On the eve of the 25th Anniversary celebration of Pink Therapy (the UK’s first and largest organisation created to help LGBTQIA+ clients and therapists to have a better experience in the counselling world), the current UKCP leadership has announced its withdrawal as a signatory of the current version of the Memorandum of Understanding on Conversion Therapy (MoU2) (and from being a member of the coalition).

The withdrawal apparently comes about because the MoU2 includes conversion therapy against children, and the current UKCP board would appear to disagree with this stance. This is despite the UKCP being part of a coalition of professionals that is fully aware that conversion therapy impacts young LGBTQIA+ people. There is no evidence that suggests that conversion therapy works (and indeed, UKCP’s own website still states that they expect practitioners not to engage with conversion therapy) and extensive evidence exists that it is harmful.

We remain unclear about why including children (some of our most vulnerable potential clients) in a ban on conversion therapy is perceived as a negative. Statistics concerning homeless people show a significant over-representation of LGBTQIA+ people, including homeless youth. These statistics, considering the existence of the LGBTQIA+ child, suggest that children and young people are at significant risk of being forced into some kind of conversion therapy (or risk losing their home). The current UKCP leadership suggests that it does not disagree with the notion that ‘conversion therapy is bad’, but with the idea that ‘children’ and ‘young people’ should be included in the ban. We hold that if conversion therapy is bad (and we know from evidence that it is), then the age of the person does not actually matter. Conversion therapy kills. That does not change when someone reaches 18.

UKCP’s statement suggests that their concerns have not been listened to on “a number of occasions”, however, the fact that they voluntarily signed the MoU version 2 several years after they mention these concerns suggests that this is in fact a position change by UKCP, rather than an ongoing issue, where the wording for the MoU2 would have been robustly discussed as part of coalition membership.

Not only does this move potentially leave LGBTQIA+ clients undefended but also leaves the many queer and cisgender straight therapists who are UKCP members, and queer and cisgender straight trainees on UKCP-accredited courses feeling blindsided, betrayed and demoralised that a membership organisation they have either chosen to join, or are required to join as part of their training or job commitments, and no longer represents them safely. The UKCP has happily taken members’ membership fees and then made a unilateral decision not in the best interests of the membership, the profession, or clients, and indeed has done so entirely without consultation with its paying members. Who then does the UKCP represent?

UKCP’s current Board of trustees have made this unilateral decision, with no discussion or consultation with the UKCP membership as a whole, many of whom find themselves disgusted by an apparent ‘knee-jerk’ response, with no parallel documentation in place to apparently achieve the same aim (the withdrawal letter states their own policy on conversion therapy will be created). This comes after the UKCP repeatedly refused to respond to invitations for dialogue about serious concerns raised by multiple UKCP members, Members’ Forum Representatives as well as over a thousand signatories of Therapists Against Conversion Therapy and Transphobia (TACTT)’s open letter (last updated in January 2024). This letter was initiated as a result of the UKCP’s recent position concerning the promotion of so-called 'exploratory therapy' for so called 'gender-critical' therapists, again without any consultation of its UKCP members or concerned therapists and clients.

This latest decision made by the current UKCP leadership seeks to undermine the efforts of a broad-based coalition of professional organisations, respectfully working together for a number of years to achieve the agreed goal of ending conversion therapy. Undermining several years’ work and broad-based professional opinion that conversion therapy is harmful seems to be a retrograde step. Given the current climate of discrimination which has led to a record rise in violence against LGBTQIA+ people, this action of withdrawal from the MoU2 is an act of hostility which would not be supported by the UKCP membership, clients, or other stakeholders who are LGBTQIA+ or allies if they were consulted.

We suggest that the UKCP has acted against its own code of ethics (point 32) in making this decision. We firstly call upon UKCP’s board to reverse this decision made on behalf of its membership and other stakeholders without consent or any form of referendum, to establish members’ agreement with such action, with immediate effect.

Secondly we call on UKCP members to join us in calling for a vote of no confidence in the UKCP board, and in calling for their removal from office by a removal election. This letter serves as the petition calling for this, which needs to be signed by 2% of the membership (approximately 250 UKCP members, based on UKCP’s current listed membership statistics).

Join us in letting UKCP know that conversion practices for any age of client are not acceptable, and the most ethical way to ensure that clients are safely held in this regard is by adherence to the membership code, supported by UKCP being an MoU2 signatory.

We the undersigned, agree with the text above.

If you are a UKCP current member, please state this next to your name.