REPORT: Social services workload in Wales increases as over 100 parents a year face criminal justice system under smacking ban

The Be Reasonable campaign has published a new report assessing the first three years of the smacking ban.

The report finds that since the Children (Abolition of Defence of Reasonable Punishment) Act 2020 came into force in March 2022:

• Hundreds of parents have faced criminal sanctions, for actions previously deemed ‘reasonable’ by the law;
• Thousands of families have been subjected to social services investigations;
• Millions of pounds worth of social workers’ time has been diverted;
• Despite being legally obliged to monitor implementation, the Welsh Government has failed to collect adequate data from local authorities.

The Welsh Government was expected to publish its own three-year review before now, but it has not done so.

The full Be Reasonable report can be found at: bit.ly/BRWreport

Cost to the public purse
Using figures published by the Welsh Government, the Be Reasonable campaign estimates that the ban could now be costing social services a further £1.64 million annually on additional assessments. The estimated cost of implementing the law in the first five years could be around double the £7.9 million the Welsh Government forecasted, with many other costs still unknown.

Forcing social workers to escalate trivial cases of mums tapping their toddlers’ behinds is likely to result in significant time being diverted away from cases where children are at genuine risk of harm.

The Report also notes that inconsistent Government data collection makes it difficult to assess the true extent of the financial and operational impact.

Simon Calvert, spokesman for the Be Reasonable campaign said:
“This new report is a stark reminder that ill-thought-through virtue-signalling laws can have very real and very negative consequences for innocent people, including children in need of help.

“We have tried to estimate the cost to the public purse, but the chaotic state of Welsh Government data collection makes that extremely difficult. Still, the numbers we have been able to estimate are pretty shocking, especially at a time of tightened budgets and tax rises.

“The public sector is under enormous pressure, yet thousands of hours and millions of pounds are now being wasted on needless investigations into families where there is nothing wrong. This is a high price to pay for legislating political correctness. Social services staff should be free to focus on protecting children who are genuinely at risk.

“The amount wasted on this new law would be enough to fund a complete primary school rebuild or a much-needed local health centre. The unfortunate reality is that much of this cost is met by taking staff time away from critical social services work.”

Criminalising parents
During the passage of the legislation, several politicians insisted the new law would not criminalise parents. Carwyn Jones, then First Minister, stated that the law “will not criminalise parents”, while then-Deputy Social Services Minister Julie Morgan said: “This is not about… criminalising loving parents.”

However, Be Reasonable’s analysis shows that since the law came into force, hundreds of parents have been investigated and referred to diversionary ‘re-education’ schemes because police have concluded that they reached the threshold for prosecution under the smacking ban.

These are cases which, prior to the Act, would have been considered lawful and reasonable parental discipline, of the kind most British adults experienced as children. Late during consideration of the ban, public pressure led to the Government opting for a non-prosecution policy. But parents who smack have still broken the criminal law and are at the mercy of the police as to whether they are prosecuted or ‘re-educated’.

The consequences for families can be significant, affecting employment prospects and overseas travel.

Simon Calvert added:
“We warned that parents would be criminalised under this law. Despite repeated assurances to the contrary, after the ban became law the Government announced that parents suspected of smacking should be reported to the police or social services.

“Just three years on, hundreds of parents have been put through a criminal justice ‘diversionary’ scheme. As part of this process, parents may be required to ‘admit’ to ‘assaulting’ their own child, despite having only done what would previously have been deemed ‘reasonable’. This could cost them their job, and their ability to provide for their families.”

Delayed Government report
The Welsh Government was obliged, under the Children (Abolition of Defence of Reasonable Punishment) Act 2020, to publish its own three-year review of the law. This is now overdue and efforts to prepare the report appear slipshod. Through FOI requests, Be Reasonable found significant gaps in data collection. Few local authorities, health boards or police forces reported being asked to contribute systematically to the review.