Planning for the Unexpected: A Therapist's Guide to Clinical Wills and the BACP 2026 Requirement

A clinical will is a plan for what happens to your clients if you suddenly can't work, whether through illness, accident, emergency or death. From 3 November 2026, the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) Ethical Framework requires every member to have one, with a named executor who can contact clients for you, bound by confidentiality.

Why this matters to me

My father-in-law was a couples therapist with a full caseload. He spent three months critically ill in intensive care, in and out of a coma.

While that was happening, his practice kept running. New clients were still trying to book. Invoices still needed dealing with. And his existing clients, people who relied on him, still had sessions in the diary. Those of us around him knew how much they depended on his support, and we wanted to make sure they were looked after and told what was happening. So it fell to us, his family, in the middle of the worst weeks of our lives, to work out who his clients were, what we could say to them without breaching confidentiality, how to get into his diary, how to stop the bookings that kept arriving, and how to handle his invoices.

Here's the part that has stayed with me. There were windows when he was lucid. Had there been a simple way for him to hand his practice over, he could have done it himself, in a moment, from his hospital bed. There wasn't. So it stayed with us instead, at a time when we should only have had to think about him.

This is why our team built a clinical will into Therasee. Not as a document for after a death, but as something a therapist can hand over the moment they're suddenly unable to work, and that steps in for them if they can't. It's also, simply, something the profession requires of therapists. You don't need to use Therasee to follow this guide. Everything below applies whatever system you use, and there's a free template at the end.

What the BACP Ethical Framework 2026 says

The new Ethical Framework for the Counselling Professions 2026 has been launched and will become mandatory on Tuesday 3 November 2026. It applies to counsellors and psychotherapists alike. Until then, the 2018 framework still applies.

The 2018 framework expected members to have appointed someone to contact clients and help them make other arrangements if the practitioner died or became too ill to contact clients. It never used the term "clinical will".

The 2026 framework does. Under core responsibility 4.5(e), members must "ensure we have a clinical will in place and have appointed an executor". That executor must be bound by confidentiality and able to contact clients if you can't reach them yourself, or if you die.

Three other parts of the new framework are relevant:

• Unplanned breaks (4.5d). You must manage unplanned breaks or endings in a way that reduces the risk of harm and disruption for clients.
• Privacy notices (3.1d). Your privacy notice must make clients aware of, and agree to, any foreseeable limits to confidentiality. An executor who may one day contact them counts.
• Explaining your reasoning (Section A). Members must be able to explain the reasoning behind decisions, including how they would respond to unforeseen events. A signed, dated clinical will is exactly that kind of evidence.

What every UK professional body says

This is not only a BACP matter. Whichever body you belong to, some version of this duty applies to counsellors and psychotherapists.

A note for NCPS members. The NCPS Code of Ethics doesn't name a clinical will. It does, however, ask you to tell clients if anything changes about your health or ability to practise, and to tell the Society in writing about any change affecting your ability to practise. If you're suddenly in hospital, a clinical will is the only realistic way to meet those duties.

Different bodies use different terms. A clinical will may also be called a professional will, therapeutic will or practice continuity plan. Your executor may be called a clinical executor, clinical trustee or professional executor.

A clinical will is not just about death

The word "will" makes people think of death, so many clinical wills are written only for that. In reality, the far more likely situation is that something affects your ability to work before it becomes an emergency, and there's a window in which you could act yourself if it were easy to. That might be:

• a planned hospital admission or surgery
• a diagnosis, or a spell of illness that's clearly going to keep you away for a while
• your own mental health beginning to suffer, or burnout building
• a bereavement or family emergency, possibly abroad
• simply not knowing how long you'll be away, which is often the hardest part

In some cases there's no warning at all: an accident, a stroke, a sudden death, and someone has to step in for you. But far more often there's a moment, even a brief one, when the easiest thing in the world would be to hand your practice over yourself, if only you could do it in seconds. A good clinical will covers both.

Pausing your practice vs closing it

What your executor needs to do depends on whether you're likely to come back.

A good plan covers both, because a pause can become an ending.

What to include in your clinical will

1. Your executor(s): name, contact details, qualifications and the date they agreed.
2. A second executor, if you want one. Some therapists appoint two, to share the work or to cover different kinds of case. BPC guidance asks for two; most other bodies accept one.
3. Who would tell your executor: the person most likely to hear first, such as a partner or relative.
4. Where to find everything: your client list, diary, records, and where access to each system is held. Never write down passwords.
5. What to tell clients: your wishes for how clients hear the news, and from whom.
6. Your supervisor, and any supervisees or trainees, if you supervise or teach.
7. Money: outstanding invoices, subscriptions, refunds and your accountant's details.
8. Records: how long they're kept, where, and how they'll be securely disposed of.
9. Who else to notify: your supervisor, insurer, professional body and membership number, and any referring agencies or employee assistance programmes (EAPs).
10. A review date: at least yearly, and whenever things change.

A note on couples and family work. Joint work needs extra thought. Should both partners hear the same message, and from whom? What if one partner has contacted you separately? Write down how joint cases should be handled, rather than leaving your executor to work it out.

Choosing your executor

Your executor will usually be a qualified therapist you trust, such as a colleague, peer or your supervisor. Whoever you choose must be bound by confidentiality, because they may see client information. That usually means another qualified, registered practitioner. It doesn't have to be someone outside your family: if your partner is themselves a qualified practitioner and a member of a professional body, they can be your clinical executor. What matters is the professional obligation, not the relationship. The one thing to avoid is leaving client information in the hands of someone with no professional duty of confidentiality.

Some therapists appoint two executors and divide the work between them. That might be by type of work, with one person handling the administrative side, such as invoicing, settling finances and closing the practice, while another looks after the caseload, contacting clients and arranging their support. Or it might be by caseload itself, for example one executor qualified to work with children and young people and another with couples. One executor is perfectly acceptable. BABCP's policy allows one or two, and BPC guidance asks for two. It's your call.

Why a document in a drawer isn't enough

A signed clinical will, whether it lives in a drawer or in a separate app, is better than nothing. However, that approach has real weaknesses:

• It goes out of date the moment you write it. A separate document or app only holds the client list you typed on the day. Within weeks it misses new clients and still lists people who finished long ago.
• Someone has to find it. Family end up searching desks, inboxes and half-remembered logins at the worst possible moment.
• It doesn't open your systems. Or worse, it contains your passwords, and anyone who finds it can get in.
• It can't stop anything. Session reminders and payment chasers keep going out, and new bookings keep arriving, while you're in hospital.
• You can't see what happened. There is no record of who opened what, or who contacted which client.

This is the core problem with keeping your clinical will separate from where you actually work. The plan is only as current as the last time you remembered to update it.

How Therasee's clinical will works

I spent many weeks on this, working through scenario after scenario. Here's what it does.

Setup takes about five minutes. Go to Settings, then Clinical Will. If you don't have one, answer three short questions and Therasee writes a Clinical Will and Executor Declaration for you to sign. If you already have one, attach it and Therasee adds a short access document to go with it.

Your executor agrees properly. Each clinical executor gets their own private link. They read the full document, confirm their mobile number and sign. They don't need a Therasee account to do this. Your will is only marked as in place once everyone you've named has accepted. If you change who they are or what they can do, they're asked to sign again and shown exactly what changed.

What each executor can access is clearly defined and agreed from the moment they sign, so everyone knows their role from the outset, not just on the day it matters. And because your clinical will is digitally signed and authenticated in advance, an executor only ever sees exactly what you chose to include, nothing more. The signed will itself defines and controls the access.

If you appoint two executors, you can split the handover between them and give each clear, separate direction, for example one handling the practical and financial side while the other looks after your clients, or one taking your couples work and another your younger clients. Each executor can see what the other is responsible for, so nothing is missed or done twice, and Therasee handles telling each of them what's theirs.

Nothing opens until the day it's needed. Holding the document opens nothing, and there are no passwords in it. There are two ways in:

• If you can still act, for example before surgery or when you're unwell, you press "Hand over". You can set an end date or run it until you end it. You can end it in one click at any time.
• If you can't act, or if you die, Therasee support releases access to your executors after checks. This is a recorded, manual step by a person, never automatic.

On the day, your executor signs in under their own name and confirms it's them with a code texted to the mobile number on your will. Access opens securely, only when it's genuinely needed, and never a moment before.

You choose what they can see. Clients, contact details and sessions are always included. Session notes, files, forms and invoices are only included if you tick them, and they're off by default. Settings and your password are never included.

Automatic messages pause. During a handover or release, Therasee stops session reminders, invoice reminders and recurring invoices for your clients. You're also removed from your online booking page. No client gets a cheerful reminder while you're in hospital.

Your clients hear from a person. Therasee never contacts your clients about this on its own. Your executor reaches them personally, using the details they can see. They can cancel sessions and choose whether each client is told, and they can tick off each client as contacted. You can also write your wishes for how clients are told, and these are printed in your will in your own words.

The person who'd hear first knows who to call. You can name the person most likely to find out first, such as a partner or relative. They get one email with your executor's details and Therasee support's contact information. They can't access anything. This is the email my own family needed and didn't have.

Everything is logged. Every client record opened, client contacted, session cancelled and invoice dealt with appears as a plain line in "The log", which you can read.

It stays current, and so does your compliance. Your executor sees your live client list and diary, not a snapshot from when you wrote it. Once a year, Therasee emails to ask "Is your clinical will still right?", and you can confirm with one click. Therasee also reminds your executors once a year, so the arrangement stays live and nobody forgets what they agreed to. Because it stays current on its own and is evidenced automatically, your clinical will keeps meeting your professional body's expectations without you having to think about it. There's nothing to dig out before an audit, and nothing quietly going out of date.

You have evidence if you're asked for it. Download your signed, dated clinical will as a PDF at any time.

It works for group practices too. Each therapist has their own will. A handover only affects that therapist's clients, and an executor's access doesn't count as a paid seat.

Your data stays in the UK. Your clinical will is stored in the UK and encrypted, like everything else in Therasee. It's included on every Therasee plan at no extra cost.

What to do before 3 November 2026

1. Read core responsibility 4.5 in the BACP Ethical Framework 2026, or your own body's code.
2. Choose your executor, or two if you'd prefer, and have the conversation.
3. Set up or update your clinical will so it covers incapacity, not just death.
4. Add a line to your privacy notice and working agreement. For example: "If I become seriously ill, am unable to work, or die, a named clinical executor, who is a qualified therapist bound by confidentiality, may contact you to let you know and help you arrange other support if you want it."
5. Tell the executor of your legal will where your clinical will is.
6. Discuss it at your next supervision session and set a review date.

Make it easy for everyone

A clinical will is one of the kindest things a therapist can do for their clients, and for the people closest to them. Clients hear from someone they can trust, rather than hearing nothing. Your executor knows exactly what to do. And your family never has to work out your diary while they're dealing with something far more important. I know, because we did.