Slapping of children made illegal from today

Fears of parents getting a criminal record and losing jobs

Glamorgan Star news 21/03/2022

4 minutes read

All physical punishment of children has become illegal in Wales.

Slapping of children made illegal from today

In what is seen as a historic moment for legal rights, all physical punishment of children has become illegal in Wales today, 21st March.

Parents have always been lawfully entitled to discipline their children in Wales if the smack did not leave a red mark, but the legal defence of ‘reasonable punishment’ has been completely removed as the abolition of this common law defence is no longer acceptable in Wales in relation to corporal punishment.

All types of physical punishment of children – such as smacking, hitting, slapping or shaking – is now illegal for anyone, including visitors to the country.

Wales is the second part of the UK to do so, after any acts of physical discipline or punishment carried out on children in Scotland was introduced in November 2020. Scotland’s ban on child smacking removed the consideration of using ‘justifiable assault’ as a legal defence.

Last year, the Welsh Government bill was voted on at the Senedd with assembly members voting 36 to 14 in favour of the outright ban.

At the time, Welsh Conservative Janet Finch-Saunders MS was highly critical of the decision saying the state was stepping into the private lives of families and described it as a “nanny-state intervention.”

Be Reasonable, is a campaign by parents and supportive groups with a single goal of discouraging the Welsh Government from pursuing its pledge to outlaw reasonable chastisement of children by their parents.

Spokesman Simon Calvert commented: “The Welsh Government have been all over the place on smacking as they have tried to sell the policy. They repeatedly told the public the legislation would not criminalise loving parents, yet their impact assessment says the bill for the ban could top £7.8 million, including nearly a million (£964K) for extra policing. Why do you need extra policing if you are not criminalising anything? It went on to admit there were many unknown costs, including the cost to social services, the family courts, the CPS, and Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass) Cymru.

Be Reasonable fears that, if parents get into trouble for failing to do what is required by the new law, they will get a criminal record and could poentially lose their jobs.

Mr Calvert added: “Let’s be clear, this change to the law has little to do with tackling genuine abuse, which is already illegal. Instead it criminalises good mums and dads for nothing more than tapping their toddler on the back of the hand or the bottom for misbehaving.

“Even if that parent is released without charge the information will still be recorded on official databases. This could impact the employment prospects of teachers, doctors, nurses and anyone else who works with children or vulnerable adults.”

“Only now the ban is being implemented, do they finally drop any pretence that this ban will not criminalise loving parents. They are telling the public to ring the police or social services if they see, or suspect, a parent has tapped their child on the bottom for misbehaving. Why has it taken so long for this administration to come clean?

“They are criminalising smacking by removing the reasonable chastisement defence from parents. The only thing the defence protects is parenting actions that are, by definition, reasonable. Unreasonable chastisement of any kind is already illegal. Removing the reasonable chastisement defence doesn’t criminalise beating children. That’s already against the law. It criminalises reasonable chastisement.”

Welcoming the Children (Abolition of Defence of Reasonable Punishment) (Wales) Act 2020 coming into force, Deputy Minister for Social Services, Julie Morgan said: ”I am delighted the physical punishment of children is now illegal in Wales. This is a historic achievement for children and their rights.”

“The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child makes it clear that children have the right to be protected from harm and from being hurt and this includes physical punishment. That right is now enshrined in Welsh law. No more grey areas. No more ‘defence of reasonable punishment.’ That is all in the past. There is no place for physical punishment in a modern Wales.”

What is physical punishment?

There are lots of types of physical punishment. It can mean smacking, hitting, slapping and shaking. But there are other types too.

It is not possible to give a set list of what makes up physical punishment because it can be anything where a child is punished using physical force.

What does the change in law mean?

All physical punishment will be illegal in Wales
It will give children the same protection from assault as adults
It will make the law clearer – easier for children, parents, professionals and the public to understand.

Will the change in law apply to everybody in Wales?

Yes, it will apply to everyone – parents or anyone who is responsible for a child while the parents are absent. And as with other laws, it will apply to visitors to Wales too.

Physical punishment is already illegal in schools, children’s homes, local authority foster care homes and childcare settings.

What happens if people physically punish a child from today, 21st March 2022?

Anyone who physically punishes a child: