Complaints

Making a complaint

When making a complaint, it is important that you let us know the nature of your concern so that we can direct this information to the most appropriate colleague. We would ask that you outline your concern and refrain from sharing any personal or sensitive information about any person associated with this complaint or concern in your initial correspondence with us.

If you wish to make a complaint, or provide feedback, about any of the bpf’s services or activities, please contact [email protected].

If your complaint or concern is about a therapist

If you have a complaint or concern about a qualified therapist, we will share this information with our Ethics and Professional Standards Committee. We would advise that you also check whether the therapist is listed on either the British Psychoanalytic Council or Association of Child Psychotherapists register. If they are, you can also raise your concern directly with the organisation that they are registered with.

If you are a student, trainee or applicant

Please use our student procedures, which explain each stage and include the forms you’ll need:

Student Complaints Policy, for complaints about your course, our services or the bpf
Academic Appeals Policy, to challenge an academic decision
Admissions Complaints Procedure, for applicants

These procedures apply to all bpf students and trainees, whichever course you are on. You can find the step-by-step guidance and forms on our Student Policies and Regulations page.

Taking your complaint further: the Office of the Independent Adjudicator (OIA)

If you are, or were, on one of the higher education courses listed below, and you remain unhappy after completing our internal procedures, you can ask the OIA to review your complaint or academic appeal. You must complete all stages of our internal process first. We will then send you a Completion of Procedures letter, which you will need to apply to the OIA.

The OIA scheme applies to:

IPCAPA Doctorate in Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy (in collaboration with University College London)
MSc Psychodynamics of Human Development (validated by Birkbeck, University of London)
Doctor of Psychodynamic/Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Clinical Practice (DPPClinPrac) (in collaboration with the University of Exeter)

Courses delivered with a university partner

For complaints about teaching, support or services provided by the bpf, please use the bpf procedures above. For matters handled by the university, such as decisions about your final award, please use that university’s procedures:

MSc Psychodynamics of Human Development: Birkbeck, University of London
IPCAPA Doctorate: University College London
DPPClinPrac: University of Exeter

If you’re not sure which procedure applies, contact [email protected] and we will do our best to direct you. You can find more about our university partners on our Education Partners page.

You can find more information about the OIA, including what it can and can’t look at and what it can do to put things right, at oiahe.org.uk/students.

If you have a complaint about fundraising:

Please see our Fundraising Complaints Procedure (PDF) for further guidance.