If you’re registered with Bupa and your enquiries have gone quieter this year, a change Bupa made in March is a likely reason. It’s called Members First. I found out about it the way a client would, from an email Bupa sent me as a member.
What Members First is
Since 30 March 2026, Bupa has offered Members First to new and renewing customers with mental health cover. Members who use Bupa’s own talking therapies pay no excess, and nothing comes off their outpatient allowance. That covers phone or video sessions with Bupa’s Talking Therapies team and in-person sessions at one of its Mindplace centres. Members who choose an independent therapist in Bupa’s network pay the usual excess, and the sessions come off their allowance.
Since 1 September 2026, Bupa has also offered Members First as an optional benefit on new and renewing company and trust policies, so it now reaches people with workplace cover as well. Bupa’s announcement
What it means if you’re an independent therapist
Members can still choose you. It just costs them more, and that difference nudges people towards Bupa’s own service. There’s a Mindplace in Newcastle upon Tyne, where I practise, and it appears on Bupa Finder in the same list as me.
So if your Bupa enquiries have dropped, the likely reason is Bupa’s pricing rather than your profile.
Why one door isn’t enough
In October an AXA enquiry came in asking whether I work with men, because everything on my website talks about women. They hadn’t found me through my website. They’d found me through AXA, and my own marketing would never have reached them.
A practice that holds up over time has several ways in: insurers, directories, your website, colleagues who refer to you, and people who heard you speak somewhere. When one of them changes, the others keep the diary going.
My insurance referrals are spread across four insurers, alongside my website, one directory and the people who know my work. That’s why a change at Bupa is something I can keep an eye on rather than watch my Tuesdays dwindle to empty.
Check where your last ten enquiries came from
Look back at your last ten enquiries. Next to each one, write where it came from: an insurer, a directory, your website, a colleague, word of mouth, or “no idea”.
Count them up. If one source is carrying most of the list, that’s the one a change like Bupa’s could affect the most, and the one to watch.
If insurers aren’t one of your routes yet
If you’re weighing up whether they should be, my free guide walks you through the five questions to answer first, so you can decide on paper before you fill in a single form. Download Worth It or Not?
Bupa’s terms can change, so check the current details on Bupa’s own pages. This post was accurate as of November 2026.
Louise Hiles is a UKCP registered psychotherapist and EMCC Senior Accredited coach in Newcastle upon Tyne, registered with Bupa, AXA, Aviva and WPA. She runs The Business of Private Practice.