Allergy Awareness (Benedict’s Law)

Allergy Awareness (Benedict’s Law)

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Allergy Awareness (Benedict’s Law) training built directly around the DfE’s new statutory guidance for schools. Half a day, for the whole staff, not just the first aider. Practical work with adrenaline auto-injectors, EURneffy and inhalers included.

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QUALIFICATION: Allergy Awareness (Benedict’s Law)
DURATION: Half day (3 hours)	DELIVERY: Face-to-face / Live online (practical top-up required)	GROUP SIZE: Flexible / Small-group device rotation
CERTIFICATE: CPD-Accredited Certificate of Attendance	VALIDITY: No formal expiry / Annual refresher expected	AWARDING BODIES: CPD-Accredited
Meets the DfE’s Allergy Safety in Schools statutory guidance, published 6 July 2026 and in force from 1 September 2026

Course Overview

We’ve delivered anaphylaxis training in schools for years, and one gap comes up more than any other. A staff member once genuinely didn’t know that the adrenaline auto-injector carried by a pupil with a nut allergy was different from the insulin pen a colleague used for diabetes. She wasn’t careless. Nobody had ever actually shown her the difference. That’s not a one-off, and it’s exactly the gap the government wants closed before September 2026.

Allergy Awareness (Benedict’s Law) training gives every member of school staff, not just the appointed first aider, the knowledge to spot an allergic reaction early, tell it apart from asthma or an intolerance, and know exactly what to do next. It’s built directly around the Department for Education’s Allergy Safety in Schools statutory guidance, published 6 July 2026 and in force from 1 September 2026, which is explicit that first aid training on its own doesn’t meet the requirement. Staff need to understand the full range of allergic conditions, the difference between allergy, intolerance and coeliac disease, where to find allergen information, how to recognise anaphylaxis and asthma, and the impact allergy has on a child’s day at school.

Course Details

• Duration: Half day (3 hours)
• Delivery: Face-to-face at your school, or live online via Zoom or Microsoft Teams for the knowledge-based modules. Where training is delivered remotely, a short in-person practical top-up covers hands-on AAI and EURneffy device work.
• Certificate: CPD-Accredited Certificate of Attendance in Allergy Awareness (Benedict’s Law)
• Awarding organisations: CPD-Accredited
• Validity: No formal expiry, but the DfE guidance expects this training at least once a year, with something in place for new starters in between.
• Group size: Flexible. Practical AAI and EURneffy work runs in small groups so everyone gets hands-on time with the devices.

Who This Course Is For

This course is for everyone on site while children are present, not just the designated first aider. The guidance is explicit on that point.

• Teaching staff and teaching assistants
• Catering and lunchtime supervisory staff
• Office, administrative, and site staff
• Supply staff and regular cover teachers
• Volunteers who work with pupils on a regular basis
• Designated allergy leads and senior leaders responsible for the school’s allergy safety policy

If you run an early years setting where the EYFS Statutory Framework applies rather than this DfE schools guidance, our Emergency Paediatric First Aid course covers Benedict’s Law requirements for that setting instead.

Not sure which course is right for you? Get in touch, and we’ll help you work it out before you commit.

The Legal Requirement

Section 100A of the Children and Families Act 2014, inserted by section 34 of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026, places a statutory duty on governing bodies of maintained schools, academies and pupil referral units to have an allergy safety policy in place. The Department for Education’s Allergy Safety in Schools statutory guidance, published 6 July 2026 and in force from 1 September 2026, sets out what that policy must cover, including training on the recognition and management of allergies for teaching staff, non-teaching staff, catering staff, and anyone else specified. It’s explicit on one point: general first aid training doesn’t meet this requirement on its own.

The duty applies now to maintained schools, academies, and pupil referral units. Independent schools and non-maintained special schools aren’t yet covered by the same statutory duty, though the government has said equivalent requirements will follow through separate regulatory standards, and many independent schools are choosing to train ahead of that. This course is built to meet the training expectation set out in the guidance directly: it reaches everyone on site, not just first aiders, and covers the full range of content the guidance names, from recognising anaphylaxis and asthma to understanding Individual Healthcare Plans.

Ofsted is expected to pay closer attention to how schools support pupils with allergies as this guidance beds in, looking at whether policies exist and whether staff can actually demonstrate what they’ve been trained to do. Schools that can show organised, dated, whole-staff training have a clear answer to that question.

What the Day Covers

All content reflects the DfE’s Allergy Safety in Schools statutory guidance (July 2026) and current MHRA and BSACI guidance on adrenaline devices throughout. Topics covered include:

• The full range of allergic conditions: food allergy, asthma, eczema, hay fever, contact allergies, and reactions to insect stings and medicines
• Telling allergy, intolerance, and an autoimmune condition such as coeliac disease apart, and why the response to each is different
• Recognising a mild allergic reaction and knowing when antihistamine and monitoring is the right response
• Recognising anaphylaxis: airway, breathing, or circulation involvement, and why the rule is always to treat as anaphylaxis if in doubt
• Recognising asthma alongside anaphylaxis, including why wheeze can point to either condition
• Hands-on practice with adrenaline auto-injector trainer devices: EpiPen & Jext
• EURneffy (Neffy), the UK’s needle-free adrenaline nasal spray: how it works and who it isn’t suitable for
• Everyday classroom materials that commonly carry hidden allergens, from play dough to bird feed
• Adapting classroom activities for the whole group rather than singling out a child
• Individual Healthcare Plans: the three-part test for when a child needs one
• Asthma action plans as the asthma-specific equivalent of an Individual Healthcare Plan
• The four statutory requirements under the DfE guidance, and what each means in practice
• Allergy-related bullying and exclusion, and how to recognise it
• The optional allergy champion role

Every course is also built to include your industry-specific common risks and your organisation’s incident reporting systems as standard.

How the Course Is Delivered

This course is available face-to-face at your school, or live online via Zoom or Microsoft Teams for the knowledge-based modules. The hands-on device practice, working with adrenaline auto-injector trainers and EURneffy, is only available face-to-face, either on the day or through a short in-person practical top-up where the rest of the course is delivered remotely.

Sessions are delivered at your school or chosen venue. Groups are kept flexible to suit your setting, with small-group rotation built into the device practice so every learner gets proper hands-on time with the AAI and EURneffy trainers. Every session is built around your working environment, your sector’s risks, and your internal reporting procedures. We also design each course to incorporate your specific workplace hazards, your organisation’s layout, and the findings of your needs assessment. If you haven’t carried out a needs assessment yet, we can guide you through what’s involved during the enquiry process.

• Hands-on practice with adrenaline auto-injector trainer devices and EURneffy, in small-group rotation
• Scenario-based discussion covering mild reaction, asthma, and anaphylaxis decision points
• A walk-through of everyday classroom materials that commonly carry hidden allergens
• Individual assessment of practical device handling throughout the session

Allergy Awareness (Benedict’s Law) or Anaphylaxis Awareness?

Both of these courses cover anaphylaxis, and it’s a fair question which one your school actually needs. The difference comes down to whether you’re meeting the specific DfE schools’ duty or building general awareness across a wider range of settings.

Allergy Awareness (Benedict’s Law) is built specifically to meet the DfE’s Allergy Safety in Schools statutory guidance. It covers the full allergy spectrum, not just anaphylaxis, Individual Healthcare Plans, hidden classroom allergens, and the four statutory requirements schools must evidence. This is the course to book if you need to show Ofsted or your governors that you’ve met the training expectation set out in the guidance.

Anaphylaxis Awareness is a shorter, general recognition-and-response course suitable for any setting where allergies may be present, including hospitality, care, and other workplaces as well as schools. It’s the right choice where the DfE school’s duty doesn’t apply, or as a lighter refresher between full Benedict’s Law training cycles.

We don’t make that determination for employers; the responsibility sits with you. But we do provide guidance throughout the enquiry process.

Certification and Validity

On completion, learners receive a CPD-Accredited Certificate of Attendance in Allergy Awareness (Benedict’s Law).

There’s no formal expiry, but the DfE guidance expects this training to happen at least once a year, with something in place for new starters in between, so we’d recommend booking it as an annual fixture rather than on the usual one-to three-year CPD cycle.

Our Basic Life Support and AED Training pairs well alongside this course for schools that also want a focused CPR and defibrillator skills update.

Why Organisations Book With Prima Cura

Most training providers arrive with a course. We arrive with yours.

Before the day, we gather information about your workplace: your incident reporting forms, your internal procedures, the specific hazards your team actually faces. On the day, your trainer works that into every scenario, every discussion, every practical exercise. If your staff work in a care home, they’re not practising on hypothetical office workers. If your team are lone workers, that context shapes how the session runs.

It means the training lands. Not because it was well-delivered in a generic sense, but because it was relevant to the people in the room and the situations they’ll actually encounter.

A few other things that matter to the organisations that book with us:

• 98.9% learner satisfaction across all Prima Cura courses
• All trainers hold Enhanced DBS certificates and maintain ongoing CPD
• We advise honestly on the qualification level at the enquiry stage. If a different course is a better fit for your workforce, we’ll say so before you book, not after

We respond to all enquiries within one working day.

Where We Deliver

We deliver in-house training at your workplace or chosen venue across Manchester, Greater Manchester, and the wider North West. We also deliver nationally across England, including the North of England, the South of England, London, and Surrey.

All sessions are led by experienced Prima Cura Training instructors. Groups are kept flexible for this course, with small-group rotation for the practical device work, to protect the quality of hands-on learning.

Our associate network means we can deliver across England. You can meet the team on our Associates page.

FAQs

Further Reading

• What Benedict’s Law Requires, and Why It Goes Far Beyond the EpiPen: What the new DfE guidance requires
• Would You Know Anaphylaxis if You Saw It? Recognising the signs and acting fast
• The 2025 UK First Aid Guidelines Changes Explained: What’s new in CPR and anaphylaxis response

Related Courses

• Anaphylaxis Awareness
• Emergency First Aid for Schools
• Emergency Paediatric First Aid
• Paediatric First Aid (2-Day)
• Basic Life Support and AED Training

Book or Enquire

Book your training or request a quote

Tell us your team size and your sector. We’ll come back with a quote, the right advice on qualification level, and a straight answer on whether this is the best course for your team.

We respond to all enquiries within one working day.

Our Commitment to Quality and Compliance

At Prima Cura Training, all courses reflect current UK guidance and best practice. All trainers are experienced professionals with relevant qualifications and ongoing CPD. Because many of the organisations we support work with vulnerable individuals, all trainers hold Enhanced DBS checks.

This course is reviewed against updates from the Department for Education, the MHRA, and current UK legislation, including the Children and Families Act 2014, as amended by the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026, and the DfE’s Allergy Safety in Schools statutory guidance.

You can read more on our Quality Assurance and Compliance page.

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Stephanie Austin, Owner and Lead Trainer, Prima Cura Training | 25+ years in health and social care | 15+ years as a trainer | Last reviewed: July 2026 | Next review: January 2027

This page is for general guidance only and reflects the Department for Education’s Allergy Safety in Schools statutory guidance and current UK legislation at the date of review. It does not constitute legal or clinical advice. Schools remain legally responsible for developing and publishing their own allergy safety policy, arranging appropriate Individual Healthcare Plans, and ensuring their arrangements comply with the Children and Families Act 2014 as amended by the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026. Advice on whether EURneffy or an adrenaline auto-injector is appropriate for a specific individual should always come from a GP or allergy specialist, not from this training.

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