Beth Rose - Disability affairs reporter; Vanessa Clarke - Senior education reporter Wed, June 10, 2026 at 11:33 PM UTC 4 min read Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Campaigners have called for England and Northern Ireland to make smacking children illegal, in-line with Scotland and Wales [PA Media] Smacking children as a form of punishment could result in lower school grades or lead to riskier teenage behaviour, a study has found.