Life-saving allergy pens, also known as adrenaline auto-injectors (AAIs), will be stored in all UK schools from September under newly published Government guidance on safety, the Department for Education (DfE) has announced. The new statutory guidance for schools, called Benedict’s Law, will also provide training for teachers to ensure they can act quickly in case of emergencies, including using the pens.
Background and Campaigning
The nationwide requirements come after campaigning from the National Allergy Strategy Group and families – including Helen and Peter Blythe, parents of Benedict Blythe, who tragically lost his life to a reaction at school in 2021. Schools will also be expected to have clear allergy policies and healthcare plans, the DfE said on Sunday.
Education Minister Olivia Bailey said: “Today is a really important day for the thousands of families across the country who for too long have worried about keeping their children safe. Benedict’s Law means every single school will now have the training plans and the life-saving equipment in place to protect every child. That’s all thanks to the determination of Helen and Peter Blythe, who turned unimaginable tragedy into a legacy that will protect children for generations to come.”
Impact on Families and Schools
Helen Blythe, co-founder of the Benedict Blythe Foundation and Benedict’s mother, said: “This week marks a historic turning point for children with allergies and their families. For too long, whether a child was safe at school depended on where they happened to go. From September, schools across England will have clear national expectations on how they keep children with allergies safe. The publication of this guidance is the beginning of a new era for allergy safety. It will improve the safety of hundreds of thousands of children and ensure around one and a half million adults working in schools have the knowledge and confidence to recognise an allergic reaction and respond quickly in an emergency. We are incredibly proud that Benedict’s legacy will help protect generations of children to come.”
Details of Benedict’s Death
Benedict 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.
Government and Expert Reactions
Minister for Public Health, Sharon Hodgson, said: “Benedict’s Law is a landmark moment – and a testament to the courage and determination of Helen and Peter Blythe. As Minister for Public Health, I know how life-threatening allergic reactions can be, and how quickly they can escalate. That is why having the right training, clear plans and life-saving adrenaline devices in every school is not a nice-to-have – it is essential. From this September, families can have the confidence that those protections will be in place wherever their child learns.”
Sarah Knight, chief executive of The Allergy Team – a specialist organisation supporting schools across the UK through allergy training, practical resources and policy support – said: “As a parent of two school-aged children with allergies and co-founder of The Allergy Team, I know how much trust families place in schools every day. This guidance is an important step forward, giving schools greater clarity about how they can better protect children with allergies. Since the consultation began, we’ve supported thousands of teachers and school leaders through free webinars and training, and we’ll continue that work through the summer to help schools prepare for September’s guidance and the legislation that follows next year – building a safer, more inclusive environment for pupils with allergies and greater confidence for school staff.”
Funding and Implementation Concerns
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders’ union NAHT, welcomed the new guidance, but said schools need funding to make sure they have the staffing capacity to carry out duties and can offer specialist health support where it is needed. “While guidance for schools is crucial, equally important is access to the right resources, including sufficient staffing capacity in the school to deliver their duties, and always ensuring access to specialist health support for pupils whose conditions require genuine expertise to keep them healthy and safe. Each of these things require funding to implement and schools cannot be expected to fund them from their existing constrained budgets. Expecting schools to stock ‘spare’ adrenaline auto-injectors for use in emergency situations appears a sensible step, as is training staff to use them effectively. However, the Government needs to be confident that there are sufficient stocks maintained across the country to ensure each setting can keep a sufficient share of adrenaline auto-injectors.”
Schools will also need processes for ensuring adrenaline auto-injectors are stored, accessed, and discarded safely, and re-ordered when they expire. “This needs to be carefully managed by central government,” Mr Whiteman said. “If schools are ever in the situation where they cannot access adrenaline auto-injectors due to limited stock availability, it cannot be left to schools to source other suppliers – the Government must do so and ensure only legitimate suppliers provide such resources to educational settings.”
