EAP providers UK: how to choose one, what to ask, and what sits alongside it

If you are in crisis or feel unsafe, please call 999 or go to A&E. For urgent mental health support, call NHS 111 and select the mental health option. Samaritans (116 123, free, 24/7) and Shout (text 85258) are always available.

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EAP providers in the UK are the outside companies an employer pays to run its employee assistance programme, the confidential advice and counselling service staff can use at no cost to themselves, and choosing one comes down to three things: what the package actually includes, how it handles confidentiality, and whether your people will ever use it. ACAS notes that when an organisation offers counselling, it will usually be through a scheme of this kind, and NICE's guideline on mental wellbeing at work asks employers to consider giving all employees access to one.

This page is written for the person doing the choosing, whether that is an HR lead, an office manager or an owner who has been told the business ought to have one. If what you want first is the plain explanation of the scheme itself, the employee assistance programme guide covers that ground. One thing this page deliberately does not do is rank or recommend named suppliers, because the market changes and a list would be out of date before it was useful. What it can do is give you the questions that separate a good fit from a logo on the intranet. The guidance here is drawn from ACAS, NICE, the NHS and Mind.

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What does an EAP provider actually do?

An EAP provider runs the confidential advice and counselling service on your organisation's behalf, so that staff can get support without paying for it and without going through their manager. ACAS gives staff counselling as the example of what an EAP offers, and Mind describes these programmes as offering advice and counselling at no cost to the people using them.

Beyond that core, the detail is set by the package you buy, which is exactly why the buying decision matters. The provider decides how people get in touch, how the counselling is delivered, who delivers it and how much of it the scheme includes. ACAS also points out that an employer can use the scheme from the other direction, contacting the EAP for advice or directing a worker to it when there is a concern. So you are buying two things at once: a service for your people, and a place for managers to turn when they are out of their depth.

The legal backdrop is the duty of care, which ACAS explains as an employer's obligation to do all it reasonably can to support workers' health, safety and wellbeing, treating mental and physical health as equally important. An EAP is one common way organisations meet part of that, and only part, which the section on what an EAP cannot do comes back to.

How do you choose an EAP provider in the UK?

Choose an EAP provider by asking what the package includes, how counselling is delivered and by whom, how confidentiality works in writing, and what the provider will do to help you get people using it, then picking the one whose honest answers fit your organisation rather than the one with the longest brochure. The questions below are the ones worth putting to every provider on your shortlist.

What is actually included. Ask for the plain list: what kinds of help, how someone gets in touch, and how much counselling the scheme covers per person. Vague answers here become disappointed staff later. The NHS notes that talking therapies can be delivered in person, by video or phone call, or online, so ask which of those your people would get.

Who the counsellors are. The NHS advises that before choosing a private therapist you should make sure they are registered with a professional organisation accredited by the Professional Standards Authority. That is a fair standard to hold a provider to, so ask which professional bodies its counsellors belong to and how it checks.

How confidentiality works, in writing. ACAS's guidance for managers says that when you direct someone to an EAP, you can reassure them the conversations will be confidential. NICE's workplace guideline asks employers to be clear about when confidentiality will and will not be respected, the exception being when someone is considered at risk to themselves or others. Ask for the provider's confidentiality wording and check it says both halves of that clearly.

What they will do to get people using it. NICE asks employers who offer an EAP to raise awareness of it, and separately asks organisations to monitor uptake of wellbeing interventions and identify groups where uptake is low. So ask what the provider gives you to promote the scheme, what reporting you get on use, and whether that reporting is anonymised in a way your staff would be comfortable with. A scheme nobody knows about is a line in the budget and nothing more.

What it costs and what changes the price. Pricing is set by the provider and depends on your headcount and what is in the package, so the only real number is a quote. Ask what is included in it, what would trigger extra charges, and what happens at renewal. This article carries no price figures because there is no approved published source for them.

If you want to see what the counselling looks like from the employee's side before you compare providers, EAP counselling: what it is and whether it is worth using walks through that plainly.

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What an EAP cannot do on its own

NICE's guideline is clear that individual-level support should not be used to replace organisational strategies for reducing the causes of stress at work, and it sets out a tiered approach in which organisation-wide measures are the foundation, with individual and targeted support built on top. An EAP sits in those upper tiers. It is a good thing to have, and it does not fix a workload problem, a management problem or a culture problem, however good the provider is.

That is worth saying plainly to whoever signs the contract, because the temptation is to buy the scheme and consider the job done. The guideline also asks employers to monitor and evaluate the support they provide at least annually. If you are a smaller organisation, the same guideline says its recommendations apply to micro, small and medium-sized businesses as much as large ones, and it suggests small employers think about accessing an EAP alongside occupational health, pointing to the Department for Work and Pensions' Access to Work mental health support service as an example of a low-cost option. ACAS signposts Access to Work too.

If you are an employee looking up your own provider

Some people land on this page because they have found the provider's name on a poster and want to know whether it is safe to call. The short answer is that ACAS says conversations with an EAP are confidential, and that whether you tell your manager about a mental health problem, and at what stage, is up to you. The employee assistance programme guide covers the employee side in full.

If your workplace has no scheme, support still exists. The NHS notes that talking therapies are sometimes available at no cost through your employer, university or local charities, and in England you can refer yourself to NHS Talking Therapies at nhs.uk/talk without going through your GP, though waits vary widely. If you are unsure about referring yourself, the NHS suggests speaking to your GP, who can help you find what is available in your area. Mind also suggests speaking to HR or a trade union representative if you feel unsupported and cannot talk to your manager. The fuller map of no-cost and low-cost routes is in free counselling in the UK, and I need to talk to a therapist walks through every UK route in one place.

Where Wobble fits alongside an EAP

Wobble is not an EAP provider, and if you are choosing one, choose a good one and then tell people about it. Wobble exists for the gap an EAP leaves by design, which is the people who were never going to phone a helpline or book a counselling appointment in the first place, because the live conversation is the barrier. It is a new format of mental health support built for exactly that person. You answer a few simple questions in your own words, in writing, add a voice note if you want to, and a personal video from a real qualified UK therapist comes back, usually within hours, with one or two practical things to try. There is no ongoing commitment and nothing to drop out of, and people come back for another Wobble whenever they want one. Among the people who have used it, 96% said they felt better after a single video.

Therapists respond using the Wobble response framework, a structured framework built for short, practical, single-response support, and Wobble's Clinical Lead is James Penney, an NCPS Accredited Psychotherapeutic Counsellor. For an individual, the door is the button below. For an employer who wants to fund access for a group of staff as a front door alongside the EAP, rather than instead of it, Wobble works with organisations on that too, and the contact details are on the site.

When to see your GP

If you came to this page for yourself rather than for your organisation, book a GP appointment if low mood, anxiety or stress has been going on for several weeks with no improvement, if it is affecting your work, sleep or relationships, or if you have tried self-help and nothing is shifting. A GP can look at the whole picture, talk through options and refer you into NHS services, and none of that depends on whether your workplace has a scheme.

Seek urgent help if you are having thoughts of suicide or self-harm or feel you cannot keep yourself safe. NHS 111 has a mental health option available 24/7, Samaritans (116 123) are free to call day or night, and Shout (text 85258) is a text-based service if calling feels like too much.

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Quick summary

EAP providers are the companies employers pay to run a confidential advice and counselling service for staff, which ACAS describes as the usual route when an organisation offers counselling. Choosing one comes down to what is included, how and by whom the counselling is delivered, confidentiality wording that covers both the promise and the safety exception, and what the provider will do to help you get people using it, since NICE asks employers both to raise awareness of an EAP and to monitor uptake. Pricing is quote-based. An EAP is worth having and is not a substitute for tackling the causes of stress at work, which NICE treats as the foundation. If you are an employee, conversations with an EAP are confidential, and if there is no scheme, NHS Talking Therapies, your GP and charities are all real routes. Wobble sits alongside all of it, for the people who want qualified human support without the appointment.

Sources and further reading

• ACAS: Supporting mental health at work, Mental health and the law (acas.org.uk)
• ACAS: Supporting mental health at work, Talking about mental health (acas.org.uk)
• ACAS: Supporting mental health at work, Looking after yourself (acas.org.uk)
• ACAS: Supporting mental health at work, Support and training (acas.org.uk)
• NICE Guideline NG212: Mental wellbeing at work (nice.org.uk)
• Mind: How to cope with stress at work (mind.org.uk)
• NHS: Talking therapies (nhs.uk)
• NHS Talking Therapies self-referral (England): nhs.uk/talk
• Samaritans: 116 123 (samaritans.org)
• Shout: text 85258 (giveusashout.org)

This article is for information only and does not replace advice from a qualified medical professional. If your mental health is affecting your daily life, please speak to your GP or contact NHS 111. If you are in crisis, please call 999 or go to A&E.