Application and Selection

Applicants must obtain Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership (GBC) from the BPS and hold this at the time of application. Formal proof of this is required by the Clearing House. Those who are unsure whether their degree confers eligibility must check this with the BPS prior to applying. An exception is made for those in the final year of their undergraduate degree.  In these cases, candidates may apply, subject to meeting other minimum criteria (see below), and any subsequent offer of a place is made conditional upon achievement of the required class of degree from a programme that confers GBC.  

NHS-funded places

All places on our Programme for the 2022 intake will be NHS-funded and applicants seeking a place should apply through the Clearing House.  

As places are NHS funded, we can only consider applicants who meet “home” fees status and who have the right to work in the UK.  Additionally, NHS-funded places are only available to applicants who intend to work in NHS-funded services upon completion of training.

Fee-paying places

The programme will not be accepting any fee-paying applications for entry in 2022.  

A first or upper second-class psychology degree is essential for applicants who have an undergraduate degree only. If applicants have an undergraduate degree in another subject, the class of degree attained must be 2:1 or 1st.  Additionally, these applicants must have completed an accredited conversion Masters qualification in psychology. The conversion Masters must also achieve an average of 60% or above.  

Applicants who hold a conversion qualification or who studied overseas, are required to send transcripts for their original UNDERGRADUATE degree directly to Sophie Pattemore, the Selection Administrator at Salomons. For overseas degrees, the transcript must be translated into English, where necessary. (Transcripts for GBC-accredited undergraduate degrees and GBC-accredited conversion courses will be provided through the Clearing House). An absence of a transcript will result in an applicant not being considered as there will be no means to verify the minimum requirements stipulated.  

Applicants with a lower second-class psychology undergraduate degree will be considered if they hold a completed relevant Masters Degree with an average achievement at 65% or above, or a completed clinically relevant PhD. These applicants (except those holding a PhD) are required to send a transcript of their Masters degree directly to Sophie Pattemore the Selection Administrator at Salomons. PLEASE NOTE: Failure to provide this transcript will mean that your application cannot be considered.  

The Programme does not allow applicants to enrol onto the Salomons doctorate if they are currently enrolled on any other degree.  Please see the Clearing House website for general guidance and contact Salomons directly if there is a need to discuss.  

All applicants applying for NHS-funded places, for whom English is not their first language and their university qualifications were not taught or examined in the English language, must send evidence of their English language proficiency to the Clearing House with their application.  Applicants applying to Salomons for a fee-paying place must also send this evidence directly to Salomons with their completed CCCU/Salomons application.  Salomons requires an overall IELTS score of 7.5 with no element below 7.5.  Failure to provide this evidence will mean that your application cannot be considered. 

All overseas applicants applying for either NHS-funded or fee-paying places should please note the requirements above regarding degree transcripts, which should be translated into English where necessary.

Although many applicants will gain relevant clinical experience through familiar routes such as Assistant or Research Psychologist posts, many other pathways are relevant to gaining such experience, and are valued equally highly by the Programme. These may include, for example, work experience gained within social services, IAPT services, healthcare assistant/support worker roles in the NHS, private or voluntary sector. All such employment needs to be directly related to the practical application of psychological principles acquired in either a paid or unpaid capacity. 

It is not necessary for applicants to have gained extensive clinical experience in many different settings or with a wide range of clients prior to applying. Rather, we are looking for individuals who can make the most out of what they have experienced by:

• Gaining a realistic sense of the profession, its current context within the NHS, and its range of  work practices,
• Developing an awareness of the range of settings and client groups encountered by clinical psychologists,  
• Demonstrating an understanding of how psychological theory can be applied within a clinical setting.
• Considering the impact of social, political and cultural inequalities in the provision of mental health services.

Research experience is also highly regarded, especially within a clinical, medical or social care setting. However, applicants whose experience is restricted solely to academic research must ensure that they have also gained relevant exposure to supervised clinical practice within an applied setting before applying. Please clearly draw out the clinical experience gained whilst undertaking academic study on the section of the application form which itemises relevant occupational and research experience.   

One full year (or its equivalent on a part-time basis) of relevant work experience must have been completed by the time of application.

Personal and professional experience relevant to working with vulnerable, marginalised and undervalued people is strongly valued, as is the ability to be able to reflect on this experience and develop accordingly.   

The programme's selection procedures are constantly being refined and developed, and applicants may be required to participate in additional procedures currently under development/audit in order to be eligible to apply to the programme. Applicants will be advised of any additional procedures at the time of applying. 

Trainees are recruited annually. (Commissioning figures have yet to be finalised.  Applicants are advised to regularly consult this website where up-to-date information will be posted as soon as it is available.) 

For more information please download our trainee job description and person specification. 

Application forms are only used at the point of initial screening to establish whether candidates meet our minimum criteria in terms of academic requirements, work experience, references and GBC. All those who meet the minimum criteria are then invited to sit a Multiple Choice Test and a Situational Judgement Test as the first stage of our selection process. Successful applicants will receive notification of invitation to sit the tests by Friday 4th February 2022. Failure to complete both tests will result in the application no longer being considered. 

All communication to applicants about the Multiple Choice and Situational Judgement Tests and some of the subsequent information about interviews, will take place by email. Therefore, applicants are asked to regularly check the email address used for their Clearing House application (including their junk folder) throughout this period, to avoid missing any important communication from Salomons. 

The Programme follows the requirements regarding Fitness to Practice as set out by the Clearing House.  These may apply throughout all stages of the selection process.  Please refer to the Clearing House website for further details.  

In line with national attempts to widen the representation of disadvantaged and marginalised groups within the profession of clinical psychology, we are considering adopting the use of a contextualised admissions process for our 2022 intake. 

The process of contextualised admissions is defined as ‘information and data used by universities and colleges, to assess an applicant’s prior attainment and potential, in the context of their individual circumstances. The aim is to form a more complete picture of the applicant’ (UCAS, 2017). 

The type of information frequently collected in order to contextualise an individual’s prior attainment often relates to an applicant’s educational or socio-economic background, and factors such as whether they received free school meals, have been in care or have refugee status could be considered.    

Applicants this year will be sent a brief survey to collect Contextual Admissions data by the Clearing House, separately from the application form. The Group of Trainers in Clinical Psychology have agreed the questions in this survey, which have evidence for improving the inclusivity and equity of recruitment processes. Completion of the survey is optional, however if you are able to answer any of the questions which provide some additional background about you, and you are happy to provide this via the Clearing House, then we would encourage you to do so. 

We may use this data alongside our usual processes, to inform decision-making around short-listing for interview and in the making of offer of places. The anonymised data may also be used for audit/research purposes to consider developments to selection processes in future years and/or to create reports for external agencies such as Health Education England (which commissions many of the training programmes). 

Further information on whether, and how, we may use this data in our 2022 selection cycle will be made available on our website and applicants are advised to regularly review the Salomons website for updates. 

 

Owing to the impact of Covid-19, arrangements for undertaking our screening tests for 2022 may be subject to sudden change.  We will keep applicants informed of any changes via updates here.  Please consult these pages regularly to ensure you are kept fully informed of any developments.  

Details given below relate to our standard screening process. This process will be followed unless the situation with Covid-19 dictates otherwise.  

Applicants to the Salomons programme who meet the minimum criteria are invited to sit two screening tests, the Multiple Choice Test and a Situational Judgement Test, as the first stage of our selection process. 

Screening tests are conducted in collaboration with the University of East London (UEL). The screening tests for both programmes will take place on Saturday 12th February 2022.  The programmes work collaboratively over arrangements for completing the tests and all applicants who are eligible to sit the tests in 2022 will do so online and under invigilation. Successful applicants will be contacted directly regarding the specific arrangements for sitting the tests. 

Please note that Salomons applicants need to be aware that if unforeseen circumstances affect the running of test procedures, they will be subject to the terms and conditions implemented by the programme at that time.

Due to the Salomons and UEL programmes operating different minimum entry requirements, applicants applying to both programmes may be eligible to take the tests for one course but not another.    

Example questions for the Multiple Choice Test are available here to help applicants prepare for the test.  Applicants are advised that both the content and format of the Multiple Choice Test may change from year to year, and may include a range of questions relating to, amongst others, statistical issues, qualitative and quantitative research methods, ethics and values. 

Salomons will also be employing the use of Situational Judgement Testing (SJT), which aims to assess how applicants would handle situations that may arise as a trainee clinical psychologist.  

The Salomons, and UEL programmes operate independent post-test short-listing procedures and the information presented here regarding short-listing and interviewing applies to the Salomons programme only.  

Applicants with disabilities will be given appropriate support to sit the tests.  Extra time will be given to those with dyslexia or other special considerations, in accordance with University guidance. Applicants requiring additional support for the screening tests or the interviews owing to a disability or specific learning requirements are required to contact the Selection Administrator, Sophie Pattemore on 01227 927075 to discuss.    

Following completion of the screening tests, an interview short-list is compiled by the Programme team, primarily based on Multiple Choice Test and SJT test scores (please read above about the use of Positive Action principles and the possible use of contextualised admissions at this stage). Short-listed candidates will then be invited for interview. Applicants will normally be informed of their test results following completion of the tests in February. 

All applicants must possess a full driving licence (subject to reasonable adjustments for disability) by the date of the multiple choice test, and will be required to bring this with them on the day for checking. This photocard will also be used as documented photographic proof of identity. Candidates without a photocard licence must bring their paper driving licence and current passport.  

Our interview process is multi-faceted and seeks to assess academic, clinical, professional, and personal learning and aptitude.  The interview process for 2022 is likely to be conducted online, and interview panellists consist of programme staff, clinical psychologists from our region, service users and carers, and third year trainees.  In addition, current trainees from the programme and programme administrators are available to welcome candidates and answer questions.  These trainees and administrators do not participate in selection decisions.    

We welcome applicants with disabilities, and applicants will be given appropriate support at the interview stage.  Applicants requiring additional support at the interview stage owing to a disability are required to contact the Selection Administrator, Sophie Pattemore on 01227 927075 to discuss.    

Following the interviews, candidates are informed of the outcome by email and are then invited, if they wish, to receive brief feedback on their interview performance, by arranging to call and speak to a member of the interview panel. The Programme is not able to offer feedback to applicants who are not short-listed for interview.  

All offers of a place on the Programme are made subject to Occupational Health screening and enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks.  These procedures are handled by our employing Trust, Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, which covers any costs incurred.  The purpose of the occupational health assessment is to screen candidates in line with Department of Health guidance for healthcare workers regarding immunity and immunisations for infectious diseases. An additional purpose is to assess current health status with regard to any additional support individual candidates may need to assist them throughout the programme. The purpose of the Occupational Health assessment is to consider the candidate’s current health status. This includes consideration of any additional support individual trainees may need to assist them throughout the programme as well as facilitating any necessary immunizations and considering fitness to practice on health grounds.  

As stated above, we welcome applications from candidates with disabilities and have a strong record of working with trainees with disabilities who have successfully completed the programme.  

 Enhanced DBS checks are a compulsory requirement and will disclose any convictions -spent or unspent – and police cautions, reprimands, or warnings, whenever they occurred. Those candidates who are offered a place are also required to complete a University criminal records disclosure form, which asks for details of any convictions, cautions, or bind overs, “spent” or otherwise. Disclosure of such information does not automatically act as a bar to enrolment on the Programme. However, should any criminal record be disclosed, this would require further discussion, prior to possible acceptance on to the Programme.