New statutory allergy guidance

The Department for Education has published new statutory guidance on allergy safety in schools.

From September 2026, governing boards must ensure that their school(s):

• Create and publish an allergy safety policy
• Puts allergy safety training in place for all staff
• Identifies the children and young people who require Individual Healthcare Plans (IHPs) to manage their allergy and to produce them
• Records and learns lessons from serious incidents and near misses.

To support implementation, the DfE has published resources including a model allergy safety policy and an Individual Healthcare Plan template.