Schools will have to stock allergy pens under new measures

The Government has announced statutory requirements for schools to replace the previous non-statutory guidance on protecting children with allergies.

Under the proposals, which are being consulted on, schools must provide compulsory allergy awareness training for all staff, stock spare allergy pens for use in emergencies and have comprehensive plans in place for supporting children with medical conditions.

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Minister for early education Olivia Bailey said: “No parent should have to send their child to school worried that a life-threatening allergic reaction won’t be handled swiftly.

“We have listened to the families and organisations who have campaigned tirelessly on this issue, and we are acting.

“These new requirements will give parents the confidence that every school has the training, the plans and the equipment in place to keep their child safe.”

The requirements will come into force in September and come following campaigning from the National Allergy Strategy Group and families, including Helen and Peter Blythe, whose son Benedict died after an allergic reaction at school.

The guidance will say schools should have Individual Healthcare Plans in place for pupils with medical conditions. For a child with epilepsy, for example, this plan should cover seizure types and what to do in an emergency.

Mr and Mrs Blythe said: “For four years, we have campaigned for Benedict’s Law so that no child faces the preventable gaps in allergy safety that cost our five-year-old son his life.

“We are grateful the Government has listened, and that from September schools will be required to have allergy pens, training and policies in place — protections that were not there when Benedict joined his school.

“Knowing that future children will enter a system far safer than the one he did is a powerful and lasting legacy for our son Benedict.”

The five-year-old died after accidental exposure to cow’s milk protein at Barnack Primary School, between Stamford and Peterborough, in December 2021.

An inquest found the school did not follow all the measures in place to prevent the fatal anaphylactic reaction, and that there were risks of contamination and delays in administering an adrenaline pen.

A prevention of future deaths report said initial investigations into Benedict’s death focused on him having eaten a McVitie’s biscuit that he had brought in from home on the day he collapsed.

It later became clear the biscuit did not cause Benedict’s anaphylactic reaction, and an inquest found he had probably been given cow’s milk protein in his bottle during break time.

In the report, coroner Elizabeth Gray said the failure to retain Benedict’s vomit or preserve evidence at the scene meant samples could not be tested, which could have helped to identify what caused Benedict’s reaction at an earlier stage.