In addition to the BPS’s contributions to the issues highlighted in other parts of the website (ideology, discrimination, harmful advice), it also suffers from its own problems – again highlighting that it is not fit for purpose and is bringing the discipline of psychology into disrepute.
For example, the BPS is:
- Guilty of financial impropriety – https://www.thirdsector.co.uk/long-standing-british-psychological-society-trustee-quits-citing-governance-spending-concerns/governance/article/1707182
- Experiencing governance issues – for full details, see BPSWatch which provides extensive evidence of impropriety – information which has also been passed on to the Charity Commission.
- Breaching Charity Commission guidelines through releasing political statements.
For example, the Division of Clinical Psychology released a statement in support of the BLM movement and the BPS is still persisting with the notion that systemic/institutional racism exists despite the findings of the British Government’s Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities.
- Breaching the 2010 Equality Act by releasing discriminatory statements (based on race and belief) (for example, numerous statements of ‘concern about whiteness‘ on the Clinical Psychology Division’s homepage, release of a statement saying that we should ‘apologise‘, regularly presenting ‘maleness’ or ‘masculinity’ (especially when combined with whiteness) as problematic, as is European, or evidence-based psychology.
- Breach of Health and Care Professions Council guidelines regarding standards of conduct, performance and ethics, specifically to ‘Treat Service Users with Care’ (e.g. point 1.1. You must treat service users and carers as individuals) and ‘Respect and Challenge Discrimination’ (e.g. point 1.5 You must not discriminate against service users, carers or colleagues by allowing your personal views to affect your professional relationships or the care, treatment or other services that you provide.)
It should be clear from the above that the BPS is also failing to achieve its own commitment to promote equality, diversity and inclusion and to challenge prejudice and discrimination. Similarly, it is failing to achieve its own standards, notably, being unable to meet 4 out of 5 of its aims:
- embrace equity, diversity and inclusion in everything we do (due to discrimination against white people, men, and those who disagree with the prevailing narrative)
- promote and advance the discipline (due to shutting down any question or challenge of the prevailing narrative, and failure to abide by scientific standards)
- be the authoritative and public voice of psychology (many have voiced concerns about its conduct, and issues documented by BPS Watch and The Third Sector show why this lack of confidence is well-founded)
- determine and ensure the highest standards in all we do (it is clear from the content of this website that high standards are not achieved by the BPS and that indeed, it is damaging the reputation of the discipline of psychology)
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