Listening, representing and influencing

Natalie is also now a Trustee, and this will mean for the first time Senate has the opportunity to be formally represented at the Board of Trustees. This is only possible because of changes to our Charter, but also through our commitment to listening to senate.

At the most recent Senate meeting we had some really interesting discussions about what the purpose of Senate is and how it can most effectively operate to represent member networks and members. I have no doubt that Natalie will be instrumental in driving this work forward.

We are really pleased that the call for the first working group of the Member Network Review project will soon be going live. The first group will be looking at member network reserves and I would encourage you to keep a look out for more information on how to get involved very soon. The success of this project hinges on co-production and we look forward to this project moving forward in the next few weeks.  

The society has also been busy ensuring it is representing the views and the voices of its members and growing its external influence. We have been engaging with members from across the society on our response to the HCPC consultation on its proposed fee increase. The increase proposed in the consultation launched in September will raise fees by £19.62 to £117.74, almost double the current rate of inflation. Led by the BPS, a coalition of professional bodies and trade unions joined forces to raise our concerns about this proposed increase. These concerns were strongly echoed by the response we had to our call for evidence and the survey that we issued for members to complete. We would like to thank all members who have supported us by responding to the survey. You can find all live consultations on the consultation page of the BPS website.

As well as our work on consultations our teams have been busy working to influence decision makers within government and the opposition. We held a really productive meeting with the Shadow Education Secretary where we raised our concerns about the lack of ring-fenced funding for SEND, and the need for greater access to psychologists to support children in education.

The recent autumn statement include a commitment by the Chancellor to address the severe workforce crisis in the NHS with proposals for much-needed medium and long-term planning and investment. We will work closely with our colleagues in the NHS and other stakeholders to apply pressure to the government to stick to its promise to publish a comprehensive workforce plan next year. Our members have been telling us loud and clear that the workforce in the NHS is in crisis, with the urgent need to grow the psychological workforce, and also protect and improve the wellbeing of all of those currently working in the NHS. We will continue to keep you updated as to our work in this area to ensure we have a seat at the table for these discussions.  

On the theme of 'having a seat at the table' we are delighted that we have been invited to have a representative on the new AQA panel tasked with defining the scope of psychology at A Level. This is vitally important to ensure that we can input and help shape the curriculum to best support and educate our future psychologists.

Finally, we have made no secret of the fact that the society and psychology has big strides to make in the area of equality, diversity and inclusion. In this vein we are delighted to have recruited 15 members of the new Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategic Board, which will be chaired by Dr Adam Jowett. It will hold its inaugural meeting in December 2022 and after this the whole board will be introduced on the BPS website, along with the plans for the board and its work streams.

On the theme of EDI, I would encourage you all to check out the new research initiative which aims to shed light on history of marginalised groups in UK psychology. For the first time we have teamed up with the University of Leicester to offer an Arts Humanities Research Council-funded Collaborative Doctoral Award (CDA) which will which will focus on the history of marginalised groups in UK psychology, using the society's archive as the main research resource. This is a fantastic opportunity and exactly the type of the initiative the society should be developing and supporting and we hope to do more of this in the future.