New Statutory Guidance on Allergy Awareness in Schools
Schools in England will be required to provide allergy awareness training to all staff for the first time, following new statutory guidance announced by the Department for Education (DfE). Additionally, schools must stock spare adrenaline auto-injectors to be used in emergencies involving children who do not have a prior allergy diagnosis.
The initiative follows cross-party support for Benedict's Law, a campaign aimed at improving allergy safety in schools by ensuring consistent, life-saving protections for children with food allergies and anaphylaxis.
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the school leaders' union NAHT, cautioned that each requirement in the new guidance will require funding, emphasizing that "schools cannot be expected to fund from their budgets".
Early education minister Olivia Bailey responded,
"Lots of schools in the country already have great policies in place and are already doing a lot of this. It is something which we think is reasonable for schools to pay for out of core budgets. We are committed to working with schools to make that as easy as possible."
The plans are part of the government’s broader efforts to reform the school food system and to expand free school meals to an additional 500,000 children starting this September.
Benedict's Law and Campaign Background
The campaign is named in memory of five-year-old Benedict Blythe, who died from an anaphylactic reaction at school in December 2021. His mother, Helen Blythe, who has campaigned alongside the National Allergy Strategy Group, described the announcement as
"a really significant day".
Helen Blythe recounted a "catalogue of errors" that contributed to her son's death after he was given milk containing cow's milk protein at school, despite his allergy being documented. An inquest held last year revealed that the school failed to identify his symptoms in time, delaying administration of life-saving medication.
"We don't want any other families to go through what we've been through,"Helen Blythe said.
"The experience of having an allergic reaction is really distressing and we want to guard against that wherever possible."
Impact on Learning and School Attendance
The DfE reported that 500,000 days of learning were lost last year due to allergy-related illnesses or medical appointments. The government anticipates that the new statutory guidance will not only save lives but also help keep more children in school.
According to Anaphylaxis UK, 680,000 children in England are living with allergies.
School Perspectives on Allergy Management
Helen Houghton, headteacher of Warton Primary School in York, described the new guidance as "fundamental." She noted that 5% of children at her school have allergies, some of which are "quite complex" to manage.
In response, Warton Primary has allocated part of its budget to further staff training and allergy-related equipment.
"It's a small amount to have them there and make sure everyone is safe,"Houghton said. She also meets in person with parents of children with allergies to ensure personalized medical plans are in place.
"It must be terrifying to be a parent or a child with allergies, and I think certainly for the school it's about keeping our systems incredibly tight, incredibly consistent, and having a whole-school collective responsibility. It's so important to help reassure parents here that their children are safe."
While some schools like Warton Primary already have allergy plans, the new guidance will make these precautions compulsory across all schools in England.
Current State of Allergy Safeguards in Schools
A freedom of information request submitted by the Benedict Blythe Foundation in 2024 found that 70% of schools in England did not have the recommended allergy safeguards in place, and half of all schools lacked adrenaline pens and spare auto-injectors on site.
Whiteman commented,
"The expected guidance and advice is clearly welcome because it should provide more comprehensive information for schools to ensure they can continue to support all pupils in their education, including those with health conditions.
Schools want to be as inclusive as possible while also ensuring they can continue to fulfil their safeguarding duty and keep every child as safe as possible whilst in their setting."
Changing School Culture and Environment
Houghton emphasized that managing allergies in schools involves changing culture and environment as much as education.
"We make sure that the resources we buy for the wider curriculum subjects, or for science experiments, are allergy-safe too,"she said.
Looking Ahead
Helen Blythe believes the new measures will save lives.
"This is the first generation of children that will be starting school in September who will be in an environment that will be completely safe for them in terms of those allergy safeguards being in place and that's a kind of exciting and magical thing,"she told the BBC.
Parents, teachers, and experts are now invited to provide their views on the plans before they come into effect in September.
