Calls for smacking ban in England grow as 8 in 10 adults say punishment is 'unacceptable'
Parents are still allowed to use 'reasonable punishment' against their children despite the practice being outlawed in Scotland and Wales.
In both nations, any type of corporal punishment, including smacking, hitting, slapping and shaking, has been illegal for at least three years.
Polling for children's charity NSPCC, carried out by YouGov, surveyed 3,800 adults across England – of whom 749 were parents with a child under 18 and 198 were aged 18 to 24.
It found 82 per cent of adults aged between 18 and 24 believe it is unacceptable for a parent to use force, however slight, against a child – up from 64 per cent in 2023.
And 81 per cent of parents with children under 18 felt the same, a slight increase from 80 per cent last year. Of all adults surveyed, 71 per cent said they believe physical punishment against a child is unacceptable, up from 67 per cent in 2023.
Earlier this year, leading health experts urged parliamentarians to give children the 'fundamental right to safety and protection' by backing a smacking ban. Children's doctors and psychiatrists said decades of research showed the 'detrimental effects of physical punishment'.
NSPCC chief executive Chris Sherwood said: 'Parents and young people are telling us loud and clear that they don't want physical punishment to be a part of anyone's childhood.
File image: Parents are still allowed to use 'reasonable punishment' against their children despite the practice being outlawed in Scotland and Wales
'Parents know their children and what works best for them. It is therefore crucial their experiences and opinions are not ignored or undermined.'
In June, as part of debate on the Bill, Conservative peer Lord Jackson of Peterborough warned that introducing a smacking ban in England would be 'disproportionate and heavy-handed'.
He argued 'reasonable chastisement' was harmless and it risked 'criminalising good and caring parents, as well as overloading children's services departments'.
But in the wake of the murder of ten-year-old Sara Sharif in 2023 by her father – who had claimed in a call to police after fleeing England that he 'did legally punish' his daughter and that he 'beat her up too much' – the UK's four children's commissioners jointly called for a wholesale smacking ban.
The commissioners insisted 'loving, well-meaning' parents have no need to be concerned about a change in the law.
The Government, which has previously said it has 'no plans to legislate at this stage', was contacted for comment.
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