Benedict’s Law: Why Allergy Safety Is About More Than Stocking Emergency Pens
The headline is simple.
From September 2026, schools in England will be required to stock spare adrenaline auto-injectors for use in an emergency.
But the changes widely known as Benedict’s Law go much further than putting life-saving medication in a school office.
They introduce clearer responsibilities around allergy policies, staff training, Individual Healthcare Plans, emergency response and incident reporting, while reinforcing the importance of effective allergy management across catering, food provision and the wider school environment.
For schools and multi-academy trusts, this will require a whole-school approach involving senior leaders, governors, catering teams and everyone responsible for pupils during the school day.
The Story Behind Benedict’s Law
Benedict’s Law follows the death of five-year-old Benedict Blythe, who suffered a fatal allergic reaction at school in 2021.
His parents, Helen and Peter Blythe, have spent the years since campaigning for stronger and more consistent allergy protections across schools.
The resulting measures form part of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 and new statutory guidance published by the Department for Education.
For maintained schools, academies and pupil referral units, the changes create a clearer national framework for managing allergy safety.
Independent schools continue to have legal responsibilities for safeguarding and supporting pupils with medical conditions through the Independent School Standards. The new allergy safety guidance is not currently a statutory requirement for independent schools, although the Government intends to introduce allergy safety requirements through the relevant regulatory standards for these schools.
What Schools Will Need to Put in Place
The new guidance sets out several connected areas of responsibility.
Schools will need to have and publish a dedicated allergy safety policy. That policy should explain how allergies are managed across the school, how staff are trained and how the school will respond to anaphylaxis.
All staff present while pupils are on site should receive regular allergy awareness training, which should be refreshed at least annually. This includes teaching and support staff, temporary staff, supply teachers, agency workers, regular volunteers and catering staff.
Schools must also identify pupils who require an Individual Healthcare Plan and work with families and health professionals to record the arrangements needed to support them safely.
Serious incidents and near misses involving allergy safety should be recorded, reviewed and reported so that lessons can be learned and procedures improved.
Alongside this, schools will be expected to stock spare adrenaline auto-injectors of the correct dosage for use in an emergency.
More Than Keeping a Pen in Reception
Having spare adrenaline available is an important step, but it is only useful if the system around it works.
The guidance makes clear that spare adrenaline auto-injectors must be readily accessible and not locked away. Schools should consider the layout of their site and ensure that the devices can be brought to anyone experiencing anaphylaxis within five minutes, wherever pupils may be during the school day.
Schools will also need to consider:
the correct dosage for the age of their pupils
how many pairs are needed across the site
whether separate school sites require their own supply
where devices will be stored
who checks expiry dates
how used or expired devices will be replaced
how staff will locate and administer them quickly
Spare devices do not replace a pupil’s own prescribed medication. Children at risk of anaphylaxis should still have access to both of their prescribed adrenaline devices throughout the school day.
This distinction matters because allergic reactions are not always predictable. The guidance notes that some reactions in schools happen in children with no previous allergy diagnosis.
That means emergency readiness cannot be built only around pupils whose allergies are already known.
Why Catering Sits at the Centre of the Discussion
Allergy safety is a whole-school responsibility, but food provision is clearly one of the areas where risks need to be understood and controlled carefully.
Caterers must provide clear allergen information and should be available to discuss suitable meal provision with parents and carers.
School and trust leaders also need to understand the controls their caterer has in place around food purchasing, preparation, cross-contact, service and communication.
Where food is prepared directly by the school, staff need to understand food labels, allergen information and the steps required to reduce the risk of cross-contact.
The guidance is also clear that responsibility for allergy safety should not be left solely with the catering manager.
A mistake may happen in the kitchen, dining hall, classroom, breakfast club, after-school activity, school trip or special event. Food may also enter the school through packed lunches, birthday treats, classroom activities and external providers.
The policy therefore has to work across the whole school, not only within the catering service.
What This Means for Catering Contracts
For schools using an external catering provider, the new requirements should prompt a closer look at where responsibilities sit within the contract.
That may include:
who maintains allergen records
how information about individual pupils is shared
how menus and substitutions are checked
what training catering staff receive
how incidents and near misses are reported
how cross-contact risks are managed
who communicates with families
how compliance is monitored by the school or trust
It should not be assumed that having a catering provider in place removes the school’s responsibility.
The school or trust remains accountable for its allergy safety arrangements and needs sufficient visibility of the systems being operated on its behalf.
For future procurements and contract reviews, allergy management is likely to require greater prominence within service specifications, monitoring arrangements and reporting requirements.
A Trust-Wide Policy Still Needs Local Detail
For multi-academy trusts, a consistent policy can provide a strong framework.
However, each school may have different kitchens, catering providers, service models, pupil age groups and physical layouts.
A device stored in one central location may be suitable for a small primary school but inadequate for a large secondary site. A catering process that works in one kitchen may not reflect the arrangements in another.
Trusts therefore need both consistency and local understanding.
The central policy should establish expectations, while each school confirms how those expectations will be delivered in practice.
What Schools and Trusts Should Be Reviewing Now
September is close enough that schools should now be establishing their current position.
That means checking whether:
a suitable allergy safety policy is in place and ready to publish
responsibility has been assigned to a senior leader
staff training includes everyone who may be present with pupils
Individual Healthcare Plans are current and accessible
spare adrenaline auto-injectors have been ordered in appropriate dosages
devices can be reached quickly from all parts of the site
expiry checks and replacement arrangements are clear
catering responsibilities are understood and documented
incidents and near misses are recorded and reviewed
arrangements extend to trips, clubs and activities outside normal lessons
The Department for Education has provided a policy template and an Individual Healthcare Plan template, but using the documents is only the starting point.
The real test is whether the procedures behind them are understood and workable.
Looking Ahead
Benedict’s Law is an important and long-awaited step towards safer and more consistent allergy management in schools.
But its success will not be measured simply by whether a policy appears on the school website or spare devices are present on site.
It will depend on whether staff recognise an emergency, know exactly what to do and can act without delay.
That requires policy, training, communication, catering controls and emergency planning to work together.
For schools and trusts, the work now is to make sure those arrangements are not only compliant on paper, but reliable in practice.
