The 2026 Ethical Framework becomes mandatory for all BACP members at midday on Tuesday 3 November 2026. It replaces the 2018 edition and is built in three sections rather than the old commitments-and-good-practice structure. One set of requirements is entirely new: five conditions to meet before using AI or digital tools. Two others firm up things the 2018 edition already asked for in looser terms: a rationale for ethical decisions, now with six set questions, and a clinical will with an appointed executor.
This is a read of the published document rather than a summary of BACP's summary. Where the wording matters, it is quoted.
When it takes effect
The framework's copyright page says it "takes effect from 3 November 2026". BACP's page on preparing for the new edition adds the time: the framework sits there for three months "before it becomes mandatory for all members at midday on Tuesday 3 November 2026." If you are writing a policy or a contract that cites a date, cite that one.
One thing BACP's page does not say is that the 2018 edition is withdrawn. The 2018 PDF, the Word version and the Welsh translation were all still listed at the time of writing, and the page notes that members "are still committed to using the Ethical Framework for the Counselling Professions 2018 to support all aspects of their practice until Tuesday 3 November 2026". That matters if you are ever asked about a decision you made in October.
The structure changed, and that is not cosmetic
The 2026 framework is made up of three sections:
| Section | Name | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| A | Working ethically within relationships | How to reach an ethical decision, and how to show your reasoning |
| B | Ethical principles | The principles that underpin the whole document |
| C | Core responsibilities | Four groups of numbered, specific obligations |
The document's own strapline is "Working ethically is working within relationships", and the introduction asks members to use the three sections "to: inform decisions, explain the reasons behind our ethical decisions and work in practice in our professional role."
The shift that follows from this is the one BACP leads on. The 2018 framework already applied its principles to trainees and supervisees, but it was framed largely around the practitioner and the client. The 2026 framework is framed around all professional relationships, and applies the same standards across supervisees, trainees, research participants, colleagues and organisations. If you supervise, train or manage, more of the document applies to you than did before.
The biggest practical change: you now have to show your reasoning
Section A turns a general expectation into a structured one. The 2018 edition said members "will be ready to explain why we decided to respond in the way we did" (point 94). The 2026 edition goes further: members must be able to produce a rationale for ethical decision-making, and the framework specifies what that rationale has to answer.
Six questions, as published:
- What are the ethical issues?
- What steps, if any, will be taken to engage the person to be impacted by the decision (client, supervisee, trainee, organisation, research participant, for example) in the decision-making process? If we are not doing this, or this is not possible, why not?
- What are the relevant internal factors considered in the decision-making process? How will they impact the decision you make?
- What are the relevant external factors considered in the decision-making process? How will they impact the decision you make?
- What decision(s) were made and actions taken? What was the outcome of them? Were they consistent with the Ethical principles and Core responsibilities set out in the Ethical Framework?
- How was the process reviewed, and with whom?
Two details in that list are easy to skim past and shouldn't be.
Question 2 presumes collaboration and asks you to justify its absence. The default is that you involve the person affected in the decision. If you do not, the framework wants the reason recorded. Section A goes on to set out when collaboration might not be possible, separating temporary factors such as a question over someone's capacity from permanent ones and from statutory responsibilities you have to meet regardless.
Question 6 asks who else saw it. A rationale reviewed with nobody is a weaker answer than one taken to supervision.
The framework also says that where shared decision-making happens, those discussions "must be clearly recorded and agreed", and that a rationale recorded at someone else's request "must also be recorded in a way that is consistent with good practice around record keeping".
The honest summary is this: in 2018 you were expected to be ready to explain a decision; in 2026 you are expected to be able to evidence how you reached it, against six set questions. That is a record-keeping change as much as an ethical one, and it lands on the same notes system you already use.
Five rules on AI and digital tools, at 2.1(e)
The framework's AI provisions sit inside core responsibility 2.1, which covers personal safety and the safety of the people you work with. Point (e) requires members to assess the risk of any AI tool, digital tool or online platform before using it, and to be able to demonstrate that they:
i) are competent to use the tool or platform.
ii) understand how data are handled and stored, and any risks to confidentiality and that we have mitigated any associated risks as far as possible.
iii) are honest and transparent with people about our use of AI, digital tools or online platforms, and the benefits and risks involved with their use.
iv) have the informed consent of those using our services before inputting any of their personal data into AI or digital tools.
v) have not deferred or outsourced our decision-making to AI tools. We remain responsible for critically evaluating AI output and for any subsequent decisions we make based on its advice or suggestions.
Point iv is the one that will catch people. It requires informed consent before any of a client's personal data goes into an AI or digital tool, not after, and not by implication. A therapist who pastes session content into a general-purpose assistant to help draft a letter is inside that clause, and so is anyone using a transcription or note-summarising service that processes identifiable material.
Point v closes the obvious escape route. Using a tool does not move responsibility onto the tool. You remain accountable for evaluating what it produces and for anything you do on the strength of it.
Point ii is the one most practitioners cannot currently answer. "Understand how data are handled and stored" means knowing where a supplier processes and keeps the data, which is a question to put to the supplier in writing rather than infer from a marketing page. Our guide to where patient data is actually stored covers how to ask it.
Supervision has moved, and tightened
In the 2018 framework supervision had a detailed run of its own. In 2026 it is a single core responsibility, 4.3, covering supervision across all aspects of practice. Compression is not relaxation. The framework now requires that:
- the supervisor's competence accords with the BACP supervision competence framework
- regular supervision is undertaken in accordance with BACP membership requirements, the practitioner's level of experience, training and caseload
- supervision is independent of line and case management
- you collaborate with your supervisor on ethical dilemmas and challenges arising through the work
- there is agreement with the supervisor about who holds key responsibilities for clients
Three of those are worth sitting with.
Independence from line and case management is stated flatly. The 2018 edition asked that "a substantial part or preferably all" of supervision be independent of line management (point 61). The 2026 wording drops that qualification and adds case management. For anyone supervised by the person who also manages their caseload, this is a structural problem rather than a paperwork one.
Checking the supervisor against the competence framework is new, and it makes the supervisee responsible for something they may never have checked. It is a question to ask at the start of a supervisory relationship, and the answer belongs in the supervision contract.
Agreement on who holds key responsibilities for clients firms up point 65 of the 2018 edition, which asked for "careful consideration" of how those responsibilities were allocated. Agreement closes the gap where both parties assumed the other was carrying something. It wants to be explicit and written down.
Hours and frequency are still governed by BACP's membership requirements rather than by a number in the framework. Our guide to how many supervision hours you need as a BACP counsellor sets out the current position.
A clinical will is now an explicit requirement
Core responsibility 4.5 covers managing breaks and endings so as to minimise the impact on clients. Buried in it, at point (e), is a requirement that members:
ensure we have a clinical will in place and have appointed an executor who, bound by confidentiality, can communicate with clients and service users if we are unable to contact them ourselves, or if we die.
The duty underneath it is not new. Point 42 of the 2018 edition required members, in the event of death or serious illness, to "have appointed someone to communicate with clients and support them in making alternative arrangements". What 2026 adds is the form: a clinical will, and an executor appointed under it. BACP's 2026 glossary says the executor will "usually be a trusted colleague or a specially appointed trustee or supervisor".
For a solo practitioner this is still the most consequential line in the document, because the formal document is the part most likely to be missing. A clinical will names who takes responsibility for your client records and your active caseload if you cannot continue. It is a separate document from a personal will.
The same responsibility also requires reasonable advance notice of a planned ending where it is safe to give it, and management of unplanned breaks and endings to minimise harm and disruption.
If you do not have one, this is the thing to do first, because it needs another person to agree to the role rather than an afternoon of your own time.
Record keeping at 3.2
Records sit under core responsibility 3, legal and professional responsibilities. 3.2 requires that records:
- are factual, adequate and relevant for the type of service offered
- are stored securely and comply with the data protection requirements of the country where the record is stored
- include all communications, notes and other information held relating to clients or service users within the records you keep of your work
The second point is broader than many practitioners' current practice. Texts, emails and anything else held about an identifiable client are part of the record, not adjacent to it.
Core responsibility 3.1 requires members to understand and comply with data protection law in their country of practice, naming for the UK the Data Protection Act 2018 and the UK General Data Protection Regulation.
Retention periods are not set by the framework. Our guide to how long to keep counselling records covers where those actually come from.
The four core responsibilities, in full
Section C is where the specifics live. The numbering is worth learning, because this is what anyone will cite back at you.
| Core responsibility | Covers | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Build appropriate relationships | 1.1 treat people with respect · 1.2 give people the information they need to make choices · 1.3 establish and maintain appropriate boundaries · 1.4 work collaboratively to resolve ethical dilemmas |
| 2 | Keep ourselves, colleagues and those using our services safe | 2.1 personal safety, including digital tools and AI at (e) · 2.2 be honest when something has not gone to plan · 2.3 maintain our health and wellbeing · 2.4 act appropriately to protect people from harm |
| 3 | Understand and act on our legal and professional responsibilities | 3.1 protect confidentiality and privacy, including data protection duties · 3.2 keep appropriate records · 3.3 reporting serious crime and safeguarding concerns · 3.4 be financially responsible |
| 4 | Deliver services to high professional standards | 4.1 competence, keeping skills current, BACP Register terms · 4.2 have adequate insurance · 4.3 supervision · 4.4 treat people fairly · 4.5 manage breaks and endings, including the clinical will at (e) |
The table uses the headings from the body of Section C. The short list at the start of the section words two of them slightly differently ("Keep ourselves and those using our professional services safe" and "Deliver services to expected professional standards").
2.2 deserves a mention of its own. It requires honesty and transparency with the people using your services "about anything that has not gone to plan in our work together". The duty of candour itself is not new: the 2018 edition had a section on accountability and candour, and its point 52 asked members to be "open and honest about anything going wrong". What changes is the apology. The 2018 edition asked for one "when this is appropriate"; 2.2(a) now requires members to "apologise to the person or people affected", with no qualifier.
What to do before 3 November
A short list, in the order that makes sense:
- Put a clinical will in place and get an executor to agree. Longest lead time, needs another person.
- Check your supervision arrangement against 4.3. Is your supervisor's competence consistent with the BACP supervision competence framework? Is the arrangement independent of line management? Is there a written agreement about who holds key responsibilities for clients?
- Audit the digital tools that touch client data. For each one, can you answer 2.1(e) points i to v? Where a tool processes identifiable material, you need informed consent recorded before the data goes in.
- Decide where your ethical rationales will live. The six questions need a home. A dated note against the client record is more defensible than a notebook.
- Check what counts as "the record". If client texts or emails sit outside your notes system, 3.2 says they are part of the record.
- Update anything that cites the framework. Contracts, privacy notices, supervision agreements and website pages quoting the 2018 edition will need the new reference and, where they cite point numbers, new numbers.
Where this does not apply
The framework binds BACP members and registrants. If you hold your registration with the UKCP, the NCPS or another body, your own ethical code governs you and nothing here changes it. Practitioners who hold more than one membership are bound by both, and where two codes differ the stricter one is the safe working assumption.
It is also worth being clear about what the framework is not. It sets professional standards for BACP members; it is not law. Where it names the Data Protection Act 2018 and UK GDPR, it asks members to understand and comply with them. For what those require, the ICO's guidance is the place to start, and a genuinely legal question needs professional advice.
Common questions
Does the 2026 framework apply to work I did before 3 November?
Not as a mandatory standard. BACP's page says members remain committed to the 2018 edition until Tuesday 3 November 2026, when the 2026 edition becomes mandatory. If a question about a decision ever turns on timing, BACP's ethics service is the place to ask.
Do I have to write a rationale for every decision?
The framework does not say every decision. It sets out what a rationale must contain when one is produced, and notes that one may be required by others. In practice the useful threshold is any decision you would want to be able to explain later: a disclosure, a refusal, an ending, a boundary change.
Is a clinical will the same as my personal will?
No. A clinical will deals with your client records and active caseload if you cannot continue or you die. It names an executor who can act on those specifically. It is a separate document and the person named has to agree to the role.
Can I still use digital note-taking or transcription tools?
The framework does not prohibit them. It requires that you are competent with the tool, understand how it handles and stores data, are open with clients about using it, have informed consent before any personal data goes into it, and do not treat its output as a substitute for your own judgement.
Where do I read the framework itself?
On BACP's Ethical Framework pages, which host the 2026 edition alongside its glossary of terms, FAQs and the Ethics Essentials videos explaining each section.
A note on tooling
Two of the changes above are record-keeping problems wearing ethical clothes. The rationale requirement needs somewhere dated and durable to live, and 3.2 wants everything held about a client inside the record rather than scattered across a phone and an inbox.
Atlacare keeps clinical notes with a locked, versioned history, three visibility tiers, and files attached to the patient record, which covers the second of those and gives the first a sensible home. On 2.1(e): Atlacare has no AI features and sends nothing to any AI provider, so there is no AI processing of client data to disclose or consent to. A clinical will is not something the platform records today, so that one belongs in your own documents for now.
Start with the clinical will. It is the requirement with the longest lead time and the one most likely to be sitting at nothing.
Sources: BACP Ethical Framework for the Counselling Professions 2026 (read in full, 12 October 2026) · BACP Ethical Framework 2026 glossary of terms · BACP Ethical Framework 2018 (previous edition) · BACP, Preparing for the 2026 Ethical Framework · BACP, Ethics essentials. Quotations are taken from the published 2026 document unless attributed to the 2018 edition, the 2026 glossary or BACP's preparation page. Check the published document before relying on an exact form of words.
