Revised standard for recency of practice published today

02 Feb 2016

A revised registration standard for recency of practice and a revised policy for recency of practice requirements have today been published by the Psychology Board of Australia.

The revised standard and policy will both come into effect on 1 December 2016 and will replace the standard and policy that are currently in place. This standard will apply to all registered psychologists except those with non-practising registration. Practitioners will need to meet the obligations of the revised standards by the time they renew their registration in 2017.

Revised registration standard

The Board has also published new recency of practice resources to support and explain revisions to the standard and policy and to help practitioners understand the requirements.

Revised policy and information for practitioners

The key change to the Board’s recency of practice requirements is that a requirement for minimum hours of practice has been introduced.

To meet the standard, psychologists must practise within their scope of practice at any time for a minimum total of:

• 250 hours in the previous five years (approx 6 ½ weeks full time),

Most practitioners who are currently practising will meet the revised standard.

The change may affect those psychologists who are currently practising infrequently, or who have had a recent absence from practice, or who are currently taking a break from practice and wish to return to practice. The revised standard has been published well in advance of its commencement to provide practitioners adequate time to prepare for the changes to the recency requirements.

The Board encourages all practitioners to review the revised registration standard to check whether they will be affected by the changes.

If a psychologist cannot meet the minimum hours of practice in the revised standard, this will not necessarily prevent them from returning to practice as a psychologist. The standard sets out the options for psychologists who don’t meet the standard including those with non-practising registration and psychologists who are not registered and wish to return to practice after 1 December 2016. The revised policy sets out new requirements for remedial actions applicants may be required to complete if they are not able to comply with the registration standard.

The revised standard was approved by the Australian Health Workforce Ministerial Council on 27 August 2015 and was reviewed as part of a scheduled review of standards. A public consultation was held as part of the review, and the submissions to public consultation are published on the Board’s website. A brief consultation report which outlines the public consultation has also previously been published by AHPRA.

Additional resources

The following additional resources about the revised standard are available on the AHPRA website.

• letter of approval
• Recency of practice registration standard consultation report
• common FAQs and timetable for commencement