Commission for the Future of Counselling and Psychotherapy calls for regulation

The call is made in a report published Monday 2 November 2026 following an independent review launched in October 2025. 

Leigh Day client Ella Janneh says the position has largely been spurred by a conversation started in December 2024 when Leigh Day hosted a round table event for the therapy industry. 

Ella and her solicitor, Catriona Rubens later gave evidence to the Commission on whether there is a case for statutory regulation. 

Ella Janneh had successfully sued therapist Mike Lousada in the high court for rape and sexual assault in 2024. She followed up her civil claim win by campaigning for regulation supported by abuse team lawyers Cat Rubens and Alison Millar at Leigh Day, and this week welcomed the “collective call for regulation”.  

Ella told the Guardian: 

“Statutory regulation would lock abusive and unethical people out of the system. The current lack of centralised regulation allows for repeat offenders to continue practising with no oversight. That is reason enough to bring in regulation,” Janneh said. 

The report cites her “powerful testimony” as an illustration of the “devastating, ongoing impact” the absence of statutory regulation can have, since her therapist is still able to practise despite the outcome of her civil case. 

Ella said: “One of the main reasons why the lack of government regulation has skated under the radar of public awareness is that most people assume it’s already in place.” 

The Guardian reports that the report further argues that the evidence base for counselling and psychotherapy should be improved, and notes that its lack is resulting in “insufficient and unsustainable public commissioning and investment”. 

The Guardian reports that MP Sojan Joseph, chair of the all-party-parliamentary group on mental health, said he supported the case for statutory regulation and would raise the issue in Parliament. 

Leigh Day partner Alison Millar said: 

"We are pleased that, for the first time, the major voluntary-register professional bodies representing counsellors and psychotherapists have collectively called for statutory regulation. 

"Mandatory regulation and registration of practitioners is vital so that vulnerable clients do not have to continue navigating a system in which anyone can hold themselves out as a counsellor or psychotherapist, regardless of their training, competence or regulatory oversight."