Common Assault & Battery

(1) Common assault and battery shall be summary offences and a person guilty of either of them shall be liable to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, or to both.

(2) Subsection (1) is subject to section 1 of the Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Act 2018 (which makes provision for increased sentencing powers for offences of common assault and battery committed against an emergency worker acting in the exercise of functions as such a worker).

(1) The section applies to an offence of common assault, or battery, that is committed against an emergency worker acting in the exercise of functions as such a worker.

(2) A person guilty of an offence to which this section applies is liable—

(a) on summary conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding the general limit in a magistrates’ court, or to a fine, or to both;

(b) on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years, or to a fine, or to both.

(3) For the purposes of subsection (1), the circumstances in which an offence is to be taken as committed against a person acting in the exercise of functions as an emergency worker include circumstances where the offence takes place at a time when the person is not at work but is carrying out functions which, if done in work time, would have been in the exercise of functions as an emergency worker.

(4) In relation to an offence committed before 2 May 2022, the reference in subsection (2)(a) to the general limit in a magistrates’ court is to be read as a reference to 6 months.

(5) In consequence of subsections (1) to (3), in section 39 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 (which provides for common assault and battery to be summary offences punishable with imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months)—

(a) the existing text becomes subsection (1);

(b) after that subsection insert—

(2) Subsection (1) is subject to section 1 of the Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Act 2018 (which makes provision for increased sentencing powers for offences of common assault and battery committed against an emergency worker acting in the exercise of functions as such a worker).

(6) This section applies only in relation to offences committed on or after the day it comes into force.

Common assault is an act by which a person intentionally or recklessly causes another to suffer or apprehend immediate unlawful violence. Battery is committed by the intentional or reckless application of unlawful force to another person. These are two separate offences, placed on a statutory footing by section 39 CJA 1988. Where battery is selected it should be charged as “assault by beating”: DPP v Taylor and Little [1992] Q.B. 645.

Where the offence amounts to domestic abuse, prosecutors should have regard to section 39A CJA 1988 which extends the usual summary time limit in certain circumstances. For further information see the Domestic Abuse prosecution guidance.

Consent is a defence to battery (see Brown, below).

In England, section 58 of the Children Act 2004 removed the common law defence of reasonable punishment of a child for all offences except common assault and battery for parents and adults acting in loco parentis.

When deciding upon the appropriate charge, the vulnerability of the victim, such as a child being assaulted by an adult, should be treated as a significant aggravating factor. Prosecutors must also have regard to the availability of the reasonable punishment defence when considering charges against parents or persons acting in loco parentis. Therefore, in these cases, injuries that would normally lead to a charge of ‘common assault’ could be more appropriately charged as ‘assault occasioning actual bodily harm’ (e.g. a black eye) contrary to section 47 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861 (for which the defence of reasonable punishment is not available) unless the injury to the child was merely transient and trifling (e.g. temporary reddening of the skin).

If a prosecutor determines that the correct charge is common assault or battery, the next determination is whether the punishment inflicted was moderate and reasonable. R v H [2001] 2 FLR 431 found the following factors were relevant in determining whether the punishment in question was reasonable and moderate.

the nature and context of the defendant's behaviour;

the duration of that behaviour;

the physical and mental consequences in respect of the child;

the age and personal characteristics of the child;

the reasons given by the defendant for administering the punishment.

The Children (Abolition of Defence of Reasonable Punishment) (Wales) Act 2020 completely abolished the common law defence of reasonable punishment of a child in Wales and amended section 58 of the Children Act 2004 so that it only applies to offences committed in England.

Educational establishments may not give corporal punishment to children: section 548 Education Act 1996 (but may use reasonable force for specified reasons including preventing an offence: section 93 Education and Inspections Act 2006.