Dear Member,
We hope you are well.
PsySSA has been made aware of a change in the HPCSA CPD System. Practitioners are now required to be CPD compliant at all times. All evidence of CPD compliance are valid for 24 months and compliance is determined on a 24 month basis.
Kindly see the HPCSA Frequently Asked Questions for Continuous Professional Development Programme below.
This serves as a HPCSA Annual Fee Reminder. Notice is hereby given that the Annual Fees are payable by persons registered in terms of the Health Professions Act, 1974 (Act No. 56 of 1974) before 1 April each year.
Payment of 2023/24 Annual Fee in South Africa – Online Renewal and Payment Portal
Council launched an Online Renewal Portal in March 2017 to enable practitioners to renew annual fees online. We urge practitioners to use the Online Renewals Portal. Should you encounter challenges using the portal please contact the Call Centre on 012 338 9300/1.
Once you have gone through the renewal process online, including making the appropriate payment, you will be able to view and/or print an electronic “QR coded” Proof of Payment of current Annual Fee Renewal for 2023/24. This is official HPCSA proof that a Practitioner is up to date with their Annual Fee Payments.
Payments Outside South Africa
Practitioners residing outside of South Africa who encounter problems with electronic online payments may still make payments to:
Account holder: Health Professions Council of South Africa
Bank: ABSA
Branch code: 334945
Account no: 405 003 3481
Swift code: ABSAZAJJ
Payment Reference: PS 0092665
Payments made from a location outside the borders of South Africa must make adequate provision for bank charges (local and overseas) as well as a possible deficit due to changes in exchange rate.
You will be able to login and view/print your current practicing card, within 48 hours after proof of payment has been submitted and received at HPCSA.
Exemptions from payment of 2023/24 Annual Fee
Should you no longer be practicing your profession due to ill health, you may be exempted from payment of the 2023/24 Annual Fee. A Medical Report, issued by a registered Medical Practitioner, must accompany such application, which should reach the Council’s offices before 1 April 2023.
Exemption from paying the Annual Fee may be granted from the year in which you turn 71, if you turn 71 before 1 April 2023, except for practitioners registered in Professional Boards for Environmental Health Practitioners, Medical Technologist, Radiography & Clinical Technology, Dietetics and Nutritionists, Dental Assisting, Dental Therapy and Oral Hygiene who may be granted exemption from the year in which you turn 66, if you turn 66 before 1 April 2023.
Voluntary Erasure
Written application for Voluntary Erasure under Section 19(1)(c) of the Act must be received by Council on or before 31 March 2023 and 2023/24 Annual Membership Fees will not be due and payable on successful finalisation of application by Council.
Allocation of monies received from Practitioner
Monies received from Practitioners will be allocated against oldest debt first. It is important that Practitioners access the Online Renewals portal to ensure that there are no other outstanding balances due and payable. Practitioners who have used their practitioner number (please check if number is correctly recorded as HPCSA do receive payments were incorrect reference number is utilised) as reference for payment, monies will be auto allocated to practitioner account and there is no need to send HPCSA any proof of payment. Only if another reference is utilised other than a practitioner number then proof of payment can be attached in logging a service request on the Online system. This will assist the Finance department to trace and allocate a payment. Payments made via online portal will also be allocated automatically against the practitioner account.
Suspension from relevant register due to non-payment of 2023/24 Annual fees
The non-payment or partial payment of 2023/24 Annual Fees will result in a Registered Person being suspended from the Register and the need for restoration, which attracts Penalty Fees.
Provincial government health practitioner employees
Employer and labour unions in the Public Health and Social Development Sectoral Bargaining Council have signed Resolution 3 of 2019: Agreement on payment of annual statutory registration fees in respect of health care occupations for the Health and Social Development Departments.
All provincial government health practitioner employees must liaise with their respective provincial health departments to check if deductions were done on PERSAL for payment of their Annual Fees for 2023/24.
The PERSAL deduction process can take up to end of July 2023 to finalise and practitioners who is government employee should try and avoid paying Annual Fees for yourself until the Persal process is finalised. It should be noted that HPCSA has a manual refund process and during peak period refunds may take up to 6 months to finalise.
If an annual fee reminder is received after July 2023 indicating that a balance is still due on a practitioner account then HPCSA would urge a government employee practitioner to continue to make such payment to prevent the practitioner from been suspended due to failure to pay annual fees as in terms of the Health Professions act, practitioners will stay responsible for the payment of any outstanding annual fees to Council.
The online HPCSA system can be used to access practitioner account statement which will reflect all outstanding invoices due for payment.
Yours faithfully
Head of Department: Finance and SCM (Chief Financial Officer)
Ms M De Graaff
Recognising the importance of being adequately prepared for the board exam of the registration categories as the final phase of training. Three divisions at the Psychological Society of South Africa (PsySSA), the Division of Registered Counsellors and Psychometrists (RCP), Society for Educational Psychology South Africa (SEPSA), and South African Association of Counselling Psychologists (SAACP) are presenting a workshop on board exam preparation. The workshop will cover generally the Mental Health Care Act, the National Health Act more generally as it pertains to the three registration categories. The workshop will then cover category related issues that may appear in the board exam, including ethics, referrals, and cases.
Pakeezah Rajab is a Product Specialist at JVR Psychometrics and a registered Research Psychologist and Psychometrist. She is also an executive member (secretary) of the Psychological Society of South Africa’s Division for Research and Methodology. Since qualifying as Psychometrist in 2016, she has gained experience with clients working in several contexts, including schools, private practice, higher education, and corporate environments. She has worked on several projects that developed, validated and/or standardised various assessments for use by the South African population – including aptitude, personality, values, career guidance and emotional intelligence. Her research interests include measuring cognitive potential, motivational drivers and assessment development.
Rekha Kangokar Rama Rao is a registered counsellor in private practice and is currently accepted into the M.A. Community-Based Counselling psychology program at the University of Witswatersrand. She is actively involved in the community, applying the skills and knowledge acquired through academics and experience in life. Her interests are in trauma-related affect that the communities grapple with, especially focusing on masculinity in the South African context.
Jessica Ellington has recently completed her HPCSA board exam in Registered Counselling and graduated from the South African College of Applied Psychology (SACAP). Jessica completed her undergraduate degree from Monash, South Africa, in 2018 with a double major in Psychology and Criminology. Jessica has experience providing counselling and psychometrics for university students. She is particularly interested in psychoeducation, psychosocial wellbeing, career counselling and psychometrics, specifically for teenagers and young adults. She hopes to complete her master’s in counselling psychology in the future after working in the field as a Registered Counsellor.
Dr. Sipho Dlamini is a senior lecturer at the University of Johannesburg’s Department of Psychology. He is also a registered counselling psychologist. Dr. Dlamini serves on the board for the journal Psychology in Society as an associate editor, he also serves as the vice-chair for the South African Association of Counselling Psychologists (SAACP) and the executive of the Psychological Society of South Africa (PsySSA) as an additional member. His research interests include Africa(n)-centred psychologies, the history and philosophy of psychology, community psychology, the training of psychologists, and critical race theories.
Nqobile Msomi is a counselling psychologist and lecturer at Rhodes University. She co-ordinates Rhodes University’s Psychology Clinic, a community-based training institution for counselling and clinical psychologists. Msomi espouses a situated psychology and concerns herself with ways to move towards practice, teaching and research informed by the values and principles of community and Africa(n)-centred psychologies. She is a PhD candidate and has partnered with a local education focused non-governmental organisation for her case study research.
Dr. Diana Soares De Sousa is an Educational Psychologist, Research Psychologist and Registered Counsellor registered with the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA). She works therapeutically with both adults and children to enhance both their learning and their ability to successfully navigate the world. She is the Head of Academic Standards and Quality Assurance and the Chair of SACAP’s Research and Ethics Committee at the South African College of Applied Psychology (SACAP). Dr De Sousa currently serves on the Executive Committee of the Society of Educational Psychologists of South Africa (SEPSA) of the Psychological Society of South Africa (PsySSA), has previously served on the Executive Committee of PsySSA, and is the past Chair of the Registered Counsellor and Psychometry Division of PsySSA.