UK MPs move to provide children with legal protection from assault

Ellie Chowns (left) and Jess Asato with actress Pauline Collins (centre). The MPs have tabled an amendment to protect children from corporal punishment at home.

• Member of the United Kingdom parliament, Jess Asato, has tabled an amendment to a government bill that would remove a loophole that allows physical punishment of children in certain circumstances.

• If successful, the amendment will mean children are protected from physical punishment in all settings across the United Kingdom.

• IPNEd calls on MPs to commit to passing and implementing laws that prohibit physical punishment of children, especially in educational settings.

• The International Day to End Corporal Punishment on April 30 provides an opportunity to accelerate efforts to achieve a universal ban.

In advance of the International Day to End Corporal Punishment (30 April), momentum is building around the world to outlaw the physical punishment of children.

In the UK parliament, Ms. Jess Asato MP is leading the charge to ensure that children receive the same legal protection from assault as adults by introducing an amendment to the Government’s Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill.

Ms. Asato’s amendment seeks to remove the outdated ‘reasonable punishment’ defence, which currently allows physical punishment of children to go unchallenged in certain circumstances.

68 states have achieved the full prohibition of corporal punishment of children in all settings, and if this law is passed, the United Kingdom will be the 69th state to do so.

Smacking was banned in Scotland in 2020 and Wales in 2022, and if the bill passes, this would bring England and Northern Ireland into line with the protection from physical punishment already provided to children in those jurisdictions.

“In 2025, it is simply unacceptable that children—the most vulnerable members of our society—have less protection from assault than adults. The current law is unclear, inconsistent, and exposes children to harm. My amendment will provide the clarity and protection they deserve,” said Ms Asato.

The amendment has the backing of leading child protection organisations, including the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC), Barnardo’s, the Children’s Commissioner for England, and the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health.

“The Royal College has been clear, current laws in England and Northern Ireland are “unjust and dangerously vague, creating a society in which some forms of violence are acceptable, and others are not,” said Ms Ellie Chowns MP, a member of the International Parliamentary Network for Education who is supporting the amendment.

Ms. Asato, a member of the Labour Party, and Ms. Chowns, a member of the Green Party, are working together across party lines to achieve this reform. In a jointly written article published in The House Magazine last month, they set out the compelling case for this change in the law.

A growing global movement

Following the recent move by Thailand to outlaw physical punishment of children in all settings, 68 countries worldwide now prohibit the practice. 

Many others have banned physical punishment in educational settings, but in 63 states, it is still permissible to punish children physically at school.

Some 30 years after the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, prohibiting corporal punishment in law and eliminating it in practice in every country and all educational settings is an urgent priority.

“School should be a place of hope and opportunity, where children are safe to learn and develop the skills and experiences they need to thrive. Corporal punishment is incompatible with that vision,” said Ms Mehnaz Akber Aziz, a former Co-Chair of IPNEd and member of the National Assembly of Pakistan, whose private members' bill prohibited corporal punishment in educational settings in Pakistan’s national capital.

In 2011, the Bangladesh Supreme Court ruled, “There cannot be any doubt that corporal punishment is detrimental to children’s well-being and has serious physical, psychological and emotional effects, as well as causing truancy and dropping out of school. This, in turn, exacerbates the cycle of illiteracy and poverty.”

We agree. Making the physical and degrading punishment of children in education settings unlawful everywhere is central to IPNEd’s efforts to tackle illiteracy and poverty.

We hope that parliamentarians from every corner of the world mark the International Day to End Corporal Punishment by raising the issue in their parliament and communities.

In countries where physical punishment is still permissible, especially in schools, we urge MPs to draft and pass legislation to outlaw it. In countries where this is already the case, we urge MPs to outlaw physical punishment in all settings.

Critical as they are, laws on their own will not be enough. To be effective, the prohibition of corporal punishment requires a comprehensive range of measures to create a culture that does not rely on violence.

The passage of laws should therefore lay the ground for the implementation of national strategies, which MPs should oversee.

For next steps to help you achieve change, please visit our resource page and the global End Corporal Punishment campaign.