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Wales has made all forms of physical punishment against children illegal from Monday – as it becomes the second UK nation to bring in the ban. First Minister Mark Drakeford described it as an “historic” day for children, bringing Wales in line with more than 60 other countries around the world, including Scotland.

The legal defence of ‘reasonable punishment’ has been removed, meaning anyone who hits a child in their care could be arrested and prosecuted for assault.

Mr Drakeford said the law marked the end of “grey areas” and ensured children will have the same protection from assault as adults.

He said: “There is no place for physical punishment in a modern Wales.”

Prior to the ban in Wales, as is still the case in England and Northern Ireland, smacking a child was common assault.

However, if a parent or someone with parental responsibility was charged with assault against a child in their care – they could have attempted to use the legal defence of ‘reasonable punishment.’

The defence of ‘reasonable punishment’ has been in place in England and Wales since Victorian times.

Whether the defence was accepted depended on the circumstances of each case, taking into account factors such as the age of the child and the nature of the contact.

But from today, the defence has been scrapped in Wales, meaning anyone who physically punishes a child will be breaking the law and could be prosecuted.

Julie Morgan, Deputy Minister for Social Services, also hailed the “historic moment for children and their rights in Wales”.

Jersey was the first part of the British Isles to ban physical punishment against children – in April 2020.

Scotland soon followed suit, becoming the first UK nation to make smacking illegal in November 2020.

Sweden was the first country in the world to ban physical punishment of children in 1979. It is now illegal in 63 nations globally.

The ban in Wales follows a campaign by children’s charities and politicians.

Mr Drakeford welcomed the law as one of his flagship policies.

He said: “The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child makes it clear that children have the right to be protected from harm and from being hurt and this includes physical punishment.

“That right is now enshrined in Welsh law. No more grey areas. No more defence of reasonable punishment. That is all in the past.”

Wales’ children’s commissioner Sally Holland said children now had “clear and unambiguous precedence and protection”.

She said: “As adults, we do not accept physical violence in any part of our lives.

“And as a nation we are clear today that we do not accept it in our children’s lives either.”

The Welsh government has advised anyone who sees a child being physically punished to either call the police if the child is in immediate physical danger or contact their local social services department.

Wales’ scrapping of the ‘reasonable punishment’ defence has prompted fresh calls for smacking children to be made illegal throughout the UK, with England and Northern Ireland yet to change the law.

In a survey of 3,000 adults in England, the NSPCC found that 64 percent think it is time to change the law in the country and ban smacking, while 68 percent said hitting a child was not acceptable.

Viv Laing, policy and public affairs manager at NSPCC Cymru Wales, said England and Northern Ireland are now outliers.

She told the Guardian: “In Wales, as in more than 60 countries around the world, we will no longer tolerate physical violence against children.

“Until now, children were the only group in our society who it was acceptable to strike in certain circumstances. We don’t allow the physical punishment of adults or animals, so it is absurd that we have for so long with children.”

However, opposition parties have argued the ban could create a “Stasi culture” in Wales.

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Gareth Davies, the Welsh Conservatives’ spokesman for social services, said: “The smacking ban is an unnecessary, unworkable and undesired law that was pushed through the Senedd by those who think they know better than parents.

“I am very worried about campaigns that encourage a Stasi culture in Wales where people – and children – are encouraged to shop parents, who discipline their children in what they deem a proportionate manner, to the police.

“This guidance flies in the face of the assurances that ministers gave to the Welsh people and there are justified concerns that the police will come under further pressure if the new regime leads to false claims and busybodies taking advantage.”

But ministers in Cardiff said the new law would give children ”the best start in life”.

The Welsh government has not given a set list of what constitutes physical punishment, however it said it could be “anything where a child is punished using physical force”.

This would mean people will be committing a crime if they hit, slap, smack, or shake a child.

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