16th September 2026
Dear Colleagues,
Re: New School Allergy Guidance: Requests for Allergy Action Plans and Individual Healthcare Plans
We have received a number of enquiries from practices about the new statutory guidance on allergy safety in schools, particularly where schools and/or parents have asked practices to complete, sign or approve allergy-related documentation.
We recognise that these requests can place practices in a difficult position, particularly where responsibility for a school document is unclear or where the practice is being asked to confirm information it does not hold. Having reviewed the legislation, Department for Education guidance and associated clinical resources, we have set out below our current understanding and a practical approach for practices.
Individual Healthcare Plans (IHPs)
Where an Individual Healthcare Plan is required, the school is responsible for developing it with appropriate input from the pupil, their parent or carer, and relevant healthcare professionals. The school should also ensure that the plan is maintained and reviewed.
The statutory guidance is clear that an IHP is the school’s document. It records the arrangements the school will put in place to support the pupil within the educational setting, rather than serving as a clinical document.
Practices should therefore not routinely be asked to complete, approve or sign off an IHP on the school’s behalf.
Allergy Action Plans
The guidance says that children and young people with a known food or insect sting allergy should have an appropriate Allergy Action Plan issued by a healthcare professional. This is a clinical document intended to support the recognition and management of allergic reactions and anaphylaxis.
Importantly, the guidance does not identify the registered GP as the default clinician responsible for providing every plan, nor does it create a new contractual requirement for practices to undertake wholesale reviews of children with historical allergy diagnoses. The appropriate response will depend on the child’s circumstances, the information already available and which service is currently managing the allergy.
Depending on the circumstances, the most appropriate source of the plan or supporting clinical information may therefore be:
- The clinician or service currently managing the child’s allergy
- Paediatric or allergy specialist services
- Specialist nurses or community services
- General practice, where the practice holds sufficient information and it is clinically appropriate to provide advice or documentation
Practical approach for practices
We suggest that practices respond proportionately, using the information they already hold and their usual clinical judgement. The following principles may be helpful when considering individual requests:
- Schools should complete, maintain and own their IHPs, drawing on relevant clinical information where needed
- Existing clinical letters, action plans and other documentation should be used wherever possible, avoiding unnecessary duplication for families and practices
- Practices should not be expected to undertake population-level reviews solely because the guidance has changed
- A practice should not be asked to endorse or “rubber stamp” a document where it does not hold sufficient information to take clinical responsibility for its contents
- Where a request requires a new clinical assessment, specialist input or significant additional work, consideration should be given to which service is best placed to provide that support
- Any expectation that practices undertake substantial additional review or administrative activity would require an appropriately commissioned and funded pathway
Charging and contractual status
We appreciate that practices are also asking whether this work falls within NHS contractual responsibilities and whether a fee may be charged. The answer will depend on the nature of the particular request.
There is an important distinction between a request that forms part of a patient’s ongoing clinical care and a request to complete documentation for a third party. We would therefore be cautious about adopting a blanket position that all allergy-related requests are either automatically NHS work or automatically chargeable.
Practices are not required to assume responsibility for school documentation simply because it has been sent to them. Where a request genuinely relates to the child’s ongoing clinical management, however, the practice should consider it in the usual way, applying professional judgement and responding only to the extent supported by the information held.
Useful resources
The following resources may be useful when responding to requests or discussing responsibilities with schools and families:
Department for Education
- Allergy safety in schools (statutory guidance), including links to allergy safety policy and IHP templates
Clinical resources
Further guidance
We will continue to review the practical and contractual implications of the new guidance as experience develops. We are also preparing more detailed web-based guidance and template responses and will raise any wider policy or commissioning concerns through national LMC and GPC channels.
In the meantime, if your practice is receiving a significant volume of requests, or you are unsure how to respond in a particular case, please contact your LMC MD: Our Secretariat – Surrey and Sussex LMCs. We will be happy to advise and would also welcome examples that help us understand how the guidance is being applied locally.
Best wishes,
Dr Chrissie Clayton
Senior Medical Director