Consultation – removing the reasonable punishment of children defence

The Welsh Government has started a consultation about removing the defence of the reasonable punishment of children.

It is against the law for a parent or carer to smack their child, except where this amounts to ‘reasonable punishment’ (section 58 Children Act 2004).

The Welsh Government are consulting on the development of a legislative proposal to remove this defence. This would not create a new criminal offence, but would remove a defence to the existing offence of common assault or battery.

The consultation document is worth a read to get a fuller understanding of this issue:

https://consultations.gov.wales/consultations/legislative-proposal-remove-defence-reasonable-punishment;