Benedict Blythe Foundation allergy law change plea

Benedict Blythe was just five when he sadly suffered the reaction while at Barnack School near Peterborough in 2021.

Helen Blythe established the Benedict Blythe Foundation in memory of her son following an outpouring of support she received when posting news of the tragedy on social media. 

She posted a picture of Benedict on X, formerly known as Twitter, and said: “This is my son, Benedict. He died yesterday, suddenly, aged 5.”

The post amassed 700,000 likes and 30,000 messages, with hundreds of parents reaching out to share similar experiences. 

Helen Blythe said allergy management in schools has become a postcode lottery. (Image: Lucy Glen)

She said: "Off the back of the post we started to get messages from families who popped up on Twitter and Facebook to share their own experiences. 

"While people were sharing these stories with us because they probably knew we would understand, it came to a point where we knew we had an opportunity to make real change."

Helen explains that since establishing the Foundation, parents from across the country have been in contact to describe instances of children with food allergies being put at risk by schools. 

According to research carried out by the Benedict Blythe Foundation in partnership with The Institute of Clever Stuff, allergy management varies across schools. 

It revealed that half of the 2,198 schools analysed did not have life-saving medication on site and close to a quarter did not provide training on allergy symptoms and what to do in an emergency.

It follows a national survey of 244 teachers carried out in 2023 which found staff lack clear allergy information about pupils in their care, receive inadequate training, and rely on their own initiative to adopt inclusive practice.

Helen said: "It's a real postcode lottery; you can have a school that is on top of its game in terms of allergy management but you can have schools that have none of the recommended safeguards in place. 

"And it really is just the luck of the draw where your child ends up, which means that parents are torn between  whether to send their child to an allergy-safe school or the school that feels appropriate for their child's character and education.

"We also seem to focus a lot on an allergic reaction in the context of near misses, as if it's by luck that a child didn't end up having an allergic reaction or didn't end up putting something in their mouth."

She added: "Our research found that there were lower rates of schools recording near misses, and of those that were recording them, an incredibly high number of schools were logging zero cases of near misses, which just doesn't tally with the countless anecdotes from parents."

In August 2023, the Benedict Blythe Foundation published a petition calling for mandatory allergy policies and training. (Image: Helen Blythe)

Helen said current legislation makes only "modest requests" of schools and falls below recommended good practice outlined by clinicians, allergy charities and coroners. 

In 2023, the Foundation launched its #protectpupilswithallergies campaign calling on the government to implement mandatory measures to protect children with allergies. 

It also published a petition which reached 10,000 signatures in two weeks calling for the measures to be implemented. 

Helen added: "Measures need to be put in place to keep children with allergies in England safe. What is in place now is not good enough. Pupils and their families deserve better.

"As well as covering the bare basics, there are five things we are asking for: an allergy policy in every school, an individual healthcare plan for every child with an allergy.

"We're also calling for the provision of spare autoinjector pens in every school alongside training in allergy awareness and management for all school staff as well as a mechanism for consistently reporting allergic reactions and near misses so that we can identify what additional support schools might need."