A controller change from a current controller which stabilises the plant to a new controller, designed on the basis of an approximate model of the plant and with guaranteed bounds on the stability properties of the true closed loop, is called a safe controller change. In this paper, we present a model reference approach to the determination of safe controller changes on the basis of approximate closed loop models of the plant and robust stability results in the v-gap. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.