NSPCC calls for a total ban on parents using physical punishment as concerns over children being smacked and hit triple in a year

The children's charity NSPCC have called for a UK-wide ban on physical punishment as concerns over children being smacked and hit by their parents have tripled in a year.

There are as many parenting styles as there are parents, with each family choosing to use a method that best works from them from helicopter parenting to gentle parenting. But while it's a personal choice what approach you take as a parent, there is a lot of discussion around the most effective methods for parenting and, more specifically, for disciplining children.

There has been a stark rise, the NSPCC say, in cases of parents using physical punishment to discipline their kids, with concerns about children being physically punished more than tripling in the past year.

They say that their helpline has been inundated with calls about kids being slapped, hit and shaken by their parents, with the number of calls increasing from 447 in between March 2022 and March 2023, to a worrying 1,451 the following year.

Most of the calls came in from members of the public who were concerned about a parent's behaviour while only one in 10 were from a child themselves. Still, 45% of the calls were classed as serious enough to refer the parent to social services or the police, the charity added.

In response to the surge in calls, the charity has urged the new government to look at the laws and bring in a new rule banning physical punishment in England, just as the governments in both Wales and Scotland did back in 2022 and 2020 respectively.

The government have said they are 'looking closely' at the issue with many hopeful that PM Kier Starmer will follow through as he called for England to follow the example set by Wales when they brought in their ban.

The ban could have a number of positive knock on effects for children who are punished physically should it come into law. Beyond stopping the violence, with previous studies linking physical punishment to depression, anxiety, increased aggression, and antisocial behaviour, their mental health and social lives could be massively bettered.

Speaking about their call for a ban, Sir Peter Wanless, the NSPCC's chief executive, told SkyNews, "Mounting evidence shows that physically disciplining children can be damaging and counterproductive.

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

This is not the first time physical punishment has been in the news this year, with many charities earlier this year calling for a ban. It's something that led our parenting editor to rethink her own stance on physical punishment, saying that she smacked her children and regret it, and that a ban would have stopped her. Elsewhere, a child psychologist revealed the 8 reasons smacking can damage parent-child relationships. Elsewhere in family news, these are the 3 reasons why punishments don’t improve kids’ behaviour, according to a child psychologist.