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NSPCC: Child Punishment Concerns Triple

by DD Desk

August 22, 2024

NSPCC: Child Punishment Concerns Triple

key takeaways

NSPCC: Surge in Child Abuse Reports

The nonprofit added that reports of children being smacked, hit, and shaken as forms of punishment have reached its helpline.

It is requesting that the legal defence of "reasonable chastisement" be closed in England by the next government.

According to the report, the number of contacts in which physical punishment was mentioned rose from 447 in the year ending March 2023 to 1,451 in the year ending March 2024.

In 2022, Wales outlawed physical punishment of any form, including smacking, while Scotland had already passed a law along these lines two years before.

A UK-wide ban on smacking should be brought in due to current "grey" areas in the law, according to the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health.

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% of the 1,451 contacts were serious enough to refer to social services or the police, the charity added.

Sir Keir Starmer also urged other UK countries to take a cue from Wales in 2022.

"What it (the ban) does is give children the protection that adults already have, and that is the right thing," he stated at the time.

According to the NSPCC, research has connected physical punishment to anxiety and depression as well as an increase in hostility and antisocial behaviour.

The charity listed a number of plausible explanations for the rise in interactions.

These include increased capacity for helplines, redoubled efforts to outlaw smacking, and a lack of public awareness on appropriate child punishment guidelines.

Sir Peter Wanless, the NSPCC's chief executive, said the rise in people contacting them about the issue was "hugely concerning".

"Mounting evidence shows that physically disciplining children can be damaging and counterproductive," he said.

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

Sir Peter said the new government must act to "end the use of physical punishment across the UK once and for all".

People opposed to a law change have said previously the status quo still prohibits violence against children while also protecting parents from prosecution for "innocent and harmless parenting decisions".