Benedict’s Law requirements at a glance
In this guide
- How Benedict’s Law changes existing school allergy duties
- What “have particular regard” means
- Why Benedict’s Law was introduced
- When Benedict’s Law came into force
- Which schools Benedict’s Law applies to
- Who is responsible for allergy safety
- What Benedict’s Law requires schools to do
- Allergy safety policies
- Staff allergy training
- Individual Healthcare Plans
- Adrenaline auto-injectors
- Trips, incidents and information sharing
- What Benedict’s Law means for school catering
- Benedict’s Law vs Natasha’s Law
- MATs and multi-school caterers
- Practical next steps
- How Kafoodle supports school allergen management
- Frequently asked questions
- Official guidance and further reading
How does Benedict’s Law change existing school allergy duties?
Benedict’s Law adds specific allergy-safety duties to an existing legal framework for supporting pupils with medical conditions.
The changes were introduced through Section 34 of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026. Section 34 added new Sections 100A and 100B to the Children and Families Act 2014, building on the existing Section 100 duty to support pupils with medical conditions.
The legislation defines an allergy safety policy as a policy for managing allergies affecting pupils at the school, including pupils at risk of anaphylaxis.
The DfE Allergy Safety in Schools statutory guidance explains how maintained schools, academies and pupil referral units should fulfil their allergy-safety duties.
Official sources: Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 — Section 34 · DfE Allergy Safety in Schools
What does “have particular regard” to DfE guidance mean?
Schools must take the DfE statutory guidance into account and consider it carefully when deciding how they will meet their allergy-safety responsibilities.
There is a difference between duties written directly into legislation and the detailed expectations set out in DfE statutory guidance.
Section 100A says the appropriate authority for a school must have “particular regard” to the allergy-safety guidance.
The DfE statutory guidance explains that having regard to the guidance means taking it into account and considering it carefully. A decision not to follow the guidance should be supported by a clear or justifiable reason. Where advice is specifically identified as good practice, that element is non-statutory.
This distinction is particularly important in areas where the Government says further regulations are intended.
Official sources: Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 — Section 34 · DfE Allergy Safety in Schools
Why was Benedict’s Law introduced?
Who was Benedict Blythe?
Benedict Blythe was five years old when he died on 1 December 2021 following food-induced anaphylaxis.
Benedict had asthma and several known allergies, including milk and egg. The subsequent inquest jury concluded that his death resulted from accidental exposure to cow’s milk protein, causing fatal anaphylaxis.
The official Benedict Blythe Prevention of Future Deaths report records the findings of the inquest.
What happened after Benedict’s death?
Benedict’s parents, Helen and Peter Blythe, campaigned for stronger and more consistent allergy protection in schools.
In March 2026, the Department for Education announced plans for stronger protections for children with allergies in school and recognised representations from families and campaigners, including Benedict’s mother, Helen Blythe.
The Government described the changes as a way to support greater consistency in allergy-safety arrangements across schools.
Official sources: Benedict Blythe Prevention of Future Deaths report · DfE: Stronger protections for children with allergies in school
When did Benedict’s Law come into force?
Benedict’s Law came fully into force in England on 1 September 2026. Section 34 of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 introduced the new allergy-safety provisions, with the DfE publishing its statutory guidance on 6 July 2026.
Timeline
The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 (Commencement No. 3) (England) Regulations 2026 brought Section 34 fully into force on 1 September 2026.
Official sources: Commencement Regulations · DfE Allergy Safety in Schools
Which schools does Benedict’s Law apply to?
The current statutory duties apply to maintained schools, academies and pupil referral units in England, subject to specific exclusions. The DfE says equivalent requirements for independent schools and non-maintained special schools are intended through their relevant regulatory standards.
Scope table
The DfE Allergy Safety in Schools guidance explains the current statutory scope and says equivalent allergy-safety requirements for independent schools and non-maintained special schools are intended through their relevant regulatory standards.
Official source: DfE Allergy Safety in Schools
Who is responsible for allergy safety in schools?
Legal responsibility sits with the school’s “appropriate authority”: the governing body for a maintained school, the proprietor or academy trust for an academy, and the management committee for a pupil referral unit.
Responsibility table
This definition comes from Section 100 of the Children and Families Act 2014.
The DfE statutory guidance also says a named senior leader should be responsible for allergy safety and implementation of the allergy safety policy.
For academy trusts and similar groups of schools, the guidance says the trust is responsible for the allergy safety policy in its capacity as the governing body. Each academy should also have a named allergy-safety lead responsible for implementing the policy locally.
The guidance says the Government intends to introduce a specific statutory duty for schools to have a named senior leader responsible for allergy safety through further regulations.
Official sources: Children and Families Act 2014 — Section 100 · DfE Allergy Safety in Schools
What does Benedict’s Law require schools to do?
The law directly requires affected schools to have an allergy safety policy, review it at least annually, publicise it, publish it online and have particular regard to DfE allergy-safety guidance. The guidance then explains in more detail how schools should approach areas such as training, emergency medication and incident management.
The July 2026 DfE statutory guidance states that the Government intends to introduce additional requirements through regulations, including requirements relating to allergy-awareness training, spare adrenaline devices and named leadership.
Official sources: Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 — Section 34 · DfE Allergy Safety in Schools
What is an allergy safety policy?
An allergy safety policy is a school-wide policy for managing allergies affecting pupils, including pupils at risk of anaphylaxis. It should explain how the school reduces allergy risks, supports pupils, prepares staff, manages emergencies and communicates relevant information.
In practical terms, it is the school's written framework for:
- reducing the risk of pupils being exposed to known allergens;
- supporting pupils who have allergies;
- making sure staff understand their responsibilities;
- setting out emergency arrangements;
- managing food-allergy risks;
- sharing relevant information; and
- learning from incidents.
The DfE has published an official Allergy Safety Policy template that schools can use as a starting point.
Download the official DfE Allergy Safety Policy template
What should a school allergy safety policy include?
The DfE statutory guidance expects allergy safety policies to cover a range of areas across school life.
The official policy template also allows some detail to sit within another relevant school policy, provided the allergy safety policy clearly points to or summarises those arrangements.
Official sources: DfE Allergy Safety in Schools · DfE Allergy Safety Policy template
Does Benedict’s Law require staff allergy training?
DfE statutory guidance says schools should provide regular allergy-awareness training at least annually. The guidance also states that the Government intends to introduce a specific statutory training duty through further regulations.
The DfE guidance says training should include people who may be responsible for pupils while they are on site, including:
- permanent staff;
- temporary staff;
- supply teachers;
- agency workers;
- regular volunteers;
- catering staff; and
- other people working around pupils who may need to respond to allergy risks.
The guidance says first-aid training alone is not sufficient. Allergy-awareness training should help staff understand allergies, recognise allergic reactions and anaphylaxis, find relevant pupil information, locate and use emergency medication, reduce exposure risks and report incidents.
Training should also be reflected in induction arrangements for new staff and arrangements for temporary and cover staff.
Official source: DfE Allergy Safety in Schools
What is an Individual Healthcare Plan (IHP)?
An Individual Healthcare Plan (IHP) records the specific support and arrangements an individual pupil needs because of their medical condition or allergy. It sits alongside, rather than replacing, the school's whole-school allergy safety policy.
The DfE guidance says a child or young person should have an IHP if:
- their allergy has a functional impact on them in the education setting;
- they are at risk of harm as a result of their allergy; and
- they require arrangements that are additional to or different from those provided generally.
The IHP should explain how the pupil will be supported, including in an emergency. Where a healthcare professional has issued an Allergy Action Plan or Asthma Action Plan, the DfE says it should be attached to the pupil's IHP.
The DfE also provides an official Individual Healthcare Plan template.
Download the DfE Individual Healthcare Plan template
Allergy safety policy vs Individual Healthcare Plan
Official source: DfE Allergy Safety in Schools
What does the guidance say about adrenaline auto-injectors (AAIs)?
DfE guidance says pupils prescribed adrenaline auto-injectors (AAIs) should have rapid access to them and that schools should stock spare devices for emergency use. The guidance also anticipates further regulations creating more specific statutory requirements in this area.
The DfE Allergy Safety in Schools guidance explains how spare AAIs should be stored, checked and managed.
At the time this guide was checked, the guidance also stated that the Government intends to introduce a specific statutory duty relating to spare adrenaline devices through further regulations.
Schools in England have been permitted to purchase spare adrenaline auto-injectors without a prescription for emergency use since changes to the Human Medicines Regulations took effect in 2017.
Official source: DfE Allergy Safety in Schools
What does the guidance say about trips, incidents and information sharing?
Trips and visits
The DfE says schools should consider allergy risks when planning off-site trips for pupils at risk of anaphylaxis.
Pupils should have access to their prescribed adrenaline, and staff need appropriate arrangements to respond in an emergency.
The wider principle is inclusion: allergy risk should be managed so pupils can take part in school life rather than simply being excluded from activities because of their allergy.
Serious incidents and near misses
The guidance says allergy safety arrangements should explain how serious incidents and near misses will be recorded, reported and responded to.
Schools should use incidents and near misses to consider whether their policies, Individual Healthcare Plans or other arrangements need to change.
The guidance also states that the Government intends to introduce further statutory requirements around incident recording and reporting through regulations.
Information sharing
Schools need to make sure relevant staff can access the information they need to support pupils safely while recognising that medical information is sensitive personal data.
The DfE guidance explains that health information is special-category data under UK GDPR and should be handled appropriately.
Official source: DfE Allergy Safety in Schools
What does Benedict’s Law mean for school catering?
Benedict’s Law is a whole-school allergy-safety framework, but catering is an important part of it. DfE guidance says schools should explain how food-allergy risks are managed and how clear allergen information will be provided for food served.
This is where the policy connects directly with everyday catering operations.
How should schools and caterers provide allergen information?
The DfE says school caterers must provide information about food allergens to parents and carers and make that information available for pupils to check independently.
It also says catering staff should be available to meet with parents and carers to discuss the provision of allergen-safe meals.
School leaders need to engage with caterers and understand the controls in place to ensure the food service complies with relevant legislation.
This is especially important when food provision is outsourced. Using an external catering company does not remove the school's wider responsibility to understand how allergy risks are being managed.
What happens when ingredients or supplier products change?
Menus and supplier products do not remain static.
A supplier may:
- reformulate a product;
- delist an ingredient;
- provide a substitute;
- change an allergen declaration; or
- change a product specification.
The DfE's September 2026 School Food Standards: Allergy Guide says that when menus or food products change, schools must continue to meet pupils' special dietary needs.
It advises schools to check product changes with suppliers and ask caterers to read labels and product information before using a changed product.
The statutory allergy guidance similarly says that where menus need to be adapted at short notice, pupils' food-allergy and hypersensitivity needs and statutory allergen requirements must still be met, and the changes should be highlighted.
What existing food-allergen rules still apply?
Benedict’s Law does not replace existing food-information requirements.
The DfE guidance says the Food Information Regulations 2014 require food businesses, including school and college caterers, to provide information about the 14 regulated allergens present in the food they serve.
For food that is not prepacked — such as many canteen meals or food made to order — information about the presence of those allergens must be clear, accurate and accessible.
For prepacked for direct sale (PPDS) food, additional labelling requirements apply under the rules commonly known as Natasha's Law.
The Food Standards Agency's PPDS labelling guidance explains how those requirements apply to food businesses.
Are schools considered food businesses?
Schools, colleges and early years settings can be considered food businesses when they supply food on a regular and organised basis.
The requirements can therefore apply whether food is prepared on site or sourced from a third party.
This is particularly relevant to:
- school kitchens;
- breakfast clubs;
- after-school food provision;
- grab-and-go services;
- prepacked items; and
- internally run catering services.
Food provided on a more occasional basis — such as at some parents' association events or cake sales — may fall outside the same food-information-law scope. However, providing clear information about potential allergens remains good practice.
How should schools manage menu substitutions?
A practical allergen-management process should be able to answer:
- Where does our ingredient information come from?
- Who checks supplier changes?
- Who updates recipes?
- Which dishes are affected by a change?
- Which menus are affected?
- How does each site receive updated information?
- How are pupils and parents informed?
- How do we know which version is current?
These are practical review questions rather than additional statutory requirements. They can help schools and catering organisations assess how reliably they keep the food and allergen information supporting their wider responsibilities up to date.
Read the DfE School Food Standards: Allergy Guide
Official sources: DfE Allergy Safety in Schools · DfE School Food Standards: Allergy Guide · Food Standards Agency PPDS guidance
Benedict’s Law vs Natasha’s Law: what’s the difference?
Benedict’s Law and Natasha’s Law deal with different responsibilities. Benedict’s Law concerns whole-school allergy safety, while Natasha’s Law concerns ingredient and allergen labelling for prepacked for direct sale (PPDS) food. A school may need to meet both sets of requirements.
The Food Standards Agency explains that PPDS food must carry the name of the food, a full ingredients list and emphasis of any of the 14 regulated allergens present in that list.
For schools, PPDS food can include items prepared and packaged on the premises before a pupil selects or orders them.
Official sources: Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 — Section 34 · Food Standards Agency PPDS guidance
What does Benedict’s Law mean for MATs and multi-school caterers?
For multi-academy trusts (MATs), local authorities and catering organisations serving multiple schools, the underlying legal responsibilities do not simply change because more sites are involved. However, the operational complexity can increase significantly.
Multi-academy trusts
The DfE says the academy trust is responsible for the allergy safety policy in its capacity as the governing body.
Each academy should also have a named allergy-safety lead responsible for putting the policy into practice locally, while the trust should define how it maintains oversight across its schools.
This creates an important practical question:
How do we maintain a consistent standard while recognising that individual academies may operate different kitchens, menus, suppliers or service arrangements?
Contract caterers
An outsourced catering provider does not automatically become the statutory owner of the school's allergy safety policy.
The legal duty sits with the relevant school authority.
However, contract caterers have an important operational role because:
- they have their own food-information responsibilities;
- DfE training expectations explicitly include people providing catering services;
- school leaders are expected to understand the caterer's food-safety controls; and
- allergen information needs to reach pupils and families.
Local-authority catering services
The same principle applies.
A catering service may manage ingredient information, recipes and menus centrally across dozens of schools, while the schools themselves remain responsible for their wider allergy-safety arrangements.
Official sources: Children and Families Act 2014 — Section 100 · DfE Allergy Safety in Schools
Benedict’s Law checklist: practical next steps for schools
This is not a “tick these boxes and you are compliant” checklist. Allergy safety needs to reflect the actual pupils, staff, sites and catering arrangements in each organisation.
It is, however, a useful starting point for reviewing your current arrangements.
Governance and policy
☐ Confirm who is responsible for allergy safety.
☐ Check that the school has an allergy safety policy.
☐ Confirm when it was last reviewed and when the next annual review is due.
☐ Make sure the policy is published on the school website.
☐ Check how pupils, parents and people working at the school are made aware of it.
Pupils and individual support
☐ Review how pupils with known allergies are identified.
☐ Check whether pupils who need additional arrangements have an IHP.
☐ Make sure current Allergy or Asthma Action Plans are linked to relevant IHPs.
Staff and emergency arrangements
☐ Review allergy-awareness and emergency-response training.
☐ Check induction arrangements for new, temporary and supply staff.
☐ Review access to prescribed adrenaline auto-injectors.
☐ Review arrangements for spare AAIs against the latest DfE guidance.
Trips and incidents
☐ Check how allergy risk is considered during trips and visits.
☐ Review how serious incidents and near misses are recorded, reported and learnt from.
Catering and food information
☐ Ask where ingredient and supplier allergen information is stored.
☐ Check how ingredient substitutions or supplier changes are controlled.
☐ Review how recipe allergen information is calculated and updated.
☐ Confirm how current allergen information reaches each school.
☐ Check how pupils and parents access allergen information.
☐ Review how short-notice menu substitutions are communicated.
These actions reflect the core themes covered by Section 34, the DfE Allergy Safety in Schools statutory guidance and the DfE School Food Standards: Allergy Guide.
How Kafoodle supports school allergen management
Kafoodle supports the food-information processes behind school allergen management. It does not replace an allergy safety policy, staff training, Individual Healthcare Plans, emergency procedures, medical advice or wider school governance.
For education catering teams, Kafoodle connects information across:
Suppliers → Ingredients → Recipes → Allergens → Menus → Labels → Schools
Kafoodle's school allergen-management functionality supports supplier data, ingredient allergen information, recipe-level allergen calculation, allergen datasheets, food labels, digital menus and multi-site management.
That helps catering teams manage underlying food information centrally and use connected data across multiple outputs, rather than rebuilding the same allergen information independently at every stage.
Frequently asked questions about Benedict’s Law
What is Benedict’s Law?
Benedict’s Law is the common name for allergy-safety duties introduced by Section 34 of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026. Among other things, affected schools must have an allergy safety policy, review it annually, publicise it, publish it online and have particular regard to DfE statutory guidance.
Is Benedict’s Law a separate Act of Parliament?
No. The allergy-safety provisions are contained within Section 34 of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026, which added new Sections 100A and 100B to the Children and Families Act 2014.
When did Benedict’s Law come into force?
Benedict’s Law came fully into force in England on 1 September 2026, under the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 (Commencement No. 3) (England) Regulations 2026.
Does Benedict’s Law apply across the whole UK?
No. The statutory provisions and DfE guidance discussed in this guide apply in England. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own education and allergy-safety frameworks.
Does every school need an allergy safety policy?
The direct Section 100A duty applies to schools covered by Section 100 of the Children and Families Act 2014, including maintained schools, academies, alternative provision academies and pupil referral units in England, subject to specific scope and exclusions.
At the time of writing, the DfE guidance says equivalent allergy-safety requirements for independent schools and non-maintained special schools are intended to be introduced through their relevant regulatory standards.
How often must the allergy safety policy be reviewed?
At least once every year. The appropriate authority must also make any changes it considers appropriate following the review. This duty is set out in Section 100A.
Does the policy need to be published online?
Yes. Section 100A requires the policy to be published on the school's website.
The law also requires the school to make the policy generally known within the school and to parents, and to take steps at least annually to bring it to the attention of pupils, parents and people who work at the school. Read Section 34 on Legislation.gov.uk.
Does Benedict’s Law require annual staff allergy training?
DfE statutory guidance says schools should have regular allergy-awareness training at least annually.
The guidance also states that the Government intends to introduce a specific statutory training duty through further regulations.
Does every school need spare adrenaline auto-injectors?
The DfE statutory guidance says schools should stock spare adrenaline auto-injectors and sets out expectations for their storage and management.
The guidance also says the Government intends to introduce further statutory requirements relating to spare devices through regulations. Schools should therefore check the latest DfE position when reviewing their arrangements.
What is an Individual Healthcare Plan?
An Individual Healthcare Plan sets out the additional or different arrangements a particular pupil needs because of their medical condition or allergy.
The DfE guidance explains when an IHP should be used and provides an official Individual Healthcare Plan template.
What does Benedict’s Law mean for school caterers?
The school's wider allergy-safety arrangements should address food-allergy risk and clear allergen information.
DfE guidance expects school leaders and caterers to work together and states that school caterers must provide allergen information to parents and carers and make it available for pupils to check independently. Existing food-information law continues to apply alongside Benedict’s Law.
Is Benedict’s Law the same as Natasha’s Law?
No.
Benedict’s Law deals with whole-school allergy safety.
Natasha’s Law is the commonly used name for PPDS food-labelling requirements, including the requirement to provide the food name and full ingredients list with relevant allergens emphasised.
The Food Standards Agency's PPDS guidance explains those requirements in more detail.
Does Kafoodle make a school compliant with Benedict’s Law?
No.
No food-management system alone can fulfil all of the responsibilities covered by Benedict’s Law and the DfE statutory guidance.
Kafoodle's school allergen-management functionality supports the food-information element by helping education catering teams manage connected ingredient, recipe, allergen, menu and label information.
Official Benedict’s Law guidance and further reading
For legal, policy or medical decisions, always use the latest official sources.
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 — Section 34
Use this for: the legal wording of the allergy safety policy duties and the powers to introduce further allergy-safety requirements.
Read Section 34 on Legislation.gov.uk
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 — Commencement Regulations
Use this for: confirmation that Section 34 came fully into force in England on 1 September 2026.
Read the Commencement Regulations on Legislation.gov.uk
Department for Education — Allergy Safety in Schools
Use this for: the full statutory guidance covering policies, training, pupil support, emergency medication, trips, food provision, information sharing and incidents.
The GOV.UK page also contains the official Allergy Safety Policy and Individual Healthcare Plan templates.
Read the DfE Allergy Safety in Schools statutory guidance
DfE Allergy Safety Policy Template
Use this for: a government-provided starting structure for writing or reviewing a school's allergy safety policy.
Download the official DfE Allergy Safety Policy template
DfE Individual Healthcare Plan Template
Use this for: documenting the additional or different arrangements an individual pupil needs.
Download the official DfE Individual Healthcare Plan template
DfE School Food Standards: Allergy Guide
Use this for: practical guidance on food-allergy risks, product substitutions, special dietary needs and school catering.
Read the School Food Standards: Allergy Guide
Food Standards Agency — Natasha’s Law / PPDS guidance
Use this for: understanding whether food is PPDS and what ingredients and allergen information must be provided.
Read the Food Standards Agency PPDS labelling guidance
Courts and Tribunals Judiciary — Benedict Blythe Prevention of Future Deaths report
Use this for: the official record of the inquest findings and circumstances surrounding Benedict's death.