Government U-turn to deprive childminders of right to smack children under eight

Childminders are to be banned from smacking children in a policy U-turn to be officially announced by the Government tomorrow.

The move would bring the nation's 70,000 childminders into line with other care professionals such as teachers in nursery, primary and secondary schools who are already forbidden by law to smack children.

The policy will ban childminders from smacking any child under the age of eight. Up until now, childminders have been allowed to administer a smack provided they have the agreement of the parents whose children they are looking after.

Two years ago, David Blunkett, then the Secretary of State for Education, insisted they should retain the right to smack with parental consent to avoid accusations that the Government was introducing a "nanny" state.

The announcement by Mr Blunkett and Margaret Hodge, then the minister responsible for early years education, provoked an outcry from child welfare organisations, such as the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.

However, Baroness Ashton of Upholland, an Education minister, insisted yesterday: "Lots of childminders and lots of parents feel very strongly that if we are genuinely trying to make sure that children get a quality experience then this is an anomaly that needs to be sorted out."

Officials at the Department for Education and Skills stressed that the move would not be used as the forerunner of an attempt to outlaw the smacking of children by their parents. "We are bringing the provision of childminding into line with every other sector of education – nursery, primary and secondary," a spokesman for the department said. "It is something that both parents and childminding providers strongly welcome. It is about removing risk, but most importantly it is about professional childminding services."

Only about 4 per cent of parents had taken advantage of the agreement that allowed them to give their childminders the right to smack their children, he said.

"The issue of parents giving consent was so rarely used that it was thought better to remove it." However, he added: "there is absolutely no intention of enforcing what parents can do in their own homes. It is up to the parent to decide what is right. We have no intention of moving towards a debate on parental discipline in their own homes."

The ban on smacking is planned to come into force this autumn. After it is implemented it would be a criminal offence for a childminder to smack a child.

The decision to retain smacking two years ago was criticised by – among others – Ofsted, the Government's education standards watchdog, which now has powers to inspect childminders. It agreed with child welfare groups that there was a danger of child abuse occurring and that it would be difficult to monitor the situation.