Join the BCA for 2022
Make an Application for Membership and Insurance
The BCA has a Vision for chiropractic to be integral to UK healthcare, and to achieve this we work tirelessly to create a home for chiropractors who put patients first. We support our members in all aspects of their professional lives, allowing them to devote their energies to delivering patient-centred care.
Our defined, patient-centred approach, is what differentiates the BCA from other chiropractic professional associations in the UK. The leadership we demonstrate will come as no surprise, given that it was the BCA that founded chiropractic in the UK as we now know it.
This has seen the BCA become a trusted source for chiropractors but also patients and other stakeholders, who rely on us as the key source of chiropractic information. As such, our website attracts thousands of visits a year with c. 50,000 people using our ‘Find a Chiropractor’ function, 30,000 accessing our adverts annually and 50,000 using us to find out where to train to become a chiropractor.
The foundation of your professional career
Supporting chiropractors is in our DNA. We know how hard you work for your patients and throughout our 96 years of existence we have gained unparalleled experience of chiropractic needs and intricacies within the health sector.
A like-minded community
Chiropractors don’t have to join a professional association, but nearly 2000 chiropractors choose to be part of the BCA to connect, learn, network and share with others who value a patient-centred ethos.
BCA events run throughout the year, providing opportunities for our community to come together, often gaining valuable CPD hours, while nurturing relationships that support members in their professional life. We have adapted our events schedule to include more CPD throughout the year and to deliver this through both online and in-person events.
Best in class member services
Insurance
We know that many chiropractors choose us as their association because BCA Insurance Services provide the most robust protection for chiropractors on the market, covering both claims by patients and insurance-backed defence costs at the GCC.
You can practice with confidence when backed by BCA Insurance Services, which is available exclusively to BCA members. They offer a bespoke complaint-handling service, where BCA members receive guidance from experienced, specialist insurance advisers to support and defend member interests. See how BCA Insurance compares:
Make an Application for Membership and Insurance
Professional Support
Dedicated Support – We have a team who can advise and guide members through their professional life.
Employment, HR and Health and Safety - compliance support and advice from a specialist business helpline, available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Access to latest research – free subscription to the Research Review Service with further discounts on RRS courses.
Discounts – a helping hand with the daily costs of clinical products and services, as well as regularly updated high street discounts.
Representing you
We represent member views where it really matters. Here are just a few examples of where and how we do this:
- We are in regular contact with the Department of Health and Public Health England regarding the realities of the use of PPE and infection prevention and control in private practice. This has resulted in updated guidelines more appropriate for the types of settings that BCA members work in.
- We responded to the Department for Health and Social Care’s consultation on reforming professional regulation of healthcare professionals in the UK.
- We are a primary organisation consulted by the GCC when they seek to make changes. The recent consultation with registrants on imaging was first sent to the BCA, where we could suggest amendments that would better suit members.
Promoting the profession
As the largest professional association of chiropractors in the UK, the BCA is called upon as the voice of the profession in various places.
So far in 2021 our press work has reached over 520 million people through over stories/articles/interviews in the media.
One of the most far-reaching roles we undertake for the membership is in the UK media, being approached for comment weekly, as well as working to generate more positive coverage of chiropractic.
The BCA is the only UK professional association which represents UK chiropractors at international level as a founding member of the World Federation of Chiropractic.
We care about the legitimacy and evidence-base of the chiropractic profession, which is why all members contribute to the Chiropractic Research Council. This contribution expands research capacity, supports researchers and produces valuable chiropractic-related research.
Make an Application for Membership and Insurance
Focus on quality, standards and decency
Our focus on quality and standards means insurance levels at their lowest since before 2018 and BCA fees remain static.
A great result from our work in 2021 is that BCA fees will remain unchanged from 2021 which, for a long-serving member, means that they will continue to be about £150 below where they were in 2020. There are two elements to this positive situation:
- The BCA fee element has been retained at 2021 levels through a combination of rigorous husbanding of our resources and increased efforts to improve our income from other sources. We have also increased our workforce and the work we can do for you, at no extra cost.
- The insurance element has been maintained, now at its lowest levels since before 2018, and this against a backdrop of a 20-30% increase in medical malpractice/professional indemnity insurance in other professions and sectors. We have achieved this by arguing that BCA chiropractors have an excellent collective risk profile and that this continues to improve.
Committed to doing things properly
Our association is led by a Board of elected BCA members, which epitomises our values of quality and decency. BCA ‘full’ members elect our Board to ensure the individual member’s voice is at the heart of our work.
We encourage members to undertake the Royal College of Chiropractor’s PRT programme, which promotes them to a ‘full’ BCA member, which entitles voting rights in our democratic structure.
Individual Membership Costs 2022
The membership period runs from 1st January to 31st December each year. For practising BCA membership categories there are several tiers of cost, depending on your year of graduation.
Year of Graduation | Member Fee Total (includes contribution to Chiropractic Research Fund) £ | Optional Insurance (incl Insurance Premium Tax @ 12%) £ | Membership and Insurance Total £ |
2021 | 150 | 732.46 | 882.46 |
2020 | 400 | 831.44 | 1231.44 |
2019 | 500 | 831.44 | 1331.44 |
2018 (and earlier) | 620 | 831.44 | 1451.44 |
Returning from maternity/ paternity/ adoption leave | 400 | 831.44 | 1231.44 |
Academic rate | 400 | 831.44 | 1231.44 |
In membership 50+ years | 50 | 831.44 | 881.44 |
Practising Past President | 50 | 831.44 | 881.44 |
Associated UK Member | 125 | N/A | 125 |
Associated Overseas Member | 150 | N/A | 150 |
Student Membership | 0 | N/A | 0 |
Honorary | 0 | N/A | 0 |
For those graduating during 2022, BCA membership is free! You will also pay insurance on a pro-rata basis.
2022 Graduate Joining in: | Member fee total £ | Optional Insurance (incl Insurance Premium Tax @ 12%) £ | Membership and Insurance Total £ |
June | 0 | 427.26 | 427.26 |
July | 0 | 366.22 | 366.22 |
August | 0 | 305.19 | 305.19 |
September | 0 | 244.15 | 244.15 |
October | 0 | 183.11 | 183.11 |
November | 0 | 122.07 | 122.07 |
December | 0 | 61.03 | 61.03 |
If, as a BCA member, you would be interested in Entity cover, please email BCA Insurance Services.
What do I need to do now?
If you would like to join the BCA for both Membership and Insurance, you can do so by clicking the button below and completing our membership and insurance application form.
Make an Application for Membership and Insurance
If you would like to join the BCA but retain your insurance elsewhere, you can join on a Member Only basis.
Make an Application for Membership Only
If you choose to pay by direct debit, payments are taken over 10 monthly instalments, starting in January, which makes membership and insurance easy to administer for you. You can, alternatively, pay by BACS as a single payment.
Full Membership
To become a Full, voting, member of the Association, one of the requirements for this is successful completion of the PRT programme run by the Royal College of Chiropractors.
If, however, you graduated at least five years ago and did not undertake the PRT programme at the time, there is currently a potential route to Full BCA membership for you as an experienced chiropractor. The BCA will need evidence that you have achieved the equivalent of the requirements of the current PRT programme.
If you wish to pursue this route, you need to complete this form.
(In the case of a new member, this form needs to be completed in addition to a BCA membership application form).
Once the form is submitted and accepted, the name of the applicant would go to the next Annual General Meeting in order to be passed into Full Membership.
Other categories of membership
We also offer free membership to Chiropractic Students.
Make an Application for Student Membership
For chiropractors not practising in the UK, we offer Associate Membership. This membership category does not include insurance; it is a keeping-in-touch category of membership.
The costs of this membership are: Not practicing in the UK and based in the UK: £125 Not practicing in the UK and based outside of the UK £150.
This includes access to the BCA Members’ Area, the BCA magazine, Contact and BCA Plus, range of offers and discounts on a wide range of products and services.
Make an Application for Non-Practising UK or Overseas Membership
If you have any queries about becoming a member, please contact enquiries@chiropractic-uk.co.uk.