Is this admission fraud? AIBU to report it?

Apologies, I was not meaning to draw a false moral equivalence between fraud and violence, any more than it is appropriate to create a false moral equivalence between the OP’s purchase of a house and short term renting of a second address of convenience (only one of those is fraud).

I was just making a point that there is a continuum of illegal behaviour, from ‘minor’ to ‘major’, and our personal ‘reporting thresholds’ are different, for a host of reasons - and a supplementary point that wherever one lies in that spectrum, there can be downsides to not reporting as well as to reporting.

She's played the system yes, but so have you, by buying in the catchment? Both are buying a place at the grammar, in a way. If neither of you had the money to live in the area, your kids would not be going. She's just paid twice.

Sorry sorry I agree. Got my wires crossed x

She is clearly spiteful and jealous of her neighbour and used information she may have manipulated out of a small child to report the parents for trying to do their best for their child. She's just jealous another parent out-played her.
Buying a house as close as possible to the school is also gaming the system.
Hypocrite to boot.

.

Oh please, don't compare this to reporting child abuse/ violence .

This is more like all the Curtain twitchers in Covid who went out of their way to report anyone they perceived to be breaking "the Rules".

in this case reporting their friend after manipulating a child in their care into sharing personal info they had no business inquiring into.

It really is.

Great post @cantkeepawayforever

Exactly.

There will be one of three outcomes:

• The LA will decide it is fraud, and the permanent address will fall out of the effective catchment, so the child will not get a place (and a child who has applied for a place honestly will get it)
• The LA will decide it is fraud but the permanent address will be in the effective catchment, so the child will get a place.
• The LA will decide it is not fraud, and the child will get a place.

Whichever happens is independent of the OP’s child, who will get a place if their house is in catchment.

Despite those throwing around ‘moral equivalence’ of purchasing / renting a sole home with an eye to schools vs renting a short term second home for the specific purpose of school admissions, only one of these is fraud.

All of us have a point in the ‘continuum of concerns or potentially illegal behaviour’ when we would report it to the authorities. We know from eg child abuse cases; people found in houses long after their death that many people don’t report when they perhaps should, and the cry us then ‘why did nobody tell anyone?’ As it happens, the OP’s point in that continuum is ‘where there is a reasonable suspicion of the crime of fraud’. Others may have different points eg only theft, or only GBH, or only violent offences towards someone they know personally. It’s ok to have different ‘thresholds for reporting’ - the OP, in common with many other posters, would report fraud, and that’s ok.

It is fraud.

Honestly, I’ve got bigger problems. And actually, I wouldn’t know, because beyond asking if my 11 year olds friends would like anything to eat or drink, I don’t go questioning them about their lives.

I keep to my own lane and don’t go digging. My life is far more peaceful that way.

Well, the council will decide, and if the council agree, then that's cool.

Jealousy is the strongest human emotion.

It is NOT fraud they rent the property

LOL
High horse#
They are doing the best for their kid
It is not a big deal in the great scheme of life

O do wonder how many people would be so blase about this if it was their own child who hadn't got a school place then found out someone committed fraud. Would they just shrug it off then, think its all fair?

Anyway... the council will now decide whether it is fraud or not. Same as verifying all the other addresses.

ok 💁🏼‍♀️

That's an early life lesson for the boy, avoid any discussions with your friends Mum in future.

Yep. It’s almost like two mothers wanted to try and do the best by their children and went about it in different ways.

I can’t get over telling the school like a little perfect prefect. Let alone questioning the child about it. I’d have kept to my own business. If it’s any consolation, I used to work in a school office and we’d sometimes get parents calling about similar things (it was a popular but heavily over subscribed school), and honestly, we’d think they were absolute dicks for doing it. Some of them would be so gleeful about it as well.

It’s done now though, and obviously the OP feels that she’s done the right thing, even if it’s something I wouldn’t have done.

Exactly! The hypocrisy is astounding 😲

Jealously and spitefulness is a nasty trait, but there’s a special breed of arsehole that would direct it towards a child. I’d just feel pity that she was so bitter.

As I said - pretty likely

As I also said above - engaging with you is pointless - I would prefer you not to quote me again, but if you do, I shan’t respond.

well people have different moral standards not they. This sort of behaviour definitely doesn't fit mine.

If that were true there'd be no need for OP to involve herself in her friends housing arrangements.

It’s really not