382: Data security in the BACP Ethical Framework 2026

it's a good idea it's called the format apparently in media we're showing them the secrets behind the curtain well look the there was an announcement i think uh unless you've been under a rock and you don't even have to be a member of the uh the bacp to to have seen this the ethical framework is updated as much needed 2018 was the last update i think rory if my Memory serves me correct.

2026 November, into effect comes the new ethical framework and significant changes, I have to say.

This is significant changes.

There's a lot to cover in the new BACP ethical framework.

So we're going to be looking today at data security in the new BACP ethical framework.

What do we need to know, Rory?

Well, I think the first thing we need to know is you don't have to be a member of the BACP to realise that the world is changing.

And ethical frameworks reflect the society that we live in.

They always have and they always will.

When I started many years ago, we lived in a... um smaller world in terms of things like social media the internet even mobile phones when i trained they were they were things of the future very few people had the internet or i'm making myself sound like an ancient now answer um many many people um didn't have mobile phones or didn't have internet or email addresses facebook was something that just didn't exist and what's happened is that the new ethical framework which goes live on the 3rd of november 2026 from the bacp addresses the society that we live in in other words it addresses in part a technological society and as i said you don't have to be a member of the bacp to realize that this is really really important stuff and i suspect although i don't know i suspect that all professional bodies i'm talking about the ncps ukcp their frameworks will probably align with the bacp and one of the areas that the bacp have looked at is the use of data storage really really important because we're now living in a world where data is more valuable than oil i'll repeat that again data is more valuable than oil there are data brokers that sell information and the last thing that you need is for your clients information to end up on the dark web to end up being bought and sold and they are bought and sold there's been a numerous breaches over the summer of education the police service their security has been breached and we have to be extra vigilant about how we store client data and make sure to the best of our ability it's it's protected ken and the new bacp framework addresses that specifically doesn't it

It most certainly does.

And I've got the benefit of the SuperDuper handout.

And we'll direct you to the SuperDuper handout towards the end of this topic.

But I'm going to read from it here.

So it says, the key message, the 2026 framework makes data security a visible part of the ethical practice.

It connects confidentiality, safety, competence, transparency, informed consent, record keeping, and accountability.

For therapists, what does it mean? Well, it means being able to explain not only what information is held, but where it goes, who can access it, how it's protected and what will happen if something goes wrong.

So that's kind of the key message of what we're going to be covering here today.

And here's kind of a heads up of the areas we're going to dip into.

We're going to look at why it matters.

Why does it matter to you? Why does it matter to your practice and your clients? And then what actually counts as data security? So when we're talking about this data security, what is it? What actually counts as data security? And then we're going to look directly at the 2026 framework from the BACP.

And we're going to take different sections and kind of give you a sentence or so of what they're asking and what that actually means.

And then we're going to try to map it to the client's journey.

So, yes, that's what the framework says.

That's what's in black and white.