Doctors and children’s charities are demanding a ban on smacking children, which they say would save lives. A new poll showed a majority of social workers, healthcare professionals, teachers and police officers back a ban.
Campaigners are supporting amendments to the Government’s Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, currently being debated in Parliament, to remove the defence of “reasonable punishment” – which allows a parent to inflict a mild physical discipline without being accused of assault. They say the present legal situation contributed to the horrific murders of 10-year-old Sara Sharif, whose father and stepmother were found guilty of murder following her death in 2023, and Dwelaniyah Robinson, whose mother was convicted of murder after he died aged three in 2022.
Professor Andrew Rowland, officer for child protection at the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, said: “The evidence is clear that physical punishment of children harms their health. The laws around physical punishment as they stand are unjust and dangerously vague. They create a grey area in which some forms of physical punishment may not be unlawful.
“As a paediatrician working in child protection services, I am regularly faced with situations where it is alleged that physical punishment has been used against a child. The vague nature of the laws makes it extremely challenging to talk to families about what the rules are around physical punishment of children, thus making it more difficult to talk about the best interests of their children.”
Chris Sherwood, chief executive of the NSPCC, said: “Children should not be experiencing physical punishment in any form. Yet, as long as the law tolerates some level of physical force against children, their wellbeing will always be a matter of judgement about what is ‘reasonable’.
“Professionals are telling us that the current legal loophole makes it harder for them to assess the safety of a child.”
Charity Barnardo’s and Dame Rachel de Souza, the Children’s Commissioner for England, also support a ban.
Similar measures have already been introduced in Scotland and Wales. A cross-party group of Labour, Conservative, Liberal Democrat and Green backbench MPs tried to amend the Bill being debated in the House of Commons so the law changed in England too. However, their proposals were rejected by the Department for Education.
Campaigners are now urging the House of Lords to amend the Bill when discussion begins there.
A poll commissioned by the NSPCC found 90% of social workers, 77% of healthcare professionals, 75% of teachers and 51% of police officers backed a ban.
Education minister Stephen Morgan told MPs: “Protecting children at risk of abuse is at the heart of this Bill. Regarding the common law defence of reasonable chastisement, we are looking closely at the legal changes made in Wales and Scotland, but we have no plans to legislate at this stage.
“Wales is in the process of reviewing the impact of changing the law, and will publish its findings by the end of 2025. We want to look at the evidence before taking such a significant legislative step.”