England schools must publish allergy safety policies

Sometimes the smallest legal texts change everyday school life the most. This one does. From 1 September 2026, section 34 of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 is fully in force in England, which means schools must have an allergy safety policy for pupils. The new duty sits inside wider support for medical conditions, but the change here is that allergy safety now has to be named, written down and treated as a whole-school responsibility, not left to informal routines or one especially knowledgeable member of staff. (legislationtracker.co.uk)

If you are reading this as a parent, teacher or pupil, the first thing to know is who this covers straight away. The Department for Education’s statutory guidance, published on 6 July 2026, says the duty applies to local-authority-maintained schools, academies and pupil referral units in England. Independent schools and non-maintained special schools are not yet under the same statutory guidance, although the government says it intends to bring in equivalent requirements through other standards later. (gov.uk) That matters because legal announcements can sound wider than the first stage really is. So, for now, this is mainly a change for the state-funded settings covered by section 100 arrangements, with the rest of the sector being pointed firmly in the same direction. (assets.publishing.service.gov.uk)

What will schools actually have to do? The Act says the allergy safety policy must be part of the school’s arrangements for supporting pupils with medical conditions, reviewed at least once a year, changed where needed, made known inside the school and to parents, and published on the school website. The DfE’s governance guidance repeats that from September 2026 schools must comply with these allergy safety duties and have regard to the statutory guidance. (legislation.gov.uk) The July guidance adds the practical shape around that duty. It says a named senior leader should take responsibility for the policy, and it makes clear that reviews should happen more often if an incident or near miss shows the policy is not good enough. So this is not a one-off document to upload and forget. (assets.publishing.service.gov.uk)

The most useful way to think about the new policy is as a working plan, not a poster. The Department for Education says it should explain how the school identifies pupils with allergies, reduces exposure to known allergens, manages food allergy, trains staff in allergy awareness and emergency response, ensures access to prescribed and 'spare' adrenaline devices, keeps pupils safe on trips, uses Individual Healthcare Plans, and promotes wellbeing and inclusion. (assets.publishing.service.gov.uk) That wider approach matters because the DfE guidance says around one in five children and young people with allergy have their first reaction while in an education setting. So this is not only about pupils who are already on a register. The same guidance also says first-aid knowledge on its own is not enough: staff should understand allergy symptoms, anaphylaxis, where medication is kept and what to do immediately in an emergency. (assets.publishing.service.gov.uk)

For families, the practical test is simple: can you find the policy, understand it, and see your child in it? The guidance says children who need specific support should have that written into an Individual Healthcare Plan developed with the child, parents and relevant health advice. Schools can hold and share allergy information when it is necessary to keep a pupil safe, but they should do it in a controlled and respectful way because that information is highly sensitive. (assets.publishing.service.gov.uk) Just as important is what schools should not do. The guidance says a child should not be blocked from normal school life, pushed out of trips or lunch, marked down on attendance for allergy-related absences, or left waiting for a parent to come in and give urgent help. In an allergic emergency, help must go to the child, not the child to a distant office. (assets.publishing.service.gov.uk)

There is another quiet but important message in the guidance: schools should aim to be allergy-aware, not simply rely on slogans. The DfE says blanket 'nut-free' policies can create a false sense of security because nuts are only one possible allergen and 'may contain' labels can make such rules hard to police. A stronger policy looks at real risks across classrooms, canteens, clubs, trips, packed lunches and special events. (assets.publishing.service.gov.uk) That is also why the guidance talks about bullying and inclusion, not just medicine. Allergy safety is about whether a pupil can learn, eat, travel and join in without fear. The examples in the guidance include regular communication, careful support for new starters and even allergy champion roles for staff or students. (assets.publishing.service.gov.uk)

Schools should also notice the accountability point. Inspectors are now told to consider arrangements for pupils with medical conditions and allergy safety policies, and the DfE guidance says inspectors may look at whether leaders have a dedicated policy and how well it works in practice. After any serious incident or near miss, the expectation is to record what happened, report it, learn from it and review the policy in a 'no blame' spirit. (gov.uk) So the real story here is not that schools suddenly need one more document. It is that allergy safety is being moved into the open: written down, reviewed, published and checked. The Department for Education has already published a policy template and an Individual Healthcare Plan template, which gives schools much less room to say they do not know where to start. (gov.uk)

One final point is worth reading carefully. The government’s March 2026 announcement described the September changes as including compulsory staff training and spare adrenaline auto-injectors, while the Act itself clearly creates the published allergy-policy duty and also gives ministers power to add more detailed duties through regulations. Read together, that suggests September should be treated as the start of a stricter allergy-safety system, not the end of it. (gov.uk) For schools, that means preparing now for culture as well as compliance. For parents, it means you should expect clearer answers. And for pupils, especially those who have spent years feeling that allergy safety depended on luck, it should mean something simple but important: being safer without being set apart. (gov.uk)