In April 2023 BACP members asked CTUK to submit a letter of concern to BACP on their behalf. You can read this letter here. BACP have since responded. Their full response is below.
LETTER
email only: in**@uk***********.uk
15 May 2023
Re: Letter of concern
Dear Maria
Thank you for your email and for taking the time to raise your concerns with the BACP Chair Natalie Bailey and the BACP Board. Your comments have been reviewed by Natalie and the Board and we’d like to provide a response.
Firstly, we note your concerns with regards to the changes in management and leadership at BACP since 2020. Where appropriate, we have shared timely updates with regards to resignations from both our senior leadership team & Board with all members through our normal communications channels.
We understand that some members would like to know more about the circumstances of these resignations. However, we can only reiterate that we are mindful of the need to respect the privacy and confidentiality of those involved. Whilst transparency is a key pillar of all our member interactions, our communications in this regard are bound by the individual and very personal nature of each departure.
We have also previously confirmed that these departures, with the exception of our Deputy Chair, Michael Golding, were not directly related to SCoPEd. You can see BACP’s full statement regarding the departure of our Deputy Chair on our website:
https://www.bacp.co.uk/news/news-from-bacp/2023/8-february-statement-on-our-deputy-chair/
Your statement regarding trustee members and senior leadership team members in place since the beginning of the current Chair’s tenure is correct.
The Board now stands at 6 out of a possible 12 members. A priority for our Governance team is to work with the Board and Governance Remuneration and Nominations (GraN) committee, to recruit into the remaining vacancies. This process is underway, recognising the importance of recruiting the requisite skills to add value to the Board, and the time that this can take.
The wording of Article 33 in BACP’s Articles states “There shall be a Deputy Chair appointed by the Board of Governors from amongst the elected Governors for a period of four years with effect from the Annual General Meeting.
As our previous Deputy Chair resigned towards the end of January 2023, and given the Board’s commitment to ensuring organisational stability, we believe that it is right and proper that we seek to appoint the right person to take up this important role.
We are, of course, sorry to hear that some of our members are left with a sense of uncertainty for the future. We would like to take this opportunity to reassure our members that our Board of Governors and Senior Leadership team, led by our new CEO, Anna Daroy, continue to work collaboratively and are committed to leading the organisation into our next five-year strategy. Natalie’s recent re-election as Chair also provides important continuity at Board level to see through this strategy.
You make reference to our recent response to the Partners for Counselling & Psychotherapy
(PCP) regarding the findings from the independent Governance Review undertaken by BACP in 2022.
Unfortunately, and as we previously communicated to PCP, we are unable to publicly share further details of this report or its findings. Whilst we recognise that this may be frustrating, this is an approach that we take with all internal, operational matters of a potentially sensitive nature. That said, I hope we have given a clear indication above that we are working hard to ensure BACP successfully continues to support its members with strong governance as we move forward.
We trust this helps to clarify our position on these matters and we’d like to thank you again for contacting us.
Yours sincerely
END OF LETTER
- The two images above show the hard copy of the letter from BACP. The text above is a copy and paste from this letter.
