What are the rules on smacking children in the UK?

Education secretary Bridget Phillipson has said she is “open minded” to a ban on smacking children in England, but says there are no imminent plans to change the law.

In a change of tone from the previous Tory government, which said it was up to parents how to discipline their children. Phillipson said she would like to hear from more experts on how such legislation could work.

She said measures set out in the Children’s Wellbeing Bill, which will be brought forward “by the end of the year”, will address many of issues relating to children’s social care and safeguarding.

The previous Tory government said it did not condone violence of any kind towards children but that there were “clear laws in place to prevent it”, and argued parents should be trusted with their discipline.

However, Children’s Commissioner Rachel de Souza has said a ban is a necessary safeguarding step, telling the Observer: “How we treat and protect children says something fundamental about a society.”

Here, Yahoo News explains where the law stands on smacking across the UK, and why, despite existing legislation, parents are still able to get away with it.

What is the law on smacking children in England?

In England it is unlawful to smack children, although there is an exemption for parents and carers.

It has been against the law for teachers to use any use of force against a child since 1980, but the situation is murkier for parents and carers, who can use the legal defence of “reasonable chastisement”.

For the defence to apply, the punishment inflicted must be “moderate and reasonable”, says legal firm Hickman and Rose, which says it is available to both parents and someone acting in loco parentis (assuming the role and responsibility of a parent).

The ambiguity of this exemption, which many argue is a slippery slope that leads to more severe violence, is why campaigners are calling for a change in the law.

Currently in England, if the punishment of a child is so severe it leaves a mark, such as a scratch or a bruise, the person responsible could be prosecuted for assault, and the child can be taken into local authority care.

What is the law in Scotland?

All forms of physical punishment of children are against the law in Scotland, where children have the same legal protection from assault as adults.

The law on this changed in November 2020, when parents or carers were no longer able to use the reasonable chastisement offence, meaning they can be charged with assault for any form of physical punishment against a child.

What is the law in Wales?

It’s the same situation in Wales: All physical punishment against children however severe is illegal.

The Welsh government, which banned smacking children in March 2022, says the law is “easy for children, parents, professionals and the public to understand”.

At the time, Julie Morgan, the deputy minister for social services told the Guardian: “The culture has started to change and I think this law will reinforce that.”

What is the law in Northern Ireland?

Similarly to England, while smacking a child is illegal in Northern Ireland, parents and carers can still use the defence of reasonable punishment.

In April, Northern Ireland’s children’s commissioner Chris Quinn said it was time for a change, telling the BBC: “It’s never okay to use violence, it’s never okay to use violence against children and I think we need to educate society as to how we put their priorities first and learn from what other countries have done on this issue.”

As of October 2024, 74 countries have prohibited corporal punishment of children, including Scotland and Wales.

Quinn’s comments followed a report by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH), which described the law in England and Northern Ireland as “unjust and dangerously vague”.

Why do people want smacking banned?

As three relatives stood trial for the murder of schoolgirl Sara Sharif, de Souza said more needs to be done “to keep every child safe from harm”.

“If we are serious about keeping every child safe, it’s time England takes this necessary step,” she wrote on X. “Too many children have been harmed or killed at the hands of the people who should love and care for them most.”

The NSPCC has long been calling for a change in the law, although the charity rejects the term “smacking ban”.

“We are calling for equal protection and make the law of assault equal for both children and adults,” it said.

“This isn’t about criminalising parents, rather it’s about giving children the best possible start in life. There are much better and safer ways to respond to a child’s behaviour than through the use of physical force.”

A recent YouGov survey, commissioned by the NSPCC shows support for this change in the law in England rose from 67% to 71% in 2024.

In an article for The Conversation in 2022, Ana Aznar senior lecturer in psychology at the University of Winchester said research suggests the physical punishment of children is “both ineffective and bad for children’s development” and can actually make a child’s behaviour even worse.

She said smacking “does not help the child understand why their actions was wrong” because “sometimes the discipline comes with no explanation”.

“In the future, the child may follow their parents’ orders because of a fear of being physically punished again, not because they understand that it is the right thing to do,” Aznar adds.

Between April 2023 and March 2024, Childline delivered 717 counselling sessions to children with concerns about physical punishment.

Why are some people against a ban?

In 2022, then-education secretary Nadhim Zahawi rejected calls for a ban on smacking children in England, claiming he did not believe it was the state’s job to be “nannying” parents.

“My very strong view is that actually we have got to trust parents on this and parents being able to discipline their children is something that they should be entitled to do,” he told Times radio.

“We have got to just make sure we don’t end up in a world where the state is nannying people about how they bring up their children.”

At the heart of the argument for not introducing a ban is the need to maintain a balance of protection for children against serious harm and the freedom for parents to discipline them as they see fit.

Earlier this year, before the general election, a spokesperson for then-prime minister Rishi Sunak said: “I think the PM would say that the law in England strikes the right balance between protecting children and maintaining the responsibility of parents to discipline their children appropriately and obviously within the boundaries of the existing law.

“Clearly any form of violence towards a child is completely unacceptable but we already have clear laws in place to prevent that.”