Some of you may be aware that new statutory allergy guidance for schools is to be introduced from this September.
You may have heard this referred to as “Benedict’s Law“. The DfE guidance for this can be found here: Allergy Safety in Schools.
The significant changes that will be in place:
- Whole-school Allergy Safety/Management Policy (which, from September ’26, can be found on our Policies Page)
- Additional training for all staff on allergy awareness, recognising symptoms of mild allergic reactions and severe allergic reactions (e.g. anaphylaxis) and how to treat these
- A culture of allergy awareness is vitally important with this – which will also involve children’s awareness of allergies (particularly in cases of known allergies)
- Individual Healthcare Plans for pupils with severe allergies.
- We already have these and implement them for pupils with any food hypersensitivity (i.e. allergies, intolerances or auto-immune diseases – and not just severe allergies)
- Parents/carers of these children will be contacted in September regarding their child’s
- If your child has a food hypersensitivity (allergy, intolerance or auto-immune disease) that school are not aware of, or ever develops one, please let us know as soon as possible so that the correct support can be put in place
- Spare adrenaline auto-injectors (e.g. EpiPens) are kept in school. These would be used in the following cases:
- Suspected anaphylaxis in pupils with their own AAIs (only if their own devices are not working)
- Suspected anaphylaxis in pupils without AAIs
- Under Regulation 238 of the Human Medicines Regulations (2012) permits a school’s spare adrenaline auto-injector(s) to be used for any pupil or other person not known by the school to be at risk of anaphylaxis in an emergency unforeseen situation. Written permission is not required. (Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency).
Any questions regarding this, as with everything, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.