Policy paper

Review of section 58 of the Children's Act 2004

This document reviews the practical consequences of section 58 and seek parents’ views on smacking.

• From: Department for Children, Schools and Families
• Published: 25 October 2007

This was published under the 2007 to 2010 Brown Labour government

Documents

Review of section 58 of the Children's Act 2004

Ref: ISBN 9780101723220, Cm. 7232

PDF, 144 KB, 24 pages

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Details

Section 58 of the Children Act 2004 limited the use of the defence of reasonable punishment so that it could no longer be used when people are charged with offences against a child, such as causing actual bodily harm or cruelty to a child.

For this review, the government carried out a consultation, parental survey, children and young people’s survey and sought additional supporting evidence.

Published 25 October 2007