Every child in the United Kingdom must have the same protection from assault as adults, four Children’s Commissioners have united to say in a joint statement.
The Children’s Commissioner for England, Dame Rachel de Souza, and her colleagues in Scotland, Nicola Killean, Wales, Rocio Cifuentes and Northern Ireland, Chris Quinn, have come together to intervene as the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill returns to Parliament in Westminster today.
Dame Rachel is calling for an amendment to be introduced to the Bill as it progresses through the House of Lords to remove the defence of ‘reasonable punishment’ that exists in English law and in the Children Act 2004.
Children in Scotland and Wales are already protected in law, but children in England and Northern Ireland are the only people in the United Kingdom not fully protected in law from assault.
The murder of 10-year-old Sara Sharif in Surrey, England, by her father, stepmother and uncle in 2023 brought the subject of physical punishment back into national attention, because her father claimed to police that the abuse he inflicted on his daughter amounted to ‘legal punishment’.
The Commissioners believe the current legal position cannot be reconciled with a society that values childhood as precious and worthy of protection – and one which has ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of a Child (UNCRC) which sets out that all physical punishment violates children’s rights to protection from violence.
Children’s Commissioner for England Dame Rachel de Souza said:
“There is no degree of violence that should ever be acceptable in a child’s life. We still see this happening far too often with horrific consequences.
“A child should never grow up living in fear, especially from the people who are supposed to love and care for them.
“I am haunted by the words of Sara Sharif’s abusive father that he ‘legally punished her’ until she died. Let this be Sara’s legacy, that all children in the United Kingdom are given the same protection as anyone else.”
The four Commissioners are clear that every child across the UK deserves the same legal protection from assault as adults.
The Government in Westminster has confirmed it will review the evidence from Scotland and Wales before making a decision on the law – but the Commissioners are calling for urgent action now. The Children and Wellbeing Bill provides an opportunity to ensure that they do.
In their statement, the Commissioners for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland said:
“As Children’s Commissioners we are united in our view that any defence in law that permits assault for the purpose of physical punishment of children is outdated and morally repugnant.”
The experience of Scotland and Wales, where children are already offered full protection from assault and violence, does not suggest any increase in parents and carers being criminalised – no loving, well-meaning parent has anything to fear from a defence to assault being removed from the law.
