Benedict’s Law: What Schools Need to Know Now the Guidance Is Final

The statutory guidance behind Benedict’s Law was published on 6 July 2026. This article has been updated to reflect the final guidance and Ofsted’s June 2026 update to its inspection toolkit for use from September 2026.

In December 2021, five-year-old Benedict Blythe died from anaphylaxis after being given milk at his primary school, despite a known allergy. His mother, Helen Blythe, has said the family spent the next four years campaigning for change¹. That campaign, known as Benedict’s Law, has now produced the most significant overhaul of school allergy safety since 2015, and on 6 July 2026 the Department for Education published the final statutory guidance that puts it into practice.

Allergic reactions at school are not rare events. Around 2 to 5 per cent of children in the UK live with a diagnosed food allergy, meaning most schools and many classrooms will include pupils with allergy needs, and as many as 20 per cent of serious allergic reactions to food happen while a child is at school, sometimes in pupils with no previous diagnosis at all².

This article was first published while the guidance was still in draft. It has now been rewritten to reflect the final published version, and to correct two points that changed along the way: what the guidance says about staff training, and who is expected to be named responsible for allergy safety.

What is Benedict’s Law?

Benedict’s Law is not a single Act of Parliament. It is the public name for a package of changes that require schools in England to manage allergy risk through formal policy, staff training and emergency medication, rather than treating it as discretionary good practice.

The change has come through two related routes, and it is worth being precise about how they fit together, because they are not the same document. First, the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026, which received Royal Assent on 29 April 2026, inserted two new sections into the Children and Families Act 2014: Section 100A, which places a direct legal duty on maintained schools, academies and pupil referral units to have a published allergy safety policy, review it at least annually, and publicise it to staff, pupils and parents; and Section 100B, a regulation-making power allowing the Secretary of State to impose further specific duties later, covering matters such as spare adrenaline auto-injector stock, staff training and naming a person responsible for allergy safety³,⁴. Second, the Department for Education has published new statutory guidance, Allergy safety in schools, on 6 July 2026, which schools must have particular regard to when meeting the Section 100A duty⁵.

This is a standalone document dealing only with allergy safety. It is not a rewrite of the wider guidance on supporting pupils with medical conditions, which is issued under the original Section 100 duty and still dates from 2015. That broader guidance remains under separate review, with no publication date yet confirmed. Schools with pupils who have epilepsy, diabetes or other long-term conditions should not assume anything has changed for those conditions specifically until that separate guidance appears.

The legal duty schools already have

Section 100 of the Children and Families Act 2014 already requires the ‘appropriate authority’ for a school, meaning the governing body of a maintained school, the proprietor of an academy, or the management committee of a pupil referral unit, to make arrangements for supporting pupils with medical conditions, and to have regard to guidance issued by the Secretary of State³. This duty has applied since 1 September 2014. It is not new.

What is new is Section 100A, inserted by the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026. It requires the same appropriate authorities to include an allergy safety policy within those arrangements: a policy specifically for managing allergies, including the risk of anaphylaxis. The authority must review that policy at least once a year, and must publicise it in writing to staff, pupils and parents, including publishing it on the school’s website⁴. That duty is already on the statute book. The Department for Education’s implementation timetable points to September 2026 for schools to be operating to it in practice.

Section 100B goes further, but has not yet been exercised. It gives the Secretary of State a power, not yet used, to make regulations covering the keeping of and access to adrenaline devices on school premises, procedures for identifying and managing allergy risk, training for staff and catering personnel, incident recording, and a requirement to designate a named person responsible for allergy safety⁴. Until those regulations are made, the specifics in each of those areas sit in guidance that schools must have regard to, rather than in a directly enforceable duty of their own. That distinction matters for how firmly a school can rely on any single detail below, so this article marks it clearly wherever it applies.

What must schools have in place by September 2026?

Schools must have a published allergy safety policy in place, reviewed at least annually: that is a direct legal duty under Section 100A. Everything else below is a strong, specific expectation in the final statutory guidance, but becomes a directly enforceable duty only once the government makes regulations under Section 100B⁴,⁵.

With that distinction in mind, the guidance sets out four practical elements schools should be working towards:

• A published, dedicated allergy safety policy, separate from the school’s general medical conditions policy, reviewed at least annually (legal duty, Section 100A)
• Spare adrenaline auto-injectors held for emergency use, stocked in pairs and stored so they can be brought to the person within five minutes. They are for emergency use where a child, young person or individual has anaphylaxis, including where their own prescribed device is unavailable or misfires, where they have no prescribed device, or where anaphylaxis presents for the first time. The guidance sets dosage bands of 150 micrograms for children under six and 300 micrograms for individuals aged six and over (guidance expectation, pending Section 100B regulations)
• Allergy awareness training for all staff, not only designated first aiders, covering recognition of allergic reactions, correct use of adrenaline devices, the school’s own policy and pupils’ Individual Healthcare Plans, and how to record and escalate incidents (guidance expectation, pending Section 100B regulations)
• Individual Healthcare Plans for any pupil whose medical condition means the school needs specific support arrangements in place, including pupils still awaiting a formal diagnosis, alongside improved incident recording and lessons-learnt processes (guidance expectation, pending Section 100B regulations)

Schools can lawfully purchase spare adrenaline auto-injectors without an individual prescription under the Human Medicines (Amendment) Regulations 2017; the new guidance does not change that legal basis, it sets out how schools are now expected to use it⁶.

None of this is new clinical territory. NICE continues to recommend referral to a specialist allergy service after emergency treatment for suspected anaphylaxis, and NICE published its own quality standard on food allergy back in 2016⁷,⁸. What Benedict’s Law changes is not the underlying clinical advice, but the level of obligation schools are now under to act on it consistently, and, for the policy and review duty specifically, the fact that it is now hard law rather than only guidance.

When does Benedict’s Law come into force?

The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 received Royal Assent on 29 April 2026, and Section 100A is already part of the Children and Families Act 2014⁴. The Department for Education published the final Allergy safety in schools statutory guidance on 6 July 2026, following a consultation that ran from 5 March to 15 May 2026⁵. The department’s own implementation timetable points to September 2026 for schools to be operating in line with the policy, training and stocking expectations in practice, with the Section 100B regulations that would make several of those expectations directly enforceable still to be made.

Schools should not treat September as a deadline that resets once those regulations arrive. Ofsted, parents and the Department’s own guidance already expect schools to be working towards the published guidance now.

Does Benedict’s Law apply to my school?

For most maintained schools, academies and pupil referral units, yes. Maintained nursery schools and 16-to-19 academies are treated differently, so the legal route needs separating out.

For local-authority-maintained schools, including maintained special schools, and for pupil referral units and academies, including free schools and alternative provision academies, the position is clearest: Section 100A already applies directly, requiring a published, annually reviewed allergy safety policy⁴,⁵. Maintained nursery schools and 16-to-19 academies fall outside the current scope of the statutory guidance, though the Department notes it may still be useful practice for them to follow it.

For non-maintained special schools and independent schools, the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 commits the Secretary of State to extending an equivalent policy duty to them, through amendments to their existing regulatory standards⁴. Those standards have not yet been made, so this is a duty that is legislatively guaranteed to arrive but is not yet in force.

For early years settings, colleges and post-16 institutions, the guidance is not itself a new statutory duty. The Department for Education says these settings may find it helpful in meeting other duties they already carry, including safeguarding, the Children Act 1989 duty of care, health and safety law, the Equality Act 2010, and, for early years specifically, the Early Years Foundation Stage framework⁵. In practice this means these settings should expect to be held to a similar standard, but by a different legal route rather than a direct extension of Section 100A.

Geographically, all of this applies to England only. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland each operate under their own existing guidance on supporting children with healthcare needs, published in 2017, 2017 and 2008 respectively, and none have announced an equivalent statutory overhaul². Multi-academy trusts and groups with settings across more than one nation, or spanning maintained, independent and early years provision, will need to track requirements separately rather than assuming a single policy will cover every site.

Staff training: what the final guidance requires

This is the headline change since the spring consultation, and it settles a question schools and training providers were both waiting on. The final guidance is explicit that first aid training on its own does not satisfy the new allergy awareness training expectation⁵. A standalone allergy-specific element is required, covering matters that go beyond emergency treatment: recognising the difference between an allergy, an intolerance and coeliac disease, understanding the school’s own allergy policy and how individual pupils’ plans work in practice, correct use of adrenaline auto-injector devices, and how to record and escalate incidents when they happen.

That does not make existing first aid training worthless for this purpose. Paediatric First Aid already covers recognising and responding to anaphylaxis and severe allergic reactions in children, remains a requirement for Ofsted-regulated early years settings, and is a sound foundation to build from. But schools should not treat it as sufficient on its own to meet the new allergy awareness training expectation, and training providers, including us, should not suggest otherwise.

The guidance points towards this training being repeated at least annually, and refreshed for new starters and supply staff as they join.

Individual Healthcare Plans and named accountability

Individual Healthcare Plans are not a new concept. Many schools already use them, often based on the BSACI Allergy Action Plan format, to record a pupil’s specific arrangements, triggers and emergency contacts in one place². What is changing is the breadth of who they cover, and the clarity of ownership behind them.

On breadth, the final guidance is explicit: a child or young person does not need a formal diagnosis to have an Individual Healthcare Plan. Wherever it is clear that a child has medical needs affecting their life at school, including while a diagnosis is still being investigated, arrangements should be put in place and recorded in an IHP⁵. Schools should not treat the absence of a diagnosis as a reason to wait.

On ownership, this is the second point that changed from the spring draft. The final guidance expects a named member of the senior leadership team to hold responsibility for allergy safety. It does not expect a named governor⁵. Schools that already have a named governor for this can keep the arrangement as good practice, but it is not something the guidance requires. Section 100B, if and when regulations are made under it, is the mechanism that would eventually turn the named senior leader role into a formal legal duty rather than a guidance expectation.

Will Ofsted inspect allergy safety?

Yes. The final guidance confirms that, as part of its inspection arrangements, Ofsted will consider medical conditions and allergy safety policies, and how effectively schools implement them⁵. Ofsted has separately reflected this in its inspection materials. Its state-funded schools inspection toolkit was updated in June 2026, for use on inspections from September 2026, and now asks inspectors to check that leaders have arrangements in place to support pupils with medical conditions and a dedicated allergy safety policy⁹. That does not make allergy safety a standalone, separately graded inspection judgement; it sits within the toolkit’s existing safeguarding evidence gathering. But it does mean schools should expect their policy, training records, Individual Healthcare Plans and incident learning to be capable of standing up to scrutiny, not just to exist on paper.

Practical steps schools can take now

The guidance is published, so there is no longer a reason to wait before acting on it.

• Review your allergy safety policy against the guidance’s four core elements: the policy itself, staff training, spare adrenaline auto-injector stock, and Individual Healthcare Plans
• Confirm who your named senior leader for allergy safety will be; you do not need a named governor for this, though you can keep one if you already have one
• Audit your spare adrenaline auto-injector stock against the guidance’s dosage bands, check expiry dates, and confirm storage is accessible within five minutes rather than locked away
• Map which staff currently hold training that covers anaphylaxis recognition, and identify the gap between that and the standalone allergy awareness content the guidance now expects
• Review existing Individual Healthcare Plans for currency and clarity, and check none have been delayed pending a formal diagnosis where support is already needed
• Publicise your policy in writing to staff, pupils and parents at least once a year, and publish it on your school’s website: this is now a direct legal duty, not just good practice

Benedict’s Law represents a genuine shift in how seriously allergy management is treated in schools, from something many settings handled well through good practice, to something every in-scope school will be expected to demonstrate. With the guidance now published, the practical work of closing the gap between current practice and the new expectations can start properly.

Talk to us about preparing for compliance

If you are reviewing your school’s allergy policy and training now the guidance is final, Constellation Training can help you understand where your current Paediatric First Aid coverage stands and where the gaps are.

Speak to Constellation Training about allergy and first aid training coverage

References

1. Department for Education. Stronger protections for children with allergies in school. GOV.UK. Published 4 March 2026, updated 5 March 2026.

2. British Society for Allergy & Clinical Immunology, Anaphylaxis UK and Allergy UK. Model Policy for Allergy Management at School, version 2.1, 2024 (data drawn from Muraro A, et al. The Management of the Allergic Child at School. Allergy. 2010;65(6):681–689).

3. Children and Families Act 2014, Section 100. legislation.gov.uk

4. Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026, Section 34 (inserting Sections 100A and 100B into the Children and Families Act 2014). legislation.gov.uk. Royal Assent 29 April 2026.

5. Department for Education. Allergy safety in schools. Statutory guidance. Published 6 July 2026. GOV.UK

6. The Human Medicines (Amendment) Regulations 2017 (S.I. 2017/715), regulation 8. legislation.gov.uk

7. National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. Food allergy. Quality standard QS118. 2016.

8. National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. Anaphylaxis: assessment and referral after emergency treatment. NICE guideline NG258. Published 27 May 2026 (replaces and updates CG134).

9. Ofsted. State-funded schools inspection toolkit, updated June 2026 for use on inspections from 7 September 2026. GOV.UK