What Benedict’s Law is
Benedict’s Law is the name campaigners and the press use for the allergy safety provisions of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026. It is named after Benedict Blythe, who died aged five after an allergic reaction at school. His parents, Helen and Peter Blythe, campaigned for the change, and the DfE acknowledged their campaign when it announced the plans on 5 March 2026.
The law itself is section 34 of the Act, which received Royal Assent on 29 April 2026. Section 34 inserts two new sections into the Children and Families Act 2014:
- Section 100A requires an allergy safety policy.
- Section 100B gives the Secretary of State power to make regulations adding further allergy duties.
It also amends the Education Act 1996 and the Education and Skills Act 2008, so that the rules for non-maintained special schools and independent schools must eventually include equivalent requirements.
Who it applies to
The duty sits inside the existing section 100 duty to support pupils with medical conditions. So it covers the same schools in England:
- maintained schools, including special schools (but not maintained nursery schools)
- academies and free schools, including alternative provision academies (but not 16 to 19 academies)
- pupil referral units
The governing body, academy trust or PRU management committee holds the duty. In a trust, the trust is responsible for the policy, and the guidance says each academy should have a named allergy safety lead.
Not yet covered: independent schools (including independent special schools) and non-maintained special schools. The Act requires the government to add equivalent requirements to their regulatory standards. When we checked legislation.gov.uk on 20 October 2026, it hadn’t yet done so.
What the law requires now
Section 34 came fully into force on 1 September 2026, under the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 (Commencement No. 3) (England) Regulations 2026 (S.I. 2026/933). Under section 100A, a covered school must:
- include an allergy safety policy in its arrangements for pupils with medical conditions, covering the management of allergies, including pupils at risk of anaphylaxis
- review the policy at least once a year, and make any changes it thinks appropriate
- make the policy generally known within the school and to parents
- take steps at least once a year to bring it to the attention of all pupils, parents and everyone who works at the school, paid or not
- publish it on the school’s website
- have particular regard to the DfE’s statutory guidance on managing allergies
What the statutory guidance expects
The DfE published Allergy safety in schools on 6 July 2026, with a template allergy safety policy and a template individual healthcare plan. Schools must have regard to it, so they should follow it unless they have a clear reason not to. It sits alongside the 2015 Supporting pupils at school with medical conditions guidance, which is still in force.
The guidance expects the policy to cover:
- training, with all staff who are on site when pupils are getting allergy awareness training at least once a year (first aid training is not enough)
- identifying pupils, staff and visitors with allergies, and minimising the risk of exposure, including food allergy
- access to prescribed adrenaline devices and inhalers, and how spare devices will be stocked, stored and kept in date
- individual healthcare plans for pupils who need specific arrangements
- trips and visits, including access to emergency medication
- serious incidents and near misses: recording them, telling parents and the governing body, and learning from them
- wellbeing, including spotting and dealing with bullying linked to allergy
It also says a named member of the senior leadership team should be responsible for allergy safety, and that this shouldn’t be left to a catering manager. It lists unacceptable practice. One example is sending a child who is unwell to the office or medical room without suitable supervision: in an allergic emergency, help must go to the child.
Spare adrenaline pens
The Human Medicines (Amendment) Regulations 2017 have allowed schools in England, including independent schools, to buy adrenaline auto-injectors without a prescription since 1 October 2017. The Department of Health’s 2017 guidance, Using emergency adrenaline auto-injectors in schools, says this is optional.
The 2026 guidance goes further. It says “We expect that all schools will stock ‘spare’ adrenaline devices”. Spares should be kept in pairs, of the right dose for your pupils, unlocked, and no more than five minutes from wherever they might be needed. Most primary and special schools will need one pair of each dose (150 and 300 micrograms). Secondary schools will need one or two pairs of the 300 microgram dose.
Spare nasal adrenaline sprays can’t be stocked yet. The MHRA opened a UK-wide consultation on allowing them on 19 October 2026.
What’s still to come
As of 20 October 2026:
- No regulations have been made under section 100A(3) or section 100B. The guidance says the government intends to use them to make spare adrenaline devices, regular staff allergy training and a named senior leader legal requirements. No date has been given.
- Independent and non-maintained special schools are still waiting for equivalent requirements in their standards.
- The replacement for the 2015 medical conditions guidance hasn’t been published. The government response of 6 July 2026 said it would follow “in due course”.
Checklist: what to have in place now
Required by law since 1 September 2026 (maintained schools, academies, PRUs):
- an allergy safety policy, as part of your medical conditions arrangements
- a date for the annual review, and a record of the last one
- the policy published on your website
- a yearly step to bring it to the attention of pupils, parents and all staff and volunteers
- evidence that you had regard to the Allergy safety in schools guidance
Expected by the statutory guidance (follow unless you have a good reason not to):
- a named senior leader for allergy safety
- allergy awareness training for all staff at least once a year, plus induction for new, supply and agency staff
- a record of pupils with allergies and who has prescribed adrenaline
- individual healthcare plans, with any Allergy Action Plan
- spare adrenaline auto-injectors in pairs, labelled, unlocked and in date, with a routine for checking expiry dates
- a way to record serious incidents and near misses and learn from them
Good practice the guidance suggests:
- allergy drills, recorded like near misses
- advance consent for spare devices to be used
- a named governor for allergy safety
Ready for when regulations arrive: if you already do everything above, you are unlikely to need big changes. We’ll update this page when regulations are made.