Smacking must be banned, says children’s commissioner for England
Parents must be banned from smacking their children, the children’s commissioner for England said.
Rachel de Souza, a former head teacher, said ministers must introduce legislation to “keep children” safe and that banning smacking is a “necessary step”.
In an interview with The Observer, the commissioner said more needed to be done “to keep every child safe from harm”.
Parents and carers in England are allowed to smack their child provided it amounts to “reasonable punishment” as set out in Section 58 of the Children Act 2004.
Smacking was banned in Scotland in November 2020 and then in Wales two years later, prompting renewed calls for the UK Government to outlaw the practice in England and Northern Ireland.
Ms De Souza, 56, said the ban was necessary to stop “lower-level violence from escalating” into more serious abuse.
She told The Observer: “We have seen too many cases where children have been harmed and died at the hands of the people who should love and care for them most.
“A ban on smacking is a necessary step to keep children safe and to stop lower-level violence from escalating.”
“I abhor violence of any kind against children. Children are more vulnerable than adults, so we need to ensure that they are protected, and their rights are supported.”
The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) said calls and concerns about children being physically punished have more than tripled in a year.
More than half of the NSPCC’s contacts about physical punishment were from members of the public concerned about a parent’s behaviour. Only one in 10 were from a child.
Some 45 per cent of the 1,451 contacts were serious enough to refer to social services or the police, the charity added.
Anna Edmundson, head of policy and public affairs at the NSPCC, told The Observer it supported Ms De Souza’s call: “In the last year, contacts to our helpline from adults who have concerns about physical punishment have tripled.
“There is also mounting evidence that physically disciplining children can be damaging.”