Level 5 Diploma in Counselling Children and Young People (CYP-L5)

This post qualifying qualification is designed to give learners the specialist knowledge, skills and competences to work as counsellors with children and young people aged 11-18.

This qualification will enable successful candidates to work as counsellors with this age group in a range of job and career opportunities, which include but are not limited to:

• A counsellor employed by a School or College
• A counsellor in an agency or organisation which specialise in counselling children and young people
• A private counsellor working for an external organisation such as a school, youth club, wellness/mental health setting
• An ‘adult’ counsellor in independent practice wishing to extend their work to cover this age range
• A youth worker in the community
• An outreach worker with adolescents/teenagers

You must have obtained our Level 4 Diploma in Therapeutic Counselling or its equivalent.

Read section 5 of the Specification for further information.

Centres that hold an Advanced Learner Loan (ALL) facility or are registered with the Office for Students (OfS) in England can transfer to the use of Lifelong Learning Entitlement (LLE) funding for courses starting from January 2027. Please note Advanced Learner Loan funding will be withdrawn in 2030.

Centres looking to offer this qualification with access to the relevant student finance options can apply for registration with the Office for Students (OfS), subject to meeting the Department for Education (DfE) criteria.

If your centre does not currently hold an ALL facility or OfS registration, you can still deliver this qualification, however candidates would be required to self-fund.

For more detail see A Guide to Funding for CPCAB Centres’.