From September 2026, allergy safety in schools across England will receive greater legal protection. New statutory guidance will require schools to take a clearer and more consistent approach to protecting children with allergies. The changes are widely known as Benedict’s Law. They cover practical areas such as allergy policies, staff training, Individual Healthcare Plans and access to emergency medication.
For schools, the message is simple. Allergy safety cannot just be a policy that sits in a folder. Staff need to understand the risks, know which children need additional support and be ready to act if a serious allergic reaction occurs.
What is Benedict’s Law?
Benedict’s Law is named after Benedict Blythe, a five-year-old boy who died following an allergic reaction at school in 2021. Following his death, Benedict’s family campaigned for stronger and more consistent allergy safety measures in schools. Their campaign highlighted an important problem. The level of allergy support a child received could vary considerably from one school to another.
The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 has now put allergy safety on a stronger legal footing. New statutory guidance on allergy safety was published in July 2026 and comes into effect from September 2026. The aim is to make allergy safety a whole-school responsibility. Rather than relying on one or two members of staff to know what to do, schools need systems that work throughout the school day and during activities away from the classroom.
What will change from September 2026?
Schools covered by the new requirements will need to take a more structured approach to allergy safety.
Important areas include:
- A whole-school allergy policy: Schools need a clear policy explaining how allergy risks will be managed.
- Staff training: Staff need suitable allergy awareness and emergency response training.
- Individual Healthcare Plans: Children who require an Individual Healthcare Plan should have an up-to-date plan reflecting their individual needs.
- Emergency arrangements: Schools need clear procedures for dealing with serious allergic reactions.
- Adrenaline auto-injectors: Schools need appropriate arrangements for prescribed devices and spare emergency adrenaline auto-injectors.
- Incident reporting: Serious incidents and near misses should be recorded and used as opportunities to learn.
These measures are designed to create a more consistent approach to allergy safety. They also recognise that an allergic reaction does not always happen in the dining hall. It could happen in a classroom, on the playground, during PE or while a child is away on a school trip. That is why allergy awareness needs to extend beyond teachers and first aiders. The people supervising children throughout the school day need to understand what to do.
Why are adrenaline auto-injectors so important?
Anaphylaxis is a severe allergic reaction that can develop very quickly. It can affect a person’s airway, breathing or circulation. Symptoms can include difficulty breathing, swelling or tightness in the throat, wheezing, dizziness, confusion or collapse. Adrenaline is the first-line emergency treatment for anaphylaxis and can be given using an adrenaline auto-injector (AAI), such as an EpiPen. But simply having an auto-injector somewhere in a school building is not enough.
Click Pharmacy UK has been supplying EpiPens and other adrenaline auto-injectors to schools since 2017. Its Superintendent Pharmacist, Mohammed A Rahman, says schools should think about what would actually happen during an emergency. “Having an adrenaline auto-injector available is only one part of being prepared. Schools also need to know where it is kept, how quickly it can be reached and whether the people responsible for the child know what to do.”
Rahman says these arrangements need to work throughout the school day, not only when a child is sitting in a classroom. “A serious allergic reaction could happen at lunchtime, during PE or while a child is on a school trip. Schools need to think about how emergency medication will remain accessible in all of those situations.”
Schools should therefore consider practical questions such as:
- Where are adrenaline auto-injectors kept?
- Can they be reached quickly in an emergency?
- Who is responsible for checking them?
- Are expiry dates being checked regularly?
- Do staff know how to recognise anaphylaxis?
- Do staff know what action to take?
- What happens to these arrangements during PE, sports, clubs and school trips?
These may sound like simple questions, but in an emergency every minute matters. If anaphylaxis is suspected, staff should follow the child’s emergency plan and current medical guidance. Emergency medical help should also be requested immediately.
A pupil’s own medication and the school’s spare AAIs are different
This is an important distinction for schools and parents. Where a child has been prescribed adrenaline auto-injectors, their own medication and healthcare arrangements remain important. Spare adrenaline auto-injectors held by a school provide an additional emergency safeguard. They do not replace a child’s prescribed medication or Individual Healthcare Plan. Schools should therefore make sure they understand both arrangements and that staff know what medication is available and where it can be found.
How can schools reduce allergy risks?
Emergency treatment is vital, but preventing accidental exposure is just as important. Allergens can appear in many parts of everyday school life. Allergy safety therefore needs to extend beyond the dining hall.
Schools should consider risks involving:
- School meals: Catering teams need accurate allergen information and suitable procedures to reduce the risk of accidental exposure.
- Classroom activities: Cooking lessons, food-based activities, science experiments and celebrations may require additional planning.
- School trips: A child’s healthcare arrangements and emergency medication need to remain available away from school.
- Sports and clubs: Staff supervising these activities should know about relevant allergy arrangements.
- School events: Food brought in by parents, volunteers or outside providers can create additional risks.
Communication is a major part of getting this right. Relevant staff need the information required to keep a child safe. At the same time, information about a child’s health needs to be handled appropriately and sensitively. Schools should also avoid making children with allergies feel unnecessarily different from their classmates. Where possible, sensible adjustments should allow children to take part safely in lessons, sports, trips and other school activities.
What should schools do before September 2026?
Schools do not need to wait until September to start preparing. The weeks before the new academic year are an opportunity to look at current arrangements and identify any gaps. A practical readiness check should include:
- reviewing and publishing the school’s allergy safety policy;
- identifying pupils with known allergies;
- making sure healthcare information is up to date;
- reviewing Individual Healthcare Plans where required;
- arranging appropriate allergy awareness training for staff;
- reviewing emergency response procedures;
- checking arrangements for prescribed adrenaline auto-injectors;
- checking arrangements for spare emergency adrenaline auto-injectors;
- checking medication expiry dates;
- reviewing catering and allergen procedures;
- including allergy needs in school-trip planning; and
- recording and learning from serious incidents and near misses.
But schools should go one step further. They should test how their procedures would work in a real emergency. Imagine a child suddenly develops breathing difficulties during lunch.
- Would the lunchtime supervisor recognise the signs?
- Would they know where the adrenaline auto-injector was?
- Could they reach it quickly?
- Would they know how to use it?
- Would they know who should call for an ambulance?
The same questions should be asked about the playground, sports field, after-school clubs and school trips.
Mohammed A Rahman believes this kind of practical thinking is particularly important. “A policy can look very good on paper, but the real test is whether it works when somebody needs help. Schools should ask themselves a simple question: if a child experienced anaphylaxis today, would the people around them know what to do and be able to access the appropriate emergency medication quickly?”
Don’t forget expiry dates
Adrenaline auto-injectors have expiry dates, so checking them needs to become part of a school’s routine. Leaving checks until the start of each academic year may not be enough if different devices expire at different times. Rahman says schools should have a simple system for monitoring their stock. “Checking expiry dates is a small administrative task, but it is an important one. Schools need a reliable system so that expired devices can be identified and replaced before they are needed.”
Schools should also check their emergency arrangements when medication is replaced or when a child’s healthcare needs change.
Allergy safety is everyone’s responsibility
One of the most important changes brought about by Benedict’s Law is the move towards a whole-school approach. Anaphylaxis does not wait for the school nurse or designated first aider to arrive. A child could become unwell while speaking to a teaching assistant, eating lunch, travelling in a minibus or playing sport. That makes wider staff awareness important. It does not mean every member of staff needs to become a medical expert. It means people should understand the warning signs, know the school’s procedures and know how to get help quickly.
Making allergy safety part of everyday school life
Benedict’s Law is an important step towards a more consistent approach to allergy safety in England’s schools. But its success will depend on what happens in practice. Schools need clear policies. Staff need suitable training. Children who require individual support need appropriate plans. Emergency medication needs to be accessible, and serious incidents and near misses should be used as opportunities to learn.
Schools cannot remove every possible allergy risk. What they can do is reduce avoidable risks and make sure people are prepared when something goes wrong. As Mohammed A Rahman explains: “The aim shouldn’t be to make children with allergies feel different or stop them taking part. It should be to create an environment where they can enjoy school life while the people responsible for them understand the risks and are prepared to act if an emergency happens.”
With September 2026 approaching, now is the time for schools to review their arrangements. The most useful question may also be the simplest: Would our allergy procedures work in a real emergency — not just on paper?
