South Wales

Who can apply

We are unable to consider:

• Undergraduate students or students currently completing a conversion course.
• Applicants who are enrolled on another programme (e.g. completing a PhD or MSc) at the time the course would start. 
• Applicants with overseas fees status
• If you are completing or have completed a training programme funded by NHS training bodies in any part of the UK, you must have at least a two-year gap between finishing your NHS-funded training and starting NHS-funded clinical psychology training. If you commenced such a training programme before 16 October 2023, you are still eligible to apply for the 2025 intake. Please note: if you have commenced your CAAPs training in South Wales (even if prior to 16 October 2023), you will require a two-year gap between finishing your Health Education and Improvement Wales (HEIW) funded training and starting clinical psychology training as set out in your contracts.

Academic

All applicants must have:

• GBC confirmed at the time of application
• 2:1 or 1st class undergraduate degree in psychology recognised by the BPS for GBC
• OR a conversion course recognised by the BPS for GBC with a 2:1 (merit) or 1st class (distinction) level, plus a minimum 2:1 in your undergraduate degree

Clinical

All trainees accepted onto the programme need:

• A minimum of 9 months full-time (or equivalent) experience in a healthcare and/or research setting relevant to clinical psychology.
• At least some of this experience must be direct work with a relevant client-population.

Types of experience include (but are not limited to):

• Work as an assistant psychologist
• Work as a psychological practitioner or therapist
• Research experience that involves client contact
• Roles where direct support is given e.g. healthcare assistant, care worker, youth worker

A broad range of experience will be considered and candidates who have gained experience from non-traditional routes are welcome to apply.

Our short-listing criteria credits range and depth of experience, placing emphasis on how candidates can talk about what they have learnt from their experiences and their relevance to clinical psychology.

References / Suitability Statements

All applications must be accompanied by two satisfactory Suitability Statements.

The experience statement must be written by a current/recent line manager who must be able to comment on your ability to work with a relevant client population. The referee must have known you for a minimum of 3 months.

We also require an academic Suitability Statement.

Please note that applications will not be considered at short-listing unless both Suitability Statements have been received.

If successful at interview, recent employment references will be required by the employing Health Board.

Documents required

Your application must include:

• A document confirming your GBC status.
• All academic transcripts for completed academic qualifications, including undergraduate degree, MSc, conversion course.
• If the transcript for your GBC course (Undergraduate or Conversion) does not give a final overall degree classification (e.g. 1st, 2:1, etc) please also provide a copy of your degree certificate giving your degree classification.

Applications that are missing documentation will be rejected.

Advice for your application

We short-list based on the job description and person specification for a trainee clinical psychologist.

• Please see the main Entry Requirements section to download a copy

Within the short-listing process, we will look at:

• Ability to demonstrate a good understanding of the role of the clinical psychologist.
• Ability to demonstrate what candidates have learnt from their experience and how this applies to the role of the clinical psychologist.
• Aptitude to carry out research including knowledge of the research process, statistics, and other methods.
• Practical demonstration of scientist-practitioner skills e.g. through formal research, service evaluation or audit.
• Evidence of authorship of peer reviewed-journal-publications.
• Evidence of personal qualities, values and interpersonal skills that are in keeping with working as a clinical psychologist within the NHS.
• Understanding of and demonstration of co-production with service users and/or carers.
• Ability to speak Welsh (however, ability to speak Welsh is not a requirement for the programme). 

International applicants

All applicants must have Home Fees Status and eligibility for employment by the NHS at the start of the programme.

Your application must include evidence of your eligibility to work in the United Kingdom (where relevant).

Applicants must demonstrate a sufficient command of the English language.

Applicants for whom English is not their first language will be required to have IELTS with an overall score of 7 with 6.5 in all subskills, taken no more than two years before the proposed date of entry (or an alternative English language test accepted by Cardiff University).