation is a bad thing?
Absolutely not.
An Ofqual-regulated CPCAB qualification has some genuine advantages. It provides a nationally regulated qualification with a clearly defined level and provides consistency and portability between training centres.
For some students, employers, further education providers or progression routes, having an Ofqual-regulated qualification may be particularly useful.
But there is a trade-off.
Delivering an externally written qualification means a college has less freedom over the qualification structure, assessment requirements and curriculum. There are also awarding-body registration, assessment and quality-assurance processes and associated costs.
Our decision has been to invest in developing and quality-assuring our own specialist counselling curriculum rather than adopting an off-the-shelf qualification simply in order to carry the CPCAB/Ofqual label.
Different route. Not automatically a lesser route.
The important question is what that particular course enables the student to do professionally afterwards.
• What should a prospective counselling student actually ask?
Rather than asking only:
“Is it Ofqual regulated?”
we encourage prospective students to ask:
“Where can this training take me?”
Look at the whole training pathway.
Ask whether the practitioner training provides sufficient tutor contact, supervised client placement, skills assessment, theory, ethics, personal development and supervision.
Ask how the course relates to the requirements of professional bodies such as BACP and NCPS.
• Ask whether the practitioner training provides sufficient tutor contact, supervised client placement, skills assessment, theory, ethics, personal development and supervision.
• Ask how the course relates to the requirements of professional bodies such as BACP and NCPS.
• Ask what graduates need to do to become professionally registered.
• Ask whether there is a genuine placement involving real clients.
• Ask who teaches the course and whether they are experienced practising professionals.
• And importantly, ask what support you receive.
Those questions tell you far more about counsellor training than one logo on a certificate.
• And what is our UK Provider Reference Number?
Counselling Training HUB is registered with the UK Register of Learning Providers (UKRLP) and has been allocated:
UK Provider Reference Number: 10100643
A UKPRN is a unique identifier used across government departments, agencies and education-related organisations.
It confirms our registration as a UK learning provider.
It is important, however, to be clear that UKRLP registration is not accreditation of our courses and does not itself quality assure a provider's training.
We believe students deserve accurate information rather than impressive-sounding terminology.
• The simplest way to understand it
Think of the organisations as having different jobs:
Ofqual asks:
“Is this regulated qualification being designed and awarded according to the national qualifications framework and regulatory requirements?”
CPCAB asks:
“Does this training centre meet the requirements to deliver our counselling qualification?”
BACP and NCPS ask:
“Does this training and practitioner meet the professional standards required within counselling and psychotherapy?”
The HUB asks:
“How do we train someone to become a competent, ethical and genuinely capable therapist?”
That final question is at the heart of how we design our courses.
• So, is an Ofqual qualification necessary to become a counsellor?
No – not simply because you want to practise as a counsellor.
Counselling is not a statutorily regulated profession requiring every practitioner to hold one prescribed Ofqual qualification.
However, the qualification and training route you choose does matter, because professional bodies have specific requirements for membership and registration.
That is why we encourage every prospective student to look beyond the words “Level 4”, “Ofqual” or “Diploma” and ask the much more important question:
“Will this training give me the knowledge, skills, clinical experience and professional pathway I need to become a competent, ethical therapist?”
For us, that is what good counselling training should ultimately be judged on.
