What is Benedict’s Law? Guidance for Schools

What is Benedict’s Law? How to update your school’s allergy policy

As a school leader, bursar, or facilities manager, safeguarding the pupils in your care is your biggest priority.

But research by the Benedict Blythe Foundation reveals a worrying reality across England’s education sector: around two children in every classroom have an allergy, and a third of schools completely lack a dedicated allergy policy.

That’s set to change with the introduction of Benedict’s Law, which is new legislation that’ll bring in strict allergy management practices to schools in England. We’ll explain everything education providers need to know about their new statutory duties and the steps they must take to protect their pupils.

Benedict’s Law Summary

What is Benedict’s Law, and why was it introduced?

Benedict’s Law is legislation that aims to standardise the way allergy management and response are implemented in educational environments. Its ultimate aim is to improve allergy safety. The legislation follows the death of five-year-old Benedict Blythe in 2021, who suffered a fatal anaphylactic reaction at school after exposure to a known milk allergen.

Following Benedict’s death, investigations and research highlighted huge inconsistencies in school safety measures across the UK, prompting a campaign by the Benedict Blythe Foundation and national allergy charities to put legal protections in place.

This campaign was read into Parliament for the first time in July 2025. In March 2026, the Minister for Early Education confirmed that the government will amend the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill (now an Act) to make Benedict’s Law statutory in England.

Before Benedict’s Law, there was only non-mandatory ‘best-practice’ guidance for safeguarding children with severe allergies. This meant that safety protocols varied between individual institutions, but now, the new legislation calls for schools to have a standardised approach to allergy safety.

What does Benedict’s Law mean for schools?

The passing of Benedict’s Law, or Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026, introduces a direct legal requirement for school leadership: from September 2026, your school must have a published, standalone allergy safety policy in place.

Your governing body or proprietor holds a direct statutory duty to develop and maintain this dedicated policy. It can’t be integrated as a generic sub-section within an existing medical conditions policy. It must also be overseen by a named senior leader within the school.

It must exist as an independent, publicly accessible document on your school website, giving full transparency to parents, guardians, and inspectors.

When does Benedict’s Law start?

The transition from voluntary guideline to a legal duty follows a strict schedule.

Here are the key dates to be aware of:

• 29th April 2026 — The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 achieved Royal Assent. This is where the Monarch formally approves a parliamentary bill to turn it into an Act of Parliament (the law).
• 6th July 2026 — The Department for Education published the Allergy safety in schools statutory guidance, triggering the official preparation window for educational institutions.
• July – August 2026 — This is the window of time that leadership teams have to implement their standalone allergy safety policy.
• September 2026 — The hard legal deadline coincides with the start of the autumn academic term. Schools must have their standalone allergy safety policy published and easily accessible on their website, overseen by a named senior leader.

Benedict’s Law statutory guidance

To help education providers meet this legal requirement, the Department for Education (DfE) published the statutory guidance, Allergy safety in schools, on 6 July 2026.

By law, your school board is required to carefully consider the guidance and account for the recommendations.

While it’s technically guidance, any decision to refuse to adhere to the statutory guidance requires a clear, justifiable reason. If an allergen incident happens and your school hasn’t followed these recommendations without compelling cause, defending your setting will be exceptionally difficult.

Adopting the statutory guidance is the most effective way to meet your legal duty and protect the pupils in your care.

We’ve broken down some of the key pieces of guidance in more detail, with expert guidance from Annabel Kyle, Technical Director at Food Alert.

1: Offer whole-school staff allergy training

Allergy awareness training is no longer just for designated first aiders or kitchen staff. The statutory guidance requires that all staff who are likely to be on site at the same time as pupils participate in regular allergy and adrenaline auto-injector (AAI) training. This includes teachers, teaching assistants, administrative staff, lunchtime supervisors, and caretakers.

This training should cover how individuals at risk of anaphylaxis access their prescribed AAIs, as well as how staff can quickly access and administer your school’s spare AAIs in an emergency.

Annabel comments:

“Schedule a digital training module during your September inset days so all permanent on-site staff complete their certification before the term begins. Don’t forget to audit your onboarding workflows for temporary staff, too. Your service level agreements should also require supply agencies and external catering contractors to provide verified proof of Allergy Awareness and AAI training before stepping onto your site.

It’s also worth noting that the statutory guidance explicitly outlines the Government’s intention to introduce a statutory duty for schools to make sure that all staff receive regular allergy awareness training through forthcoming Regulations. While this is currently set out as expected practice within the guidance, establishing your training framework now means you’re fully prepared if it becomes a legal requirement in the future.”

2: Emergency medication and spare AAIs

Schools are required to have and maintain spare, in-date AAIs on site for emergency use. AAIs usually have a shelf life of 12-18 months, and it’s recommended to request replacements a month before they expire. In an emergency, staff must be able to administer an AAI within five minutes.

For larger campus layouts or multi-building schools, a single central storage location is no longer enough.

Here’s how Annabel recommends tackling this:

“Conduct a physical site audit with your facilities team to map the recommended five-minute response radius across every building on campus. Place emergency AAI kits in unlocked, clearly signposted hubs near high-risk areas, like dining halls, sports pavilions, and science labs. Assign a named staff member to run a monthly audit that logs device batch numbers, locations, and expiration dates to avoid holding spoiled stock.”

3: Individual Healthcare Plans (IHPs)

Every pupil with a known allergy should have an instantly accessible Individual Healthcare Plan (IHP) if:

• They have an allergy which has a functional impact on them in their school, college, or educational setting
• They are at risk of harm as a result of their allergy and
• They require arrangements which are additional to or different from those made generally

More importantly, the updated guidance clarifies that a formal, consultant-led medical diagnosis is not required to trigger an IHP if a child is at functional risk.

This means that if a parent reports that a child suffers adverse or life-threatening reactions to an allergen, your school has a responsibility to act straight away. You don’t have to wait for allergy testing or hospital documentation; your school should create an IHP as soon as the parent flags the reaction.

The new guidance states that an IHP for allergy should contain:

Annabel explains:

“Relying on paper records that live in the staff room creates a vulnerability during a critical incident situation. Migrating to digital IHPs means that updated, auditable medical records are instantly accessible to authorised staff on any device. It also provides a reliable audit trail and protects your pupils.”

4: Promoting pupil wellbeing and inclusion

The statutory guidance highlights that an effective allergy policy should actively address how your school promotes the day-to-day wellbeing and full inclusion of pupils with allergies. Children with severe allergies should never feel isolated or be unfairly excluded from school routines, classroom celebrations, or off-site educational visits due to contact risks.

Annabel explains:

“Your policy should outline clear strategies to minimise exposure risks across all activities, while making sure pupils can fully participate alongside their classmates. This includes planning safe catering alternatives for school trips, establishing allergen-aware practices for practical subjects like food technology, and fostering a supportive environment free from negative classroom behaviours.

Educating the wider student body on allergy awareness also helps build an empathetic, inclusive school culture where pupils look out for one another.”

5: Annual policy review

Your allergy safety policy shouldn’t be a document that sits on a shelf. The guidance sets out that your published policy should undergo a formal review at least once a year.

Plus, the review schedule should be dynamic. Whenever a serious incident or near-miss happens, or when significant changes occur within your school, like switching catering contractors or updating site layouts, your policy and operational procedures should be re-evaluated immediately to capture key learnings and fix potential vulnerabilities.

Annabel offers some guidance on this:

“Set a recurring date in your school calendar for your annual review, ideally ahead of the new academic year. Treat your policy as a living document; whenever an allergen process is adjusted or an incident review takes place, log the updates formally so your governing body can verify that your controls are still effective and up to date.”

6. Recording and reviewing incidents and near-misses

The statutory guidance highlights the importance of tracking every allergen incident and near-miss. A near-miss includes any breakdown in your process, like a kitchen mislabelling a dish or a pupil being handed an incorrect meal, where an allergic reaction was prevented only by prompt intervention.

When an incident or near-miss occurs, your school should formally record the details, notify the pupil’s parents or carers, and report the findings to your governing body. Conducting a clear internal investigation allows your governing body to understand what went wrong, adapt your protocols, and prevent similar issues in the future.

Annabel says:

“It’s really important to be aware that the Government intends to introduce a formal statutory duty requiring schools to record serious incidents and near-misses through upcoming Regulations.

Just like with the whole-school staff allergy awareness training, while recording incidents is currently expected practice under the statutory guidance, making your incident tracking processes more efficient now means you’re fully prepared if it becomes a mandatory legal requirement.”