Once we receive your application, we will check that you have provided all the information we need and that you meet the basic eligibility Criteria. We will match it to your Proposer’s statement and check that you have made the correct payment. We will then send your application to the assessors.

We aim to take no more than four months to assess your application and tell you our decision. If we need to contact you because your application is incomplete or unclear, the process may take longer.

Any documentation you send us to support your application for accreditation must be authentic, accurate and current. If we discover that any of the information is not accurate or complete, we may turn down or withdraw your accreditation application. False information may result in a referral to Professional Conduct for investigation.

The decision will be one of the following:

• Criteria met
  If the evidence submitted is judged to have met all criteria, accreditation as a NCAC counsellor / psychotherapist will be awarded. You will be informed in writing and a certificate of accreditation will be sent.
• Criteria not yet met
  If any of the criteria are judged not to be satisfactorily evidenced at this stage, you will be informed in writing. The deferment letter will explain why particular criteria have not been met. You will then be allowed a further six months in which to address the points in the letter and send further evidence. All evidence to meet the outstanding criteria must be sent at the same time. A further fee of £70, non refundable, is payable to cover the additional assessment.

If you do not address the points in the letter and send further evidence by the end of the six-month period, your application will be deemed to have lapsed.

There is no facility to appeal at this stage.

Final decision

Your additional evidence will be assessed alongside your original application and a final decision made. If all criteria are judged to have been met, accreditation will be awarded. If, however, any criteria remain unmet, your application will be deemed to be unsuccessful.

Your options then will be:

1. Re-application:you need to wait a period of 12 months after the final decision before you reapply. The re-application should provide new evidence which addresses the reasons given for failure of the first application. The full accreditation fee applies to the new application.
2. Appeal– Applicants have the right to appeal against Final accreditation decisions on procedural grounds, that is:

That the application has not been fairly and properly assessed against the published criteria.

Disagreement with the assessors’ professional judgement is not in itself grounds for appeal.

• An appeal must be lodged within 2 months of the date of the final decision letter
• A fee of £70 is payable
• The decision of the appeals panel is final