Who Needs Benedict's Law Training? A Guide for School Staff

Benedict's Law makes one thing very clear: allergy safety in schools isn't just a job for first aiders or the medical room. It's a whole-school responsibility, and that means training needs to reach a lot further than most schools are used to.

If you're trying to work out exactly who on your staff list needs to complete allergy and anaphylaxis training before the September 2026 deadline, this guide breaks it down role by role.

Why training now applies to "everyone", not just first aiders

Benedict's Law is named after Benedict Blythe, a five-year-old who died from anaphylaxis at school in 2021 after mistakenly being given milk he was known to be allergic to. His death highlighted a gap that many schools will recognise: allergy knowledge was often concentrated in one or two designated people, while everyone else assumed it wasn't their responsibility.

The new statutory guidance, delivered through the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026, closes that gap. It requires allergy and anaphylaxis training for all staff who are likely to be on site with pupils, regardless of role or seniority. An allergic reaction can happen anywhere in a school, at any time of day, so anyone who might be first on the scene needs to know what to do.

Who needs to be trained

Under Benedict's Law, this includes:

• Teaching staff – classroom teachers, subject specialists and cover teachers
• Teaching assistants and learning support staff
• Catering and kitchen staff – who handle food and allergen information daily
• Lunchtime supervisors and midday assistants
• Site, premises and caretaking staff
• Administrative and office staff
• Minibus drivers and staff supervising trips or off-site activities
• Regular supply staff, exam invigilators, and peripatetic specialists, such as music or sports coaches

That's a considerably wider group than most schools have historically trained. It also applies across settings, including:

• Primary, secondary and special schools, maintained and independent
• Multi-academy trusts, across their whole workforce
• Independent and non-maintained schools, including those with residential provision
• Maintained nurseries attached to a school
• Local authorities coordinating training across multiple sites

What about designated allergy leads and first aiders?

Designated allergy leads and first aiders still need to complete this whole-staff training, as a baseline. However, they're likely to need further, role-specific training on top of it, covering things like managing individual healthcare plans and administering adrenaline auto-injectors (AAIs) in more detail.

Think of it as two layers: everyone gets the whole-school foundation, and a smaller group gets deeper, role-specific training on top.

Who doesn't need this specific training?

The guidance draws a sensible line around people who aren't regularly on site with pupils. Contractors carrying out occasional building or maintenance work, for example, typically fall outside the requirement, since they aren't a routine part of the school day in the way lunchtime supervisors or minibus drivers are.

If you're unsure whether a particular role falls inside or outside the requirement, a useful test is this: would this person plausibly be the closest adult to a pupil having a reaction? If the answer's yes, they need training.

How schools are meeting this requirement

Because the list of people who need training is so broad, delivering it face-to-face for every member of staff isn't realistic for most schools. That's why online training has become the practical default: it lets every member of staff, from catering to admin to minibus drivers, complete the same consistent, up-to-date training in their own time, without pulling the whole school out for a training day.

Our Benedict's Law Training: Allergy Awareness in Schools course was built specifically for this. It's a CPD certified, 30–45 minute course covering what Benedict's Law requires, how to recognise and respond to an allergic reaction, and what your own responsibilities are under your school's allergy policy. It assumes no previous medical knowledge, which matters when you're training such a wide mix of roles in one go.

For schools training their whole staff body, we offer volume discounts starting at 10% off for 10 or more courses, rising to 40% off for orders of 100 or more, so cost scales down as your training rollout scales up.

Next step: Explore the Benedict's Law training course →