With effect from Friday 26th March LACAP will be increasing its fees to patient's by £10.00. This will mean that the fee minimum is now £40.00 & rising to £90.00.

This is because of two internal factors:

1. Increased pressure from therapists, and reluctance to take on £30.00 fees.
2. Increasing reluctance of therapists to manage their own diaries and administrative affairs - including point blank refusal to make use of the 'Help Pages' or to facilitate reception by using Skype, leading to a massive increase in administration costs.

And two external factors:

1. Research on the other leading advertisers in London suggests that their fees have risen.
2. Our rents and disbursements have increased, and with the recession it is notable that other Clinical Groups have massively upped their advertising budget to grasp the 'scarce patient' - forcing LACAP into a similar increase (up from £90 a day in September 2009 to £150.00 a day from March 2010).

LACAP will monitor to see if this level of fees is putting off new applications. We rather suspect that this will be so. In that case we will open up a more general discussion about therapists' aspirations in a recession climate, which together with a collective failure to retain the idea that the existing fees rates translate into very reasonable incomes (see http://www.london-counselling-psychotherapy.co.uk/Members.Logon/New.Assessments.table.htm ) is probably a debate worth having.

Should the new £40-£90 range be achievable, LACAP will increase its room charges to £10.00 per hour with effect from 1st June 2010. Phil will be publishing revised, and hopefully more comprehensive, 'help-pages' over the coming weeks. LACAP may well consider a differential room charge rate for certain therapists who cannot manage their own administration (see our requirements: http://www.london-counselling-psychotherapy.co.uk/APPLY/Therapist.Requirements.htm )

You may also wish to draw attention to the increased fees for your current patients. Should it be helpful, a page has been created and can be linked to HERE: http://www.london-counselling-psychotherapy.co.uk/Blog.Pages/New.Fee.Rates.Spring%202010.htm

Best Regards,
Donald Kirkpatrick