Full Membership
Full membership is available only to fully qualified and currently practising Educational Psychologists. Briefly, necessary qualifications include an honours degree in psychology (or equivalent), appropriate professional qualification in Educational Psychology and registration with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC).

Trainee Membership
Trainee membership is available to students who are following an approved course of post-graduate professional training in educational psychology.

Affiliate Membership
This category of membership is available to those who are qualified educational psychologists but who are not currently practising as educational psychologists or who are working outside the geographical regions covered by the Association. Affiliate members are not entitled to legal assistance or to have voting rights.

Retired Membership
Retired membership is available to members currently in Full or Affiliate membership, who have retired from the profession. Members may apply to change their membership category by contacting the AEP office. 
NB: Retired members are not entitled to legal assistance or to have voting rights but may hold branch office.

Assistant Membership
Assistant membership is open to those employed within an appropriate workplace setting managed and/or supervised by a qualified HCPC registered Educational Psychologist, contributing to psychologically informed work which directly assists, and is overseen by, qualified Educational Psychologists. They will have a relevant qualification which would qualify them to apply for educational psychology training in the future.

Subscription rates for 2025 are shown in the table below. The normal 'membership year' runs from the 1 January to the 31 December. Subscriptions are payable either by a single annual payment or in 12 monthly instalments (the latter only by direct debit). Various reductions are also offered e.g. for members joining part way through a year.

Full member: £23.50 (monthly) /  £282 (annual) 

Affiliate member: £12.25 (monthly) /  £147 (annual) 

Trainee: £4 (monthly) /  £48 (annual)

Retired member: £3.50 (monthly) /  £42 (annual) 

Assistant member: £15 (monthly) /  £180 (annual) 

Initial subscriptions and concessions

An initial payment, or completed direct debit mandate, must accompany the completed form of application for membership and this shall be the appropriate subscription for the year in which the application is made except that:

Members admitted into Association membership part way through the membership year, either as full or affiliate members, will pay a reduced subscription for that year, proportionate to the number of whole or partially completed months remaining in that year.

Trainee members joining after 1st July of the year in which they start their course may:
pay the whole annual Trainee membership fee for that year, which will be deemed also to be payment for the following year, or pay by direct debit in twelve monthly instalments starting in January of the following year (at the annual Trainee rate applicable for that year).

Trainee members who become full members in the year immediately following completion of their course shall pay only 75% of the full membership subscription for that one year.

Parental Leave and Sick Leave:

Members whose salary has been reduced as a result of absence from work on parental, adoption leave, or sick leave of 6 months or more, may claim a refund of 20% of the subscriptions paid during one membership year. Only one such claim for any single period of absence or leave is allowed.  You can download the form at the bottom of the page. 

Renewal of membership

Except as provided for in paragraphs 2(a) and 2(b), membership shall be renewed annually by payment of the appropriate subscription, in advance, for the membership year commencing on the 1st January each year.

The whole annual subscription may be paid as one amount, or in monthly instalments, as determined by the National Executive Committee. The due date for the single annual payment is the 1st January of the membership year. Monthly instalments are due on the first banking day of each calendar month, with the first instalment being due in January of the membership year.

If payment of the full amount or the agreed instalment is not received by the due date, membership shall be deemed to have ceased, whether or not a notice of resignation has been received from the member. However, at the discretion of the National Executive Committee, membership benefits may be continued for a maximum period of three months from the due date to enable the outstanding subscription to be paid.
Subject to the provisions of Section F 5(iii), former members whose membership has lapsed by reason of non-payment of subscriptions must pay the whole annual subscription if re-admitted within the same membership year. Former members re-admitted in subsequent years will normally be expected to pay any subscriptions outstanding from their previous period of membership.

If you are paying your subscription fee from outside of the UK via bank to bank electronic transfer, the AEP will be charged a £15 currency exchange fee so you will need to increase your annual subscription fee payment by this amount.