Resources / Hours log template

Counselling hours log template

A free Excel workbook for logging your placement hours and supervision as a UK counselling trainee. No email address, no sign-up: just the download.

Download the template (free)Works in Excel, Numbers, LibreOffice and Google Sheets.

What's inside

  • A client sessions sheet and a supervision sheet, one row per session, with dropdowns for the fiddly fields so your log stays consistent.
  • A monthly totals sheet that adds up client hours and supervision hours per calendar month, because supervision minimums run per calendar month, not every four to five weeks.
  • A start here sheet with the published BACP and NCPS requirement figures, their sources, and the date we last checked them.
  • No space for client names, anywhere. The template uses short client codes (like CL-01), so your log never holds client-identifying details. Your future self, your supervisor and UK GDPR will all thank you.

Built to the published requirements

BACP requires a minimum of 1.5 hours of supervision per calendar month, and trainees on BACP-accredited courses need one hour of supervision for every eight hours of client work, with supervision every two weeks. Core training includes a supervised placement of at least 100 client hours. NCPS likewise requires a minimum of 100 supervised clinical hours during training and recommends 1.5 hours of supervision per month with fortnightly meetings.

Sources: bacp.co.uk/membership/supervision and ncps.com/become-a-counsellor, checked 3 August 2026. Your course handbook or supervision contract can be stricter than your professional body, so always check the current criteria with your course and body directly.

When the spreadsheet stops being enough

A spreadsheet records hours, but it cannot check each month against your body's rules, warn you before a month fails, or get a month digitally signed by your supervisor so it stands as evidence years later. Lantern does all three, and this template's sheets match Lantern's CSV import exactly: save either sheet as CSV and your whole history imports in one validated pass, nothing retyped. Free for your first three months, no card to start.

Related

BACP supervision requirements for trainees, in plain English covers the monthly minimum, the 8:1 ratio and how group supervision time is counted, with worked examples. There is an NCPS guide too.