The Government has “no plans” to require ritual circumcisers to use anaesthesia, and refuses to say whether unanaesthetised non-therapeutic circumcisions are even legal.
Responding to a series of parliamentary questions from Lib Dem peer Paul Scriven, the Government would only acknowledge that there is no legal requirement for circumcisers to be medically trained or to have “proven expertise”.
The National Secular Society campaigns to protect all children from non-therapeutic genital cutting. Male circumcision is performed on babies and children for religious reasons in some Jewish, Muslim and Christian communities.
‘Gratuitous infliction of pain’
Earlier this year, ritual circumciser Mohammad Siddiqui was convicted of child cruelty for performing an unanaesthetised circumcision on an infant.
In court, the Crown Prosecution Service described this as “gratuitous infliction of pain” and a “deliberate disregard” for the child’s welfare.
The judge in the case called for “safeguards and protections” to be put in place as a “matter of urgency, to ensure that babies and young children are protected.”
Despite this, religious groups openly perform unanaesthetised circumcisions. An FAQ page on the website of The Initiation Society, a registered Jewish charity which promotes circumcision, states: “Babies are generally not anaesthetised during a Bris [ritual circumcision]”.
The National Secular Society raised concerns about The Initiation Society with the charity watchdog in June.
In 2025 correspondence, the Royal College of Anaesthetists said “circumcision is a painful procedure” and local anaesthetic should be used if neonates are to be circumcised.
In Scotland, religious circumcision is provided on the NHS but only under general anaesthetic. This is because it is “safer and less painful” for children.
Former editor of the Jewish Chronicle Jake Wallis Simons has also asked: “isn’t cutting off part of an infant’s body without pain relief a criminal act?”
NSS: ‘Profound failure of child safeguarding’
National Secular Society human rights lead Dr Alejandro Sanchez said: “Non-therapeutic circumcision is a medically unnecessary surgery that violates the child’s right to bodily autonomy and freedom of religion or belief.
“We think decisions about circumcision should be deferred until the individual is old enough to decide for himself, based on his own values.
“However, if circumcisions are to be performed on children, anaesthesia must be used. The Government’s failure to insist on this as a bare minimum is a profound failure of child safeguarding, and an embarrassing capitulation to religious interests.”