Who signs off your counselling hours?

The short answer: three signatures, not one

Trainees often assume their supervisor signs everything. In practice, UK counselling training verifies hours through several parties, each vouching only for what they actually witnessed:

• Youkeep the log of your client sessions and supervision (the "student log book"), and you attest that it is accurate.
• Your placement (the agency where you actually see clients) is the only party that can confirm your client hours happened: the sessions run on their premises and their booking systems.
• Your supervisor signs the supervision hours you had with them, and reviews the client work you bring to supervision. An external supervisor is not present for your client sessions, so they cannot honestly certify those took place.
• Your course approves the placement, collects all of the above, keeps its own running record through your tutor, and cross-references everything before the qualification is awarded.

What supervisors themselves say

We asked practising BACP-listed supervisors what they are personally expected to check and sign. Their answers agreed: the placement provider signs off client hours, because the supervisor is not present when the work is done; the supervisor signs the supervision hours and keeps an eye on client hours through supervision. One supervisor described sign-off as cross-referencing three separate records: the student's log book, her own log book, and the hours the training provider holds. Another noted that exactly what a supervisor must sign varies with each training organisation: some ask for a signed note of topics discussed in each supervision session, others just the hours.

The published model: CPCAB's Level 4 Diploma

The clearest published statement of this structure is CPCAB's candidate guidance for the Level 4 Diploma in Therapeutic Counselling (TC-L4), the qualification behind many college courses. It requires "100 hours minimum of one-to-one, formally contracted counselling with at least five different clients in agency settings", with the placement approved by the centre. The candidate must keep a log of their client work; the agency "is required to complete a report on your work"; and the portfolio must include at least one supervisor report and at least one agency report. And a detail that surprises people: cancellations and non-attends do not count towards the hours total.

Different awarding bodies and universities issue different paperwork, but the shape is the same everywhere: your log, the placement's confirmation, the supervisor's report, the course's approval.

What this means for how you keep your record

• Get signatures as you go, not at the end. Hours that were never signed off are very hard to evidence retrospectively: months later, nobody can honestly vouch for them.
• Keep the three records agreeing.Your log, your supervisor's log and the course's record will be reconciled eventually; every discrepancy found late is yours to untangle.
• Know who to ask for which signature. Ask your placement (not your supervisor) to confirm client hours; ask your supervisor to sign supervision. If your supervisor works inside your placement, they may wear both hats, but they are still two confirmations.
• Never count cancellations or no-shows towards client hours, even when the time was set aside.
• Check your course handbook first. The training provider sets the paperwork, and course-specific forms take precedence over anything generic.

Sources

CPCAB, Level 4 Diploma in Therapeutic Counselling (TC-L4) candidate guidance, including the client record, agency report, supervisor report and cancellations rules (cpcab.co.uk; quotations checked 4 August 2026). Replies from practising BACP-listed supervisors to Lantern, August 2026, quoted with details removed. This page summarises published guidance and first-hand accounts; your course's current requirements always take precedence.