In the last year, NSPCC received triple the amount of calls to their 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, their 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, they have said.
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 their 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.
Over half of the contacts to their Helpline were from people who were concerned about a parent’s behaviour towards their child. One in 10 were from children themselves. There were also contacts from professionals who work with children directly. One adult who called our Helpline said:
“I just left after visiting my friend and their 3-year-old boy. Their son was messing around a bit and when he wouldn’t stop the dad pulled him over his knee and smacked him twice.
I must have looked shocked because his dad said it’s ok because he never leaves bruises, but the little one was crying and hid for the rest of the visit. It didn’t feel ok.”
In England, the defence of ‘reasonable punishment’ means that children are the only members of society who are not fully protected from physical assault. More than 60 other countries around the world have put measures in place to protect children from assault, including Scotland and Wales.
Studies show that using physical punishment can have long-term and harmful consequences for children, even if they experience it in the context of a stable family background. Physical punishment against children has been linked to depression and anxiety and has been known to increase aggression and antisocial behaviour.
A recent YouGov survey NSPCC commissioned showed that there are rising levels of support from people in England to give children the same legal protection as adults against physical punishment, from 67% to 71% in 2024. Sir Peter Wanless, NSPCC CEO, said:
“It is hugely concerning that calls to our Helpline about adults using physical measures to punish their children have tripled in the past year.
Mounting evidence shows that physically disciplining children can be damaging and counterproductive. A long over-due change in the law to prevent physical punishment of children must be delivered by our political leaders.
The new UK Government have an opportunity to show they are committed to child protection and remove this legal anomaly which would end the use of physical punishment across the UK once and for all.”
