A short commencement instrument now sets the operative date for England’s new school allergy duty. The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 (Commencement No. 3) (England) Regulations 2026 bring section 34 into force on 1 September 2026. (legislationtracker.co.uk) The measure is procedural, but its effect is practical. Rather than creating a separate policy code, it activates the part of the 2026 Act that deals with allergy safety policy for pupils at schools, making the new requirements live in school governance and compliance work. (legislationtracker.co.uk)
Section 34 inserts new section 100A into the Children and Families Act 2014. That means the arrangements already required for pupils with medical conditions must include an allergy safety policy, defined in the Act as a policy for managing allergies affecting pupils, including those at risk of anaphylaxis. (legislation.gov.uk) The duties are specific. The appropriate authority must review the policy at least annually, revise it where needed, make the written policy known within the school and to parents, take yearly steps to draw it to pupils, parents and staff, and publish it on the school website. It must also have particular regard to statutory guidance on allergy management in schools. (legislation.gov.uk)
The Department for Education’s statutory guidance, published on 6 July 2026 and applying to England, is aimed at governing bodies of local-authority-maintained schools, management committees of pupil referral units, and proprietors of academies including free schools and alternative provision academies. The guidance says maintained nursery schools and 16 to 19 academies fall outside that core scope. (gov.uk) The statute reaches further in design. Section 34 also amends the Education Act 1996 and the Education and Skills Act 2008 so that corresponding allergy safety requirements can be secured for non-maintained special schools and independent educational institutions. However, the DfE guidance page states that allergy safety is not yet a statutory requirement for independent schools and non-local-authority-maintained special schools, and that ministers intend to introduce those requirements through the relevant regulatory standards. (legislation.gov.uk)
The supporting guidance matters because it is already in place before commencement. GOV.UK says it explains what schools must do to support pupils with allergies and includes practical material on creating and publishing a policy, putting allergy safety training in place for all staff, identifying children and young people who need individual healthcare plans, and learning from serious incidents and near misses. (gov.uk) The Department for Education has also published an allergy safety policy template and an individual healthcare plan template alongside the guidance. As a practical reading of the statute and the guidance package, this points to an implementation exercise rather than a website-only update: schools will need policy text, staff processes and pupil-specific arrangements to match. (gov.uk)
Section 34 does more than require a policy. It also inserts new section 100B, which gives the Secretary of State a continuing power to impose further duties in regulations on specified persons connected with allergy management in schools. (legislation.gov.uk) The Act lists the subjects those future regulations may cover, including medicinal products and medical devices, procedures for identifying and managing risks, training for teaching and non-teaching staff and caterers, and the recording and reporting of incidents. The power to make such regulations came into force when the Act was passed on 29 April 2026, while the core policy duty itself is being switched on for 1 September 2026. (legislation.gov.uk)
For school leaders, academy trusts and governing bodies, the final point is accountability. The maintained schools governance guide says that, from September 2026, schools must comply with the allergy duties by having a policy that is reviewed at least annually, publicised with staff and pupils, published on the website and aligned with statutory guidance. (gov.uk) For parents and pupils, the legal change should make expectations easier to test. From 1 September 2026, settings within scope are expected to have a visible allergy safety framework rather than ad hoc arrangements, with publication, review and guidance-based practice sitting at the centre of compliance. (gov.uk)