Adults convicted of acts of emotional cruelty against children in their care will face the same threat of jail as those guilty of physical neglect, under new laws being considered by ministers.

Parents found guilty could face up to 10 years in prison, the maximum term in child neglect cases.

The change will update existing laws in England and Wales that allow an adult responsible for a child to be prosecuted only if they have deliberately assaulted, abandoned or exposed a child to suffering or injury to their health.

The new offence would make it a crime to do anything that deliberately harmed a child's "physical, intellectual, emotional, social or behavioural development".

Campaigners backing the reform were claiming victory on Sunday night, saying the move would be included in the Queen's speech in June.

The campaign for the reform has been led by Robert Buckland, the Conservative MP for Swindon South, and the charity Action for Children, as well as leading family law campaigners.

Action for Children's chief executive, Sir Tony Hawkhead, said: "This is a monumental step forward for thousands of children who we know suffer from emotional abuse and countless others whose desperate situations have yet to come to light.

"I've met children who have been scapegoated in their families, constantly humiliated and made to feel unloved. The impact is devastating and can lead to life-long mental health problems and, in some cases, suicide.

"We are one of the last countries in the western world to recognise all forms of child abuse as a crime. Years of campaigning have been rewarded – the government has listened and this law will change lives."

Action for Children claims neglect is the most common reason for a child protection referral across the UK, and emotional abuse is more common in these referrals than physical abuse, according to the Department for Education.

Currently, the criminal definition of child neglect, which affects as many as one in 10 children, covers physical harm only.

Child neglect legislation had not been reviewed in the UK for more than 80 years and is still based on the 1868 Poor Law (Amendment) Act.

Buckland said: "Current law focuses only on the physical effects of abuse, stating for example that it is an offence to ill-treat a child resulting in the 'loss of sight, or hearing, or limb, or organ of the body'. Emotional neglect, by contrast, which modern science now shows can be equally as destructive to a child's wellbeing as physical abuse, is excluded from the law."

Action for Children said that out of 41 legal systems examined around the world, only two, including England, did not criminalise emotional abuse.

Buckland told the Daily Telegraph:"This is simply not good enough. Just because a law is old, doesn't always mean it needs to change, but in this case, its archaic terms are unhelpful for the police and investigating authorities. A recent survey of 200 police officers showed that seven out of 10 supported a change to the law."

A consultation has been held by the police minister, Damian Green, but efforts to reform the law in the Lords led by Lady Butler-Sloss, a former senior judge, by amending the crime and courts bill in 2013 failed to win government support.