Commissioners across the UK call for change

The Commissioner, Nicola Killean and the children’s commissioners from England, Wales, and Northern Ireland are urging Westminster to give every child in the UK the same protection from assault as adults. 

Scotland was the first country in the UK to give children the same legal protection from assault as adults when the Children (Equal Protection from Assault) (Scotland) Act came into force in November 2020. Children in Wales are also protected, leaving those in England and Northern Ireland as the only children in the UK not fully protected in law from assault.  

The Commissioner, along with Dame Rachel de Souza, Rocio Cifuentes, and Chris Quinn – the Children’s Commissioners for England, Wales, and Northen Ireland respectively – are clear that every child across the UK has the right to the same legal protection from assault as adults.  

The four Commissioners 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united in our view that any defence in law that permits assault for the purpose of physical punishment of children is outdated and morally repugnant.”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 current legal position does not respect children’s rights in England and Northern Ireland as set out in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of a Child (UNCRC). 

The Children’s Commissioner for England, Dame Rachel De Souza is calling for an amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill at Westminster to remove the defence of ‘reasonable punishment’ that exists in English law and in the Children Act 2004. 

The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child is unequivocal on this issue— children’s right to protection from violence and to equal protection under the law means that states must enact legislation which prohibits – without exception – all forms of corporal punishment of children in all settings.