Where do NCPS stand?

TACTT recently sent a group letter to The National Counselling and Psychotherapy Society (NCPS), signed by members, asking for clarification on their position regarding conversion therapy, and the Memorandum of Understanding. This followed NCPS being named in the statement in which UKCP announced their withdrawal from MoU; UKCP stated that they, with NCPS (and other bodies would seek to create new guidelines). The CEO of NCPS, Jyles Robillard-Day, has confirmed that he has received this letter and will respond within 28 days, but since then, new information has come to light, which have raised further questions for us.

Through further investigation, we have become aware that NCPS themselves does not appear to be listed as a signatory on the MoU. This was, for all of us NCPS members at TACTT, a big shock, especially given the fact that historically, they had been a signatory. From what we can see, they remained a signatory up until the end of 2022, but no longer appear on the document in January 2023. This seems to coincide with an update that was made to the MoU in November 2022.

The questions we are therefore asking are as follows:

*Why is it that NCPS appears to have disappeared as an MoU signatory between those dates?

Is this an error, or was it purposeful?

*If this is an error:

• is it connected to the changing of the name of the society, from NCS to NCPS?
• Can it be rectified asap so the membership can feel confident that they belong to a body who is part of the partnership against conversion therapy and supports the principles laid out in the MoU?

*If it was purposeful:

• what was it about version two of MoU that they originally signed that made them make this decision, when their own written code of ethics supports it?
• why have the membership not been informed, let alone consulted?

If the NCPS has not been a member of the MoU for nearly a year and a half, without its members being aware (and given there is still open reference to the MoU on the website), this would be an extremely serious matter.

Whether an intentional action or an error, we consider this action a grave mistake. What will be actioned in order that NCPS is fully transparent and accountable to its members to ensure such a grave error not be made again?

All these questions need answering and in our opinion, NCPS must (re)commit to the MoU at the earliest opportunity, and an apology and explanation should be submitted to its thousands of members, untold numbers of whom believed that they were part of an organisation signed up to the MoU, and who thus had a known and widely accepted framework to work within.

We await a full response from NCPS and will share any updates accordingly.