Allergy safety and contractors: what academies and maintained schools need to action

The legal framework

Section 100 of the Children and Families Act 2014 requires academy trusts, maintained schools and pupil referral units to make arrangements to support pupils with medical conditions. This framework has been strengthened by the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026, including specific requirements concerning allergy safety policies.

Regard should also be had to the Department for Education’s statutory guidance, Allergy safety in schools. This means that trusts and schools should follow the guidance unless there is a clear and justifiable reason to depart from it.

The purpose of the guidance is to make schools safer for pupils with allergies by ensuring that schools can minimise the risk of exposure to allergens, recognise allergic reactions and respond effectively to anaphylaxis.

Which contractors should receive allergy training?

The guidance states that all staff present when pupils are scheduled to be on site should receive allergy awareness training at least annually. It expressly includes permanent and temporary staff, supply teachers, peripatetic staff, agency workers, regular volunteers, catering staff and those supervising breakfast or after-school clubs.

However, it is not intended to include contractors carrying out work with no pupil-facing role, such as builders, electricians and other ad hoc maintenance personnel.

Schools should therefore take a proportionate, risk-based approach informed by a contractor's role. A peripatetic teacher, counsellor, sports coach or contracted SEN support worker who works directly with pupils should ordinarily be treated in the same way as an employed member of staff for allergy training purposes. The same is likely to apply to contractors supervising pupils during wraparound care or extracurricular activities.

Catering contractors, in particular, will require appropriate training, and contracts with catering providers should clearly allocate responsibility for allergen management, staff training, information sharing and incident reporting.

By contrast, an electrician completing a one-off repair in an area segregated from pupils is unlikely to require full allergy awareness training. Nevertheless, it may be prudent to give them basic information about emergency procedures and how to obtain immediate assistance.

The important questions to consider are:

• What functions does the contractor perform?

• Do they work directly with or supervise pupils?

• Could they be the person required to respond if a pupil experiences an allergic reaction?

• Do they handle food or control an environment in which allergens may be present?
  
  

Schools should not rely solely on the label attached to the relationship. Two people described as “contractors” may present very different risks depending on the work they undertake.

What should the training cover?

The statutory guidance expects allergy awareness and emergency response training to cover matters including:

• The nature of allergies and the risks they pose;

• Recognition of allergic reactions and anaphylaxis;

• How to respond in an emergency, including calling the emergency services;

• How to locate and administer emergency medication, including an adrenaline device;

• How to use an Allergy or Asthma Action Plan;

• The school’s allergy safety policy;

• Reducing the risk of exposure to known allergens; and

• Reporting allergic reactions, serious incidents and near misses.

A more detailed list of what the training should cover can be found at pages 25-26 of the Allergy safety in schools statutory guidance.

Contractors responsible for particular pupils may also need relevant information from an Individual Healthcare Plan or Allergy Action Plan. This information should be limited to what the contractor needs to know and shared in accordance with the school’s data protection arrangements.

Must the school provide the training itself?

The guidance does not state that allergy awareness training must be delivered by the school or by a particular provider. It may therefore be reasonable to accept training completed elsewhere, including training arranged by the contractor or their employer.

However, the school should satisfy itself that the training is suitable.

The training should also be sufficiently current. The guidance anticipates that allergy awareness training will be provided at least annually.

Even where externally provided training is accepted, the contractor will still need a school-specific induction as to local arrangements for example, the location of adrenaline devices.

The Government also intends to introduce regulations imposing more specific allergy safety requirements, including training requirements. Trusts and schools should therefore keep this area under review.

Remember contractors’ own allergies

The guidance also expects schools to consider how staff and visitors with allergies will be identified and supported. This can include contractors, particularly those working regularly on site or likely to be provided with food.

Contractor onboarding should therefore provide an appropriate opportunity for individuals to disclose any allergy the school needs to know about. The school should consider relevant allergen risks, emergency medication and any appropriate adjustments, while ensuring that health information is handled confidentially.

Liability and insurance

Using a contractor does not necessarily remove the school’s responsibility for pupil safety. In Woodland v Essex County Council, the Supreme Court held that a school may owe pupils a non-delegable duty of care where it entrusts an integral educational or supervisory function to a third party contractors.

The school's insurance and/or the Risk Protection Arrangement may respond where the trust/ the school itself becomes legally liable for an incident involving a contractor, but does not insure contractors. Trusts/ schools should therefore check contractors’ insurance and ensure that contracts allocate responsibilities appropriately.

Practical steps for academy trusts and maintained schools

They should:

• identify the contractors and self-employed individuals working across their schools;

• Assess their roles, pupil contact and supervisory responsibilities;

• Require suitable training for those in pupil-facing roles;

• Verify and record any training completed externally;

• Provide a school-specific allergy safety induction;

• Include allergy safety obligations in contracts and service specifications;

• Ensure relevant contractors can access necessary emergency information and medication;

• Include contractors in incident and near-miss reporting arrangements; and

• Review arrangements annually and following any incident or near miss.
  

If you would like further advice or support in reviewing your school’s allergy safety arrangements or managing the responsibilities of contractors, please get in touch with Natalie Wargent in our Regulatory, Risk and Resolution team.