South Wales

Who can apply

The start date for our 2026 intake will be 28th September 2026

• We are unable to consider:
  Undergraduate students or students completing a conversion course at the time of application.
  Applicants enrolled on another programme (e.g. completing a PhD or MSc) at the time the course would start.
• Applicants with overseas fees status
• If candidates are completing or have completed a training programme funded by NHS training bodies outside of Wales, they must have at least a two-year gap between finishing NHS-funded training (final exam board) and applying to us for clinical psychology training. If they commenced such a training programme before 16 October 2023, they are still eligible to apply for the 2026 intake. Please note: Candidates who have been NHS funded to complete a training programme within Wales are able to apply for the 2026 intake. Candidates who have commenced  CAAPs training in South Wales (even if prior to 16 October 2023), will require a two-year gap between finishing Health Education and Improvement Wales (HEIW) funded training and starting clinical psychology training as set out in their employment 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 an undergraduate degree
• We do not accept candidates with a 2:2 at undergraduate level unless they have subsequently completed an academic PhD.

For international degrees, we make use of information from the clearing house and Cardiff University when interpreting degree equivalence. Please see Admissions criteria for postgraduate study - Study - Cardiff University for the Cardiff University Postgraduate Taught Qualifications Equivalencies table.

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 direct assessment or/and intervention like contact with populations relevant to the role of clinical psychologist
• Roles where direct support is given e.g. healthcare assistant, care worker, youth worker may be relevant where acquired competencies relevant to the ability to work as a clinical psychologist can be demonstrated

As indicated above 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 at the time of writing the reference.

We also require an academic Suitability Statement. We recognise that some academic references from the Open University may be limited and candidates will not be prejudiced against where this is the case, however, if candidates have attended another university after doing an Open University degree, they must obtain an academic reference from the subsequent academic institution unless there is a very clear rationale for not doing so in which case further information must be provided on the clearing house form as to why this was the case. We would ordinarily expect academic references to be from the most recent academic institution where a candidate has studied a substantial academic course i.e, undergraduate or post-graduate - Masters or PhD. If you are not using an academic referee from your most recent academic institution or you are asking someone from outside an academic institution to write this reference, please give a clear rationale as to why and think about whether the chosen referee will be able to comment on all aspects of your academic work

Please note that applications will not be considered at short-listing unless both Suitability Statements have been received. Suitability Statements submitted after the clearing house deadline for these statements has passed will not be considered.

We strongly advise that candidates check with referees that they feel able to complete ALL sections of the reference and consider an alternative referee if their chosen referee does not feel able to comment on particular sections. If there is no other suitable referee available, the reason for why the referee does not feel able to comment on some sections of the reference but has still been chosen should be given on the clearing house form.

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 and certificates for completed academic qualifications, including undergraduate degree, MSc, conversion course, PhD.
• If the requested transcripts and/or certificates do not give a final overall degree classification (e.g. 1st, 2:1, Merit, Distinction etc) another official document giving that degree classification must be provided directly to the course by emailing it to us at [email protected]

Please check that all documents are present, correctly uploaded and legible. Please do not upload documents upside down, it is very difficult for us to read, and it is possible that important information will get missed. Applications that are not submitted with the correct paperwork will not go through to short-listing.

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. This does not include acknowledgements in peer reviewed articles or authorship of non-peer reviewed material.
• 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).