The new government needs close the legal loophole in England and end the use of physical punishment against children.
- In the last year, we've received triple the amount of calls to our Helpline surrounding concerns about children experiencing physical punishment.
- 45% of these calls were serious enough to require a referral to social services or the police.
- The new government must scrap the defence of 'reasonable punishment' and give equal protection against assault for both adults and children.
In the last year, we've received triple the amount of calls to our Helpline surrounding concerns about children experiencing physical punishment. This included but wasn't limited to children being hit, slapped, and shaken, as part of discipline and punishment.
Between April 2023 and March 2024, our Helpline answered 1,451 contacts across the UK that mentioned physical punishment against children. This was over 3 times higher than the year before. 45% of these were serious enough to need referral to social services, the local authority, police, or other services.
The new government needs to follow Scotland and Wales and end the use of physical punishment in England.
Physical punishment is defined by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, as any punishment in which physical force is used, with the intention of causing some degree of pain or discomfort, however light.
This increase could be because of several factors, including more awareness due to public campaigning, increased capacity of our Helpline service, and people not understanding what is ‘acceptable’ when it comes to punishing a child.
Contacts were consistently high over the summer months, when children were more visible to other members of the public rather than in school.
