Psychologists are calling for the smacking of children in the family home to be outlawed due to the effect it can have on their mental health.

A motion has been put forward to the Trades Union Congress (TUC) from the Association of Educational Psychologists (AEP) urging the government to 'acknowledge that physical punishment can have negative long-term effects on a child’s development'.

Psychologists backing the ban state that hitting is never an effective method of disciplining a child, no matter the circumstances.

Children’s charity Save the Children states that all children have a 'right to protection from violence, exploitation, abuse and neglect', and describes the act of smacking a child as a form of 'child abuse'.