Overview
- UCL published a major analysis on Thursday showing children who were physically punished at ages three, five and seven were more likely to fail core GCSEs (48% versus 42.3%) and more likely to show aggressive or bullying behaviours in adolescence.
- The study used the UCL-led Millennium Cohort Study of about 19,000 children born 2000–2002 linked to England’s National Pupil Database to compare long-term school and behavioural outcomes.
- Researchers reported that early physical punishment raised the chance of hitting, pushing or shoving someone by roughly a third by age 14 and increased other risky behaviours such as sibling bullying and cyberbullying.
- Child-protection groups and the UK’s children's commissioners urged removing the legal 'reasonable punishment' defence, but the Department for Education said it has no plans to legislate at this stage and recent attempts in Northern Ireland and England were dropped.
- The analysis sits inside a wider UK patchwork where Scotland and Wales have banned corporal punishment and experts disagree on policy framing, so the report could strengthen advocacy, influence public debate, and guide how any future reform would be implemented.