Urgent calls to use wellbeing bill to outlaw 'reasonable chastisement'

1 May 2 mins read Joanne Parkes Social Care

Every child in the UK must have the same protection from assault as adults, all four children’s commissioners have urged as the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill reaches the House of Lords.

Removing the 'reasonable chastisement' defence would be murdered schoolgirl Sara Sharif’s legacy, said Children's Commissioner for England Dame Rachel de Souza

An amendment to the bill removing the defence of ‘reasonable chastisement’ would be murdered schoolgirl Sara Sharif’s legacy, said Dame Rachel de Souza, the Children's Commissioner for England.

The issue returned to the national spotlight last year after the 10-year-old's father Irfan Sharif was jailed for life for murder in December 2024 after claiming that the abuse he inflicted on his daughter amounted to ‘legal punishment’.

De Souza and her counterparts have issued a joint statement highlighting how children in England and Northern Ireland are the only people in the United Kingdom not to be fully protected in law from assault.

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