Get ready for new allergy guidance for schools

Get ready for new allergy guidance for schools

By September 2026 all schools in England will have to be compliant with new statutory allergy guidance. We’re already working with hundreds of schools to get these key measures in place, so let us guide you through, step-by-step.

We’ve also built a School Allergy Safety Toolkit, so you have all the resources you need to get compliant, in one place.

What’s changing?

The government has published new draft guidance called Supporting children and young people with medical conditions and allergy. This will replace Managing Medical Conditions in Schools (2015).

The aim is to “transform allergy safety in schools”. The Allergy Team, allergy charities and leading allergy clinicians have been asked to co-produce this guidance so it is practical and straightforward to implement, whilst ensuring the safety and inclusion of pupils with allergies.

Sarah Knight, CEO of The Allergy Team standing with Peter Finlayson from Simple Online Pharmacy following announcement that Simple Online will sell schools spare adrenaline pens at cost-price+VAT.

What does this mean for your school?

The draft guidance requires schools to have a number of allergy safety measures in place, including:

  • ZA named governor and named senior leader who manage allergy safety
  • ZAllergy and anaphylaxis training for all staff
  • ZA dedicated allergy safety policy
  • ZIndividual Healthcare Plans for every child whose allergies require active management by the school
  • ZSpare adrenaline devices

Get expert support and be compliant by September

Join a FREE webinar to find out more detail and how to start getting key measures in place now.

Click below for next steps and expert support to prepare your school

Appoint and train a Designated Allergy Lead

We’re the only organisation offering Designated Allergy Lead training.  Enrol your allergy lead so they have all the tools to implement the new guidance and are equipped to support colleagues and pupils with confidence.

Arrange allergy training for all staff

Our CPD-accredited whole-school training is considered the gold-standard for schools. It’s endorsed by Allergy UK and has been approved by top allergy clinicians. The video-based e-learning includes: understanding allergy, how to reduce risk for pupils with allergies, supporting inclusion, and how to respond in an allergy emergency (including how to use adrenaline devices). Enrol all your staff and add new joiners whenever you like. We’ll send you progress reports to help you keep track of staff training.

Write your school's allergy policy

Our free allergy policy template is easy to adapt to any setting. It helps set out role responsibilities, how your school reduces risk, and expectations around the management of allergy medication, school trips and sports fixtures. Created in collaboration with allergy clinicians, families and educators.

Buy spare adrenaline pens

The guidance is that schools are expected to hold spare adrenaline pens (in addition to those prescribed to individuals). These can be bought from a pharmacy without prescription. To save you shopping around, we have arranged for schools to buy spare adrenaline pens at cost-price + VAT from Simple Pharmacy Online using a special code.

Contact parents and carers and start creating Individual Healthcare Plans for pupils with allergies

Find out what should be in an IHP for students with allergies at one of our free webinars.

Join the Schools Allergy Register and we'll work with you to earn our trust mark

Join the hundreds of schools signed up to join the Schools Allergy Register. You’ll get support and training for your whole-school so everyone understands allergy, how to reduce risk and how to respond in an emergency. Includes whole-school training, a place on our Designated Allergy Lead training, access to expert Q&As and ongoing support from our specialist team. Plus, when you’re meeting best practice, you’ll earn our trust mark.

Sign up to our newsletter for updates on the new guidance as we get them

We are co-producing this new guidance and will share new information with you as soon as it’s made public. Sign up to our newsletter for updates.

      Read draft guidance · Have your say