Campaigners have issued a fresh call to ban smacking across the UK after a poll found more young adults think it’s unacceptable.
All corporal punishment of children, including shaking, slapping and hitting, became illegal in Wales in 2022.
Scotland brought in a similar ban in 2020.
However, in England and Northern Ireland, it’s unlawful to hit your child except where it’s “reasonable punishment” – something that’s judged on a case-by-case basis.
New NSPCC research suggests 82% of 18-24-year-olds believe any force whatsoever by a parent is unacceptable – an increase on 64% in 2023.
For parents specifically, the latest figure is 81%, up from 80% last year and 76% in 2022.
Some 3,800 adults were surveyed in England for the latest research; 749 of these were parents with a child under 18, and 198 of them were 18 to 24 years old.
When it comes to adults of all ages, 71% said physically punishing a child was wrong – up from 67% in 2023.
Health experts have urged parliament to bring in a smacking ban across the UK, with doctors and psychiatrists saying research shows the “detrimental effects of physical punishment”.
The UK’s four children’s commissioners also came together in the wake of the Sara Sharif murder to call for a blanket ban, calling the reasonable chastisement defence “outdated and morally repugnant”.
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‘Wake-up call’
However, Tory peer Lord Jackson of Peterborough has warned a ban in England would be “disproportionate and heavy-handed”.
He told a parliamentary debate in June that removing the reasonable chastisement clause in the Children’s Act could criminalise “good and caring parents, as well as overloading children’s services departments”.
NSPCC chief executive Chris Sherwood said its research was a “wake-up call” and showed parents and young adults “don’t want physical punishment to be a part of anyone’s childhood”.
“As parliamentarians continue to debate the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, we urge them to change the law to better reflect public attitudes to violence against children and ensure no childhood has to be tainted by physical punishment again,” he said.
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Children’s charity Barnado’s also said the law must change as “children continue to have less legal protection against physical assault than adults”.
“Physical punishment like smacking is harmful to a child’s health and development, and there’s strong evidence that it influences their attitudes toward violence,” said chief executive Lynn Perry.
Professor Andrew Rowland, from the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, added: “Health professionals stand firmly with parents and young people in recognising that physical punishment is not only outdated and unjust, but also harmful to children’s health and wellbeing.
“We urge the government to listen to parents, young people, health professionals and the wider public and to finally remove the outdated and unfair ‘reasonable punishment’ defence.”
A Department for Education spokesperson said: “While we are looking closely at the legal changes made in Wales and Scotland in relation to smacking, we have no plans to legislate at this stage.”
