Do schools check that you're living at the address you put down?

[quote pralinee]@Soontobe60 it depends on the LA. In our area it's the schools that check, not the LA.[/quote]
No, it's the LA. Applications are always made through the LA and they will match council tax records.

We did as had moved within a year. But you shouldn't not do it because of being found out but because it's lying.

We have to provide our council tax number at the time of application.

We were once moving into a catchment area and got offered a place at the local oversubscribed school that was conditional upon us providing proof of address before September 1st. I was never so relieved as when we moved into that house in August and I could send a copy of the Completion statement to the school as evidence.

The headteacher of our local secondary was upfront that someone was hired each year to check addresses of applicants!

I’d probably stay in the close house for a term or 2 after he starts

If your primary is the catchment school then they won’t check. Secondaries often have wider catchments than primaries anyway so it wouldn’t matter.

Delay the move.

I've just had to send proof that ds lives here , never had to do it before

I’m finding these replies very strange. I have 3 children who between them have attended 4 primary and 1 secondary school, the only documents I’ve ever had to bring in are their birth certificates. I’ve never been asking to bring in a council tax or utility bill.

@Soontobe60 it depends on the LA. In our area it's the schools that check, not the LA.

If you are only moving 15 minutes closer to your husband's workplace and really want your DS to go to this particular school, it would seem best to just put off the move for a couple of years.

It's not about catchment area. If a school has a place then it has to offer it, regardless of the applicant's address. You could live in London and apply for a place in Carlisle if you wanted. You probably wouldn't though!

(Unless you were moving house, in which case you might. If the school in Carlisle had a place with no waiting list then it would have to offer. The offer could then be withdrawn if the pupil didn't turn up within a certain time frame.)

The school catchment area must be massive then?

Oh and no, it's not just oversubscribed schools who check (depending on the area), but they might be a bit more assiduous than undersubscribed schools. After all, if you don't have a full intake, then a place would have been offered regardless of address.

@Twiglets1 It's by no means a regular thing, but I might do it if I have reason to be suspicious. I had this a couple of years ago. Parent 'hadn't received' a couple of posted letters, and their address evidence was dodgy. I hand-delivered the next letter and knocked on the door - guess what, it was tenants living there. LA informed, place removed.

OP you're IMO looking at this the wrong way. You're talking about 'reducing your chance' of a place as if it's a victimless action. But the point is, if your true address is outside the distance cut off for that year, then you are fraudulently depriving another child of a place.

Why would you move such an insignificant distance away and risk jeopardising your dc school place?

15 mins closer to dh work means 15 mins further away for the dc to get to school every day, doesn't really make sense when I assume dh drives and the kids would have to walk/bus?

I’ve never been asked for proof of address for a school application. Is it mostly oversubscribed schools that do?

I’d just put the move on hold till after you’ve applied to school

Yes they do. Have done so for several years now because of people trying to play the system.

Before they started checking properly local kids could barely get into the local over subscribed schools. After checks were introduced they suddenly had an abundance of places.

When I applied for a place extra checks were done because I had alerted the council that I had to use a care of address whilst Royal mail investigated why I was no longer getting mail. Cheeky fuckers parents had used my addresses for a place, and had backed this up by doing a mail redirect. As well as the child not getting a place the parents were done for fraud, mail tampering and other charges.

When we applied for our place we had to input our council tax number. I guess so they can cross check?
But I do know of a family who did this and where pleased that their house rented quickly … it was because those parents wanted to get their own child into the school!
It flagged two different names children at same address - they crossed checked as it could have been a step family situation. Turned out they only rented the house to get their child in said school and she had only rented it out so she could get her child into the school (she intended to sale the house once child in school) I can’t remember the outcome! But all very embarrassing for both families!

Yes, they do. Two siblings were removed from a local primary school a couple of years ago for using a grandmother's address.