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BACP does not prescribe a mandatory record keeping regime, but its Ethical Framework for the Counselling Professions sets a clear expectation that practitioners keep adequate records to support safe and competent practice, and those records must be held in line with UK GDPR.

There is no single statutory retention period for private counselling records, but UK GDPR requires you to keep personal data only as long as necessary for the stated purpose, and professional guidance suggests a minimum of seven years from the end of the therapeutic relationship (longer for work with children).

Supervision is an ethical requirement under BACP, UKCP, and NCPS frameworks, but the specific minimum hours are set by each body and are recommendations, not statute; BACP guidance indicates a minimum of one and a half hours per month for practitioners in substantial practice.

As soon as you hold client information in any organised form, you are a data controller under UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018, which means you must register with the ICO (unless exempt), have a lawful basis for processing special category health data, provide clients with a privacy notice, and hold data securely.

A well drafted client contract, sometimes called a working agreement or therapeutic contract, should cover the terms of the therapeutic relationship, confidentiality and its limits, data handling, fees and cancellation, and session practicalities; the BACP Ethical Framework treats a clear working agreement as a component of good practice.

The BACP Ethical Framework for the Counselling Professions is the governing ethical standard for BACP members; it sets out values, principles, and personal qualities alongside specific requirements covering competence, supervision, record keeping, confidentiality, and working agreements, but BACP membership and framework adherence are voluntary, not legally mandated.