Reporting someone for admissions fraud

[LaTristesseDureraEntre]

NC for this.

I've reported someone for admissions fraud/ giving a false address. Someone in my social circle. They've used their old home address for school applications, but that home is now a holiday let (they still own it) and they've moved down the road to a cheaper area. I sent the LA some info and will let them draw their own conclusions. I did it partly because it affects me/my family (in the obvious way - child in the same school year, tight catchment for desirable school). But tbh I find their behaviour awful so I imagine I'd have been minded to do it anyway.

AIBU? I know on MN the normal response is "keep your beak out" but, really, would you have kept quiet?

And no, before anyone starts, no “Ooh maybe child has special needs / husband is polygamous / there’s a special underground tunnel linking the two properties so that they are in fact one”. Just pure old address fakery. WIBU?

Being nosey - any update OP?

When my son started school a few years ago, we moved house after we had applied for the school place.
It didn't even cross my mind to inform the admissions team we had moved and we got a place... would you have switched on me.

@Mybumlooksbig

When my son started school a few years ago, we moved house after we had applied for the school place. It didn't even cross my mind to inform the admissions team we had moved and we got a place... would you have switched on me.

I'd be surprised if that was breaking any rules though (don't know where you are)? Why do you think you have to inform the admissions team if you legitimately change address after you have a place awarded? That's not what the OP is about.

Being nosey - any update OP?

@TronDeReplay they didn’t get in.

After sending an email to the admissions team I had a reply asking if I knew the family’s new address, which I did. I shared it with them. That’s the last I heard there. Obviously yesterday and today all the local chat was about which kids are going where, and hers hasn’t been allocated the school in question.

We got in, but it looks like once again the catchment was tiny.

Thanks for update! Looks like they took you seriously then, or at least enough to raise it with the applicant. Glad you got in.

People go to great lengths to get into one of the schools in my area. I know someone who rented a house half a mile down the road from their house and moved there for 6 months before moving back again - which I think is actually within the rules.
Someone else who moved their child in with a relative who lives closer to the school.
I think it's reasonable to expect that the rules will be kept to although I have to say that I don't think it's reasonable that each school can set different priorities for who it chooses to admit. And sometimes the rules are controversial like when siblings out of catchment are given preference over in catchment children at secondary school age.

Mainly though we need to improve the duff schools so that all schools are good.

@Snog That would, I believe, not be within the rules. It is the place where you are residing and just renting a place for 6 months and move back is an underhand tactic and Council's, if they have the time/heads, will look into this - especially when schools are oversubscribed. If they discover admissions fraud, the place might be withdrawn.

Glad you got the school you wanted. I would have absolutely done the same. It’s a huge level of entitlement and fuck everyone else attitude to lie on school admission forms.

In this case it was her business as it affected her child.

It would have been unreasonable to snitch if it hadn't been the same year group as her child, though.

Someone else who moved their child in with a relative who lives closer to the school

Someone did it in our road. But they actually moved in with grandparents for a while including after the kids started at the school. So while a bit dodgy it was within the rules I think. You can't get much closer to the local schools than from our road.

(ie someone moved in with grandparents who lived in our road near the school)

know someone who rented a house half a mile down the road from their house and moved there for 6 months before moving back again - which I think is actually within the rules.

We did something similar, and on a careful reading of the documents we signed it was not fraud (in our case at least, I guess it depends on the education authority).

Glad she didn't get in.

I have a DC going to secondary in September. There are two excellent schools that I could probably hit with a brick from my house. We live in a market town with lots of surrounding villages.

When I researched the admissions criteria, I discovered that urban catchment was sixth on the list.

It went:
1: EHCP/SEND
2: Looked after children
3: Children of staff
4: Siblings
5: Children of village schools
6: Children of urban schools in catchment
7: Everyone else

It felt so wrong that children at schools 6 miles away were being given priority over those that live and go to school locally, as those villages could be served by secondaries in other towns too. However, ours are usually oversubscribed as they are excellent.

Just to add that DC got our first choice school, so we're really pleased, but it did make the application process stressful.

Interesting - do you know the reasoning behind giving children from more distant village schools priority over those from nearby urban schools?

Petrol prices might help people realise how insane their daily school trips are.
Out of term times roads are noticeable quieter.

Should schools have to consider the carbon footprint of the school journeys they create?

Yes that's such a good point

It's not just people driving their kids to school though - there will be people who take their annual leave from work at the school holidays, to look after the kids.

This did make me laugh 😂
However, my neighbours actually did do this years ago, they had the address of a friend they used.
Their DC got in.
My DC didn’t.
I was annoyed- They later moved to a lovely house further out of area - but it didn’t matter as their DC was already in.

I didn’t tell on them.
But they were pleased with themselves ( Both teachers) .

It's not helping here. From my house you can see the school we are that close. My neighbour still drives her discovery to the school in the morning and afternoon to pick her kid up. Loads of parents here do the same thing. They don't care. I'd be embarrassed to be that lazy.

@oakleaffy I very much doubt that I would have kept quiet in such circumstances. While I understand the motivation behind it all, I think/feel and know that this is blatantly admission fraud. Shame that the LA did not find out.

They did not even live there and only used the address for the sole purpose of getting in at the expense of others. I bet they were pleased with themselves...

Well done. I reported someone in the past for benefit fraud, having told them I was doing it. Got all sorts of push back for doing it, but I knew deep down that it was the right thing to do. £10-15,000 was what their had wrongly claimed, lying to the DWP by implicating me, the CF'rs!

I know someone who did this. Similar circumstances to the OP. Didn’t get in and currently without a school place at all. It’s fraud plain and simple if the council is interested in your primary address.

I can’t imagine anyone would do this and not realise they were committing fraud. So you do it thinking, yes, I’m willing to break the law to benefit my kid over someone else’s. Awful.