Client testimonials and reviews: what BACP, UKCP and NCPS actually say

A client has just thanked you, in writing, for the work you've done together, and you're building a website or directory profile the same month. Using their words feels like exactly the kind of proof a prospective client would find reassuring. Whether you can actually put it on your site depends far more on which professional body you're registered with than most newly qualified therapists expect.

The short version: UKCP's answer is no, in plain terms. BACP's and NCPS's codes don't ban testimonials outright, though that's a narrower gap than it sounds, because general ethical principles and the advertising rules that apply to every UK business still constrain what you can do with a client's words.

This is not legal advice on your specific case, and it isn't a restatement of any body's current guidance, which is the only version that actually governs you and which changes. Treat what follows as a map of where the differences sit, not a substitute for reading your own body's code before you publish anything.

UKCP's position is an outright ban

UKCP's Code of Ethics and Professional Practice (2019) is unambiguous. Clause 13 instructs members not to make claims they cannot demonstrate to be true, and, separately, not to include testimonials from clients in any advertising. There's no discretion built into that second part: it doesn't turn on how carefully the testimonial is worded or how clearly the client consented. A single grateful line from a client is still a testimonial, and it is still barred from your advertising if you're a UKCP registrant.

BACP and NCPS leave more room, but not much

Neither BACP's Ethical Framework for the Counselling Professions nor NCPS's Code of Ethics names testimonials as a specific clause. BACP's framework works through broader ethical principles, among them autonomy, trust, confidentiality and integrity, and expects members to reason from those rather than follow a testimonials-specific rule. NCPS's code doesn't prohibit them either, but is explicit that a member must not exploit a client for marketing purposes, which in practice means clear, informed, specific consent before you use anyone's words.

If you're checking BACP's framework yourself, one thing worth knowing: the version in force is about to change. The Ethical Framework for the Counselling Professions 2026 becomes mandatory for every BACP member at midday on Tuesday 3 November 2026, after sitting alongside the current one for three months so members can prepare. Whichever edition is live when you read this, check that one directly rather than take a summary's word for it, including this one.

The rules that apply whichever body you're with

The CAP Code, administered by the Advertising Standards Authority, sits on top of whatever your professional body says, because publishing a testimonial on your own website or directory profile counts as advertising regardless of your register. Its rules on testimonials and endorsements require permission from the person quoted, evidence that the testimonial is genuine (so keep the message or email it came in, rather than relying on memory), and they don't let a testimonial stand in for proof of a claim you couldn't otherwise substantiate: "helped me manage my anxiety" from a happy client is not evidence that your approach treats anxiety. Editing a testimonial in a way that changes its meaning, or using it out of context, breaches the code even with permission for the original words.

An unsolicited review is a different problem

None of the above addresses the review a client leaves on Google or Trustpilot without being asked, which can happen whatever your professional body permits. Two separate issues sit underneath a public review that names or clearly identifies you as someone's therapist. First, it discloses, publicly and permanently, that this person is your client, which is confidentiality territory regardless of what they intended by leaving it. Second, it wasn't written for the CAP Code's permission-and-evidence rules, since you didn't ask for it and can't easily control what it says.

Guidance aimed at therapists on this tends to converge on the same practical position: don't ask a current or recently ended client for a public review, given the power imbalance still present in that relationship; don't try to remove or hide a positive one someone leaves unprompted, since interfering with it raises its own problems; and if you ever reply to one, never confirm or deny that the reviewer was your client, whatever they've said about themselves.

What to do with your own profile and website

Where your body doesn't ban testimonials outright, many therapists choose the simpler route anyway: write in your own voice about your approach, training and experience, and let a prospective client form their own view, rather than asking someone you're still working with, or have only recently stopped seeing, for marketing copy. As our piece on directories and first clients sets out, a specific, honest profile usually does more to turn a browsing visitor into an enquiry than a testimonial would anyway.

If you do use one, and your body permits it, get explicit, informed, written consent that names exactly where it will appear, keep that consent on file the way the CAP Code expects, and get the client to confirm in writing that you haven't changed anything beyond fixing an obvious typo.

A boundary problem software can't solve for you

Practice management software has no view on marketing ethics, and Faresay is no exception: nothing here checks your website copy against your professional body's code. What it does do is keep your records, invoicing and client messages in one system built for the work, separate from anything client-facing you publish, which is a smaller version of the same boundary a testimonial or an unsolicited review can blur if you're not careful about it.

Before you publish anything

1. Find your professional body's current code and read the actual clause on testimonials and advertising, not a summary.
2. If you're with UKCP, leave testimonials out of your advertising and describe your approach and experience instead.
3. If you're with BACP or NCPS, weigh whether a testimonial is worth the consent-and-evidence overhead against a well-written profile.
4. Decide your policy on unsolicited public reviews before one appears, since working it out in the moment goes worse.
5. Keep any consent you do get in writing, dated, and specific to where the testimonial will appear.

This article describes UK professional-body and advertising rules as they stood in September 2026 and is general information for professionals, not legal or professional-body advice. BACP, UKCP, NCPS and the ASA each set and change their own rules; check the current version with your body and the ASA before publishing anything, and raise anything uncertain with your insurer or in supervision.

Faresay is practice management software for UK therapists. See how it works, or compare it with the alternatives.