The British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) is investigating claims from the BBC that employee assistance programme provider (EAP) Health Assured has behaved in an unethical way, but the company has refuted all allegations.
A BACP spokesman said in a statement: “We’ve passed allegations shared with us by the BBC on to our accredited services team, who will be investigating these claims and contacting Health Assured.
“If there’s found to have been unethical behaviour or poor practice at any BACP accredited service, we’ll take appropriate action.
“This could result in conditions on their membership or even withdrawal of their membership.”
A BBC report from earlier today revealed that BBC File on 4 had heard allegations that calls from vulnerable people to Health Assured were not always handled properly.
The BBC report said: “One caller claims he was advised “to go on a date” with his wife after he said he was having suicidal thoughts.”
It added: “We spoke to counsellors and team managers who described low morale, high staff turnover, and a frequent struggle to keep up with demand.”
And BBC File on 4 said it had seen internal communications sent to counsellors which seemed to show weekly targets being set.
“In one week, it appears they were asked to keep calls below 19 minutes and to refer just 18% of callers to therapy,” the BBC report said.
But Bertrand Stern-Gillet, CEO at Health Assured, said: “Health Assured fully refutes the allegations that have been made by the BBC.
“We issued a full and thorough written response to all questions posed to us, making this explicitly clear, and it is good to see that reflected in the coverage.
“We wrote proactively to the BACP last week to advise them of this upcoming coverage, and to advise the BACP of our detailed responses to the BBC’s questions.
“We have worked closely with the BACP in a number of areas over the years, and we look forward to answering any questions they may have for us following this article.
“We follow all correct protocols and adhere fully to all industry standards, and welcome any investigation into our service.
“We hold ourselves to the highest standard with people at the heart of everything we do – both in the care we provide, as well as ensuring the health and wellbeing of our employees.
“We are proud to be an industry-leading provider of EAP services. Our 97% client retention rate, reviews, and accreditations are testimony to this.”
Health Assured noted that in 2023 its complaint rate was less than 0.5% of the total number of cases. It said it had more than 475,000 contacts in 2023, up from 277,000 telephone contacts in 2019.