Allergies: Schools need to be better prepared and equipped

Nearly 700 000 children with food allergies are at risk in the classroom as the majority of schools in England do not have recommended safeguarding policies in place to protect them, an analysis has found.

The research, carried out by the Benedict Blythe Foundation (2024), said that current legislation makes only modest requests of schools, falling far below the recommended good practice outlined by clinicians, allergy charities and coroners following inquests into fatal anaphylaxis reactions in children during school time.

Furthermore, the UK lags two decades behind international legislation, with the USA, Canada and Australia adopting stringent measures in schools to protect pupils. In the UK, however, few schools had plans to deal with health problems arising from allergies, and schools were ‘often being forced to make clinical decisions without having the level of knowledge to do so’.

According to figures, up to two children in any medium-sized class will suffer from an allergy, and about 680 000 children in schools in England will have one or more allergies. An estimated half a million school days a year are lost because of reactions to allergies.