School catering company asking for proof of my kids allergies before they are allowed school dinners.

[CovidStoleTheRainbow]

Background - my child is anaphylactic to dairy, egg, banana and nuts.
A less severe allergy to wheat, soya, shell fish.

He's entitled to free school meals for a couple of months and we figured he could have jacket potato.

School said not til we filled in a form.
The Chartwells form said not til we have given proof of allergies.
I thought they were joking so I filled in the form but didn't send 'proof'.
School asked for proof, I asked school to photo copy my child's anaphylaxis care plan and send them that.

Got a letter today from Chartwells, saying thanks for the proof of the foods he's severely allergic to, but now prove he's allergic to soya, wheat and shell fish.

I'm a bit 'what the fuck?!' for two reasons.

First of all - proof?! Why? Just allow his limited diet and let him eat a fricking hot spud.

Second of all, the waiting list for the allergy clinic in my area is 2 years before coronavirus issues and it's a fight to get on the list at all so there's kids out there with little to no proof they have allergies or intolerances to food, and many of them will be from families in poverty well in need of free school meals.

Yes I get there will be people who randomly not wanting their kid to eat gluten but with allergies on the rise in the way that they are, they will be the absolute lowest common denominator.

wow sorry 4 dreadful typo i did mean 'outlining' not the nonsense which appeared

Proof is essential for safeguarding. The school has a duty of care to all children, those that are actually allergic, those who's parents say they're allergic but they just don't like something and potentially parents forcing their children to have limited diets for reasons only known to them. It's rare but that's why the school asks for proof

I disagree.

Mainly because I've had to deal with kids whose lips are visibly swelling up by the second and coughing, there's nothing on record, and when I've got through to the parent on the phone, the dozy cunt on the other end has gone 'Oh, yeah. They're allergic to prawns'. I've then asked the kid (colleague on the phone to 999 at the same time) and they've said 'I didn't have prawns. I had the seafood sandwich'.

Once the paramedics have done their thing, we've then asked the parents to complete the food form, the allergy care plan, the adrenaline auto injector protocol and supply two pens, plus inhaler, spacer and any antihistamines - and they've returned the forms blank with a note saying 'No nuts'.

So we told the caterers and they quite rightly refused to feed the child at all, the parents were told to provide a packed lunch and this would only change if they told us exactly what their allergies were - we certainly wouldn't wait for medical proof on top of that, as long as the gormless fuckers actually told us what the kid was likely to die from, that would be good enough. Would have been nice if they'd told the kid as well, too.

The local school caterer tried to do this a few years ago for my dd1, ( wanted a Dr's note)

I advised them strongly that I would not be wasting ours GP's time, (did1 has intolerance not anaphylaxis) , as a parent and a nurse I was more than able to make decisions for my dd. If they wished to pay for a GP consultation I would be happy to attend.

Didn't hear anything further!

Presumably Chartwell doesn't demand proof that a child is vegan or vegetarian, or that they belong to a religion which forbids certain foods? How does that work?

They have a vegetarian option as standard and this covers most religions (though their meat is already halal). They buy in kosher ready meals for Jewish children.

They can, and do, refuse to cater for vegan children unless for religious need (jaines are the only religion I know of where veganism is very widely practiced though and there aren't many in the UK).

Sounds standard. Is your son under the care of a dietitian? Any correspondence from them with mention his allergies and this should be sufficient.

The post by @MitziK just reminded me of something. I went to a very uppity boarding school for a while, and, on a Friday we all had take out. We had a British Born Chinese Girl in our house who ordered the Satay Something Or Other - someone who had grown up in China their entire lives until 14.

Someone who also had anaphylaxis to peanuts. She had no idea that satay sauce was made from peanuts and no one had taught her to read/ask about ingredients in meals.

I know a parent who told the school that her son had an egg allergy.
He didn't and the mother admitted it.
She just didn't trust the school to cook eggs properly

This is why you're having to jump through hoops Op.
Some parents are knobs.

This happened to me!! I just wrote the Head an email listing his allergies and it was all sorted.

@Dilemmmmma

It's costs them more to cater for your son. So they want to be certain that they do NEED to (rather than you being fussy) before they agree to impact their margins.

Yep, it's that shitty.

A religious or ethical choice is not going to be life threatening if not followed.

Our caterers have to have a letter from a medical professional confirming the allergy. The extra costs involved in avoiding allergens are not insignificant. Parents DO lie about allergies. Before the current rules were brought in we have situations where, say, rather than saying “Janet doesn’t like cheese” they will say “Janet is allergic to dairy”. Janet then gets upset when told she cannot have the ice cream for dessert and Mum admits that she was lying rather than just saying telling the truth. We don’t force children to eat things they don’t like but if they claim an allergy the food has to be prepared separately and sometimes even offsite.

How does that safeguard my welfare?

A jacket potato everyday is not a balanced diet. That isnt safeguarding a child's welfare either. I think its entirely resonable to expect evidence when people have to go to significant extra cost and expense to ensure a child is properly provided for

It is however a very serious question. What is to happen for those children?

If its serious they will have medical evidence of a reaction. I can provide evidence of DS being prescribed steroids and antihistamine on multiple occasions to an unidentified allergen for free by asking GP to print a history of v
Recent visits. If it was any more serious I would have ambulance notes and hospital discharge notes. If something is in anyway serious it leaves a paper trail.

Similarly DD's has recently had a crack down on school shoes. She wears specific shoes to help with a specific problem. However the last time she received treatment for this problem specifically was private and letter was too long ago to count. The NHS department that had treated her more recently for a related problem doesn't really cover that area. I was left with the unenviable choice of £200+ for reassessment and private letter, or trying to persuade the NHS department to try and talk to us during covid about something that isn't really their department. Sucks to have kids with medical needs.

I had a similar issue with dc1 in the end I asked my gp to write a letter he should have charged me but didn't as he said it was a ridiculous situation.
Could also try ringing your dietitian to ask them to write something up.

I think it's reasonable for them to ask for proof, and plus, if they've got that, you know there's an official record of them knowing exactly what they can and can't eat.

If there's no proof, you could just get parents saying their kids can't eat x or y when they just don't like it. Imagine if every parent did that.

They're happy to provide meals that your son can eat, but his meals will probably have to be made individually as his needs are quite particular, and they should ask for proof because believe it or not, some parents would actually BS about this kind of thing for various reasons.

they've returned the forms blank with a note saying 'No nuts'.

I'm damn glad your caterers refused to serve the kid. What if you were wrong, and it actually is a nut allergy. You example highlights why medical confirmation is essential

I don't understand, my dc's care plan includes all his allergies, severe to mild. Also the hospital care plan has the direct number to contact, by parents or by school. So, if some info is missing, it's quite easy to ask to correct it.
Also the gp should receives the letter from the consultant, so can't they provide you with the info if you can't get it from your dc's consultant?

Tbf, this is very standard thing that follow your child all the way to the end of school life.

This is totally ridiculous YANBU. What happened to common sense!

My son has an allergic - a certain food makes him sick. He may well have grown out of it but GP advice and common sense is we just avoid the food. In time we may get a referral but we know NHS resources are scarce on this area

We just ticked the box to let school know and we’ve had no issue whatsoever. Honestly this is awful!

Most schools ask for confirmation of any medical needs, allergies and medications. This falls under safeguarding.

One comparatively minor allergy is very different to 3 anaphylactic and 3 minor

For example Not all baked beans are gluten free, so depending on if the allergy is wheat or gluten, bean on jacket might not even be appropriate.

When your knocking out that many food stuffs, you need to be precise

They can, and do, refuse to cater for vegan children unless for religious need (jaines are the only religion I know of where veganism is very widely practiced though and there aren't many in the UK).

Chartwells do cater for Vegans in my area I think the reason no proof is required for Vegans or faith based diets is more to do with the fact that it's not a safety issue and the meal plan is a standard one for all vegans (or other faiths) not personalised as it is for allergies, however they do follow all the same special diet processes to ensure that the dc get the correct meal and no cross contamination occurs.

It's a short lived thing, but DS wanted to do it for a while

I'm confused - what does this mean please? Something about choosing the jacket potato or something else?

The school also needs to inform staff to monitor what other children bring in via lunch boxes and what food they cook is next to problem food.

RishiMcRichface to be fair they may do now. It's a while since I've had anything to do with them. I guess as it's got more popular they've had to bend.

@CovidStoleTheRainbow - if I were Chartwells and saw a list of serious allergies that long, I’d be shitting myself and not wanting to take any responsibility for your child’s food. There’s so much risk of accidental contamination there. You do realise school food has to be provided and prepared unbelievably cheaply, on absolutely minimal profit, and served up by people working on minimum wage? I therefore wonder if the requests for more detail are partly a delaying tactic and partly to assess quite how much in the absolute shit they might be in if they accidentally got some butter or a bit of bread mixed in with your child’s potato. Also wondering if they could be accused of causing malnutrition if all they offer your child each day is a hot potato (which is clearly what they think you are). Sorry!

They must cater for vegan children and those with religious needs. They can not choose to be selective.

My son was crazy allergic to peaches and apricots when he started school. It was so bad just the skin would set him off.
The reception teacher noticed one day he had a rash quickly spreading up his arms from being sat next to a child who had eaten peaches. Since then peaches and apricots are banned on school premises.
He has grown out of his allergy luckily, but the school are still super cautious, same as they are with nuts. No need to prove anything

@Moochiex

The post by *@MitziK* just reminded me of something. I went to a very uppity boarding school for a while, and, on a Friday we all had take out. We had a British Born Chinese Girl in our house who ordered the Satay Something Or Other - someone who had grown up in China their entire lives until 14.

Someone who also had anaphylaxis to peanuts. She had no idea that satay sauce was made from peanuts and no one had taught her to read/ask about ingredients in meals.

I think that could be because Satay means something cooked on a skewer, not the sauce that comes with it, which may or may not contain peanuts (and wouldn't have done in her home for obvious reasons), so it is our general shittiness at picking on a memorable word at the expense of the meaning that caused her the problem. Possibly the parents believed that the school would be in charge of the food and they were aware of her allergy, so they assumed she'd be safe, not knowing you'd order a take out.

No excuses or explanations other than being dumb fucks applied to the parents I dealt with. I'm just grateful that the ambulance arrived so quickly, as I didn't fancy the alternative much.