Dawn Bowden MS, Minister for Children and Social Care
On 21 March 2022, Wales joined more than 60 nations around the world in prohibiting the use of physical punishment of children. This fulfilled our Programme for Government commitment and marked an historic moment for children and their rights in Wales.
The overarching aim of the Children (Abolition of Defence of Reasonable Punishment) (Wales) Act 2020 is to help protect children's rights. It provides children in Wales with the same protection from assault as adults and means the physical punishment of children is prohibited in all settings in Wales.
Before the legislation came into force, we delivered an extensive multi-media communications and engagement campaign to ensure as many people as possible were aware of the change in the law. We have continued to raise awareness of the law and provide information, advice and support for parents about positive alternatives to physical punishment, through the Parenting: Give it time campaign to help them build a loving and mutually respectful relationship with their child.
We have also worked with Children in Wales to develop and publish resources for professionals, to support them to communicate with children about the law, in an appropriate and sensitive manner.
Between April 2022 and March 2025, up to £2.4m has been made available to local authorities to fund out-of-court parenting support as a rehabilitative alternative to prosecution. This aims to encourage and support parents in adopting positive parenting techniques while making it clear that the physical punishment of children is unacceptable in all circumstances.
21 March 2025 marks the third anniversary of this landmark legislation coming into force. This is an important milestone in our journey and an opportunity to reflect on the progress we have made so far.
The Act places a duty on Welsh Ministers to prepare and publish reports on the effect of the changes to the law – three and five years after the Act came into force. The areas the reviews will cover have previously been agreed and include the impact on public services; awareness of the law and attitudes to physical punishment; and stakeholder views and experiences.
We have worked closely with partners across a range of sectors to put in place arrangements to measure the impact of the legislation, through appropriate data collection and monitoring.
The three-year interim review will bring together the available data and evidence covering the period up to the end of March 2025. Allowing for data collection and analysis, it is my intention that a post-implementation review report will be laid before the end of 2025.