How many CPD hours do UK therapists need? BACP, UKCP, BABCP and NCPS

The short answer most people are looking for is 30 hours a year. That's right for BACP, but it isn't right for everyone, and the figure alone hides the differences that actually catch people out — particularly whether supervision counts, and whether the target is annual at all.

Everything below is taken from each body's own current published requirements. Requirements do change, so treat this as a starting point and check your own body before relying on it.

BACP: 30 hours a year, supervision separate

BACP normally expect registered members to undertake at least 30 hours of CPD a year. Worth noting the wording: they say the focus should be on outcomes, or what you have gained from your CPD, rather than on hours accumulated. So 30 is an expectation rather than a pass mark, and a record showing 40 hours of attendance with no reflection would be weaker than one showing 25 hours with clear evidence of impact.

Crucially, supervision does not count towards the 30. BACP state that supervision is a separate Register requirement and should not be submitted as CPD. We've written more on whether supervision counts towards CPD because it's the single most common misunderstanding here.

UKCP: 250 hours over five years, minimum 20 in any year

UKCP work on a five-year reaccreditation cycle rather than a straight annual target. The requirement is a minimum of 250 hours across that period, with normally at least 20 hours in any single year within it.

That averages to 50 a year, and you'll sometimes see 50 quoted as the UKCP annual requirement. It isn't — UKCP's published annual floor is 20. The 50 figure is arithmetic someone has done on the five-year total. The distinction matters if you have a light year: 20 hours keeps you compliant for that year, provided the five-year total still lands.

UKCP also note that your organisational member or college may require more than their baseline. Some genuinely do. So the honest answer for a UKCP member is "at least 20 this year, at least 250 across five, and check what your college asks on top."

NCPS: 30 hours a year

NCPS normally expect 30 hours annually, and like BACP treat supervision as a separate requirement rather than part of the CPD total. They publish free downloadable CPD, client and supervision log templates, which is worth knowing if you'd rather stay on paper.

BABCP: around 30 hours, but evidence-led

BABCP publish an annual expectation in the region of 30 hours, but their audit approach differs in emphasis. They want supporting evidence and a reflective statement for each activity, showing how it contributed to your CBT practice specifically. Requirements vary by registration route, so check the one that applies to you rather than assuming a general figure.

What counts as CPD

Wider than people assume. BACP's own list includes conferences, e-learning, formal courses, lectures and seminars, in-service training, mentoring, peer support groups, reading, supervising research, relevant television and radio, workshops, work shadowing, and writing articles or papers.

So the book you read about working with trauma counts. The podcast counts. You don't have to spend money on workshops to hit your hours — but you do have to be able to say what you took from it and what changed as a result. That's the part that carries weight, not the activity type.

What actually happens at audit

Worth keeping in proportion. BACP audit 1.5% of eligible renewing members each month, selected at random, and anyone on the Register for more than a year is eligible at renewal. You get around six weeks to respond.

If selected, you send three things: your CPD record, your supervision record with examples of how supervision has affected your practice, and indemnity insurance certificates covering the full audit period. That last point catches people out — a current certificate isn't enough if the audit covers a year in which you changed insurer.

The hours are the easy part

If there's one thing worth taking from all this, it's that hitting the number is rarely what goes wrong. What goes wrong is a record listing dates and course titles with nothing showing how any of it affected practice — because that's what every one of these bodies is actually asking for, in slightly different words.

NoteSono's CPD and supervision tracking is built around that: it knows which body you're registered with, totals your hours according to their rules rather than a generic count, and prompts you for the impact on your practice rather than just the hours. It's part of NoteSono Pro: you can create a free account and start a 7-day Pro trial when you open CPD tracking, no card needed.

Free tool: our CPD hours calculator works out where you stand against your body's annual requirement. Add your activities and it counts supervision separately where your body requires that. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.