NSPCC helpline sees contacts about physical punishment triple in a year

Concerns raised to the NSPCC helpline about children being physically punished have more than tripled in a year, the charity said.

The data has prompted a renewed call for a change in the law, as the charity said its dedicated child protection specialists have heard about children being hit, slapped and shaken as punishment.

While there were 447 child welfare contacts to the helpline where physical punishment was mentioned in the year to March 2023, this jumped to 1,451 in the 12 months to March this year.

Wales made any type of corporal punishment – including smacking, hitting, slapping and shaking – illegal in March 2022, while Scotland introduced a similar ban in November 2020.

A long overdue change in the law to prevent physical punishment of children must be delivered by our political leaders

Earlier this year, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) called for a UK-wide ban on smacking, saying the current law in England and Northern Ireland has created “grey areas” which mean there is sometimes a defence to physical punishment.

In 2022, then-opposition leader Sir Keir Starmer called on other areas of the UK to follow Wales in banning the smacking of children.

Speaking at the time, he said: “What it (the ban) does is give children the protection that adults already have, and that is the right thing.”

The NSPCC said more than half of the total contacts to its helpline regarding physical punishment were from members of the public who were concerned about a parent’s behaviour.

One in 10 contacts was from a child, while professionals who work with children directly also reached out for support from the helpline, the NSPCC said.

The charity said there could be various reasons for the increase in calls, including continued public campaigning to end physical punishment, increased capacity on the helpline, and a lack of understanding from the public around what is deemed acceptable when it comes to punishing a child.

NSPCC chief executive Sir Peter Wanless described the rise as “hugely concerning”.

He said: “Mounting evidence shows that physically disciplining children can be damaging and counter-productive. A long overdue 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.”

It is time to outlaw physical punishment across the whole of the UK and finally put an end to this outdated practice. This is nothing short of what children need, what children deserve, and, frankly, what children are entitled to

RCPCH officer for child protection and consultant paediatrician Professor Andrew Rowland said the NSPCC data “must be a further wake-up call of the need for change”.

He added: “As a UK-based paediatrician, I think it is wholly wrong that children in England and Northern Ireland have less protection and less protection of their rights than their Scottish and Welsh counterparts.

“It is time to outlaw physical punishment across the whole of the UK and finally put an end to this outdated practice. This is nothing short of what children need, what children deserve, and, frankly, what children are entitled to.”

Campaigners opposed to a change have previously said the current law prohibits violence against children but also protects parents from prosecution for “innocent and harmless parenting decisions”.

A Department for Education spokesperson said: “Any form of violence towards a child is completely unacceptable, and we are looking closely at the legal changes made in Wales and Scotland as we consider whether there is any more we could do in this area.

“We are already supporting teachers, social workers and all safeguarding professionals to spot the signs of abuse or neglect more quickly, including with our mandatory framework for safeguarding children.”