The nonprofit added that reports of children being smacked, hit, and shaken as forms of punishment have reached its helpline.
It is requesting that the legal defense of “reasonable chastisement” be closed in England by the next government.
According to the report, the number of contacts in which physical punishment was mentioned rose from 447 in the year ending March 2023 to 1,451 in the year ending March 2024.
In 2022, Wales outlawed physical punishment of any form, including smacking, while Scotland had already passed a law along these lines two years before.
The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health believes that because there are currently “grey” areas in the legislation, smacking should be outlawed nationwide.
More than half of the public contacts made by the NSPCC regarding physical punishment were from people who were worried about a parent’s actions. Ten were not from children.
According to the charity, about 45% of the 1,451 interactions were significant enough to warrant a referral to social services or law enforcement.
According to the NSPCC, research has connected physical punishment to anxiety and sadness, as well as an increase in hostility and antisocial behavior.
