In England, a defence of ‘reasonable punishment’ exists which means children are not fully protected from physical assault - the NSPCC want the legal loophole abolished.
In more than 60 other countries around the world, including Scotland and Wales, physical punishment against children is illegal.
The charity’s call comes as it releases new figures showing the number of calls to its helping surrounding concerns around children experiencing physical punishment tripled in the last year.
Between April 2023 and March 2024, the helpline answered 1,451 contacts across the UK that mentioned physical punishment against children. It says that 45 per cent of these calls were serious enough to require a referral to social services or the police.
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