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?

I so thoroughly disagree with "the system" that I wouldn't report. So I voted YABU. But I don't really think it's unreasonable to report, I just wouldn't do it.

Be funny if they moved back into the house untill they got the school place tho then what would you do?

@bananabuddy3 My manager reported fraudulent, renting isn’t fraudulent (just a case of morals) so no point in reporting that.

In a lot of places renting is considered fraudulent if you keep your current home. LAs have tightened up a lot because of people doing just as you state.

I think you should never report anyone for anything if you aren't willing to tell them you did to their face.

What a naiive way of thinking @Macademiamum. Surely you realise this wouldn't be possible or safe in many situations?

No the hypocrisy from the fact she calls the OP a horrible person

I agree with your actions. I'd think the same if it was a property that someone was living in all year around, as opposed to yet another one helping keep someone from owning their own home.

I know someone who did this, they just loved their child like everyone else who wanted that school for their own. I couldn’t get worked up about it.

In desirable areas they can come round and check whose there so if that happens theyre fucked

if all they ask for though is some bills they can probably produce those as they still own it

You're misconstruing what I said @Nocutenamesleft

If I reported an abuser it would be to the police right? I wouldn't be reporting the victim to their abuser, I would be reporting the abuser to the police. In that circumstance I would only do so if I was willing to go to court (which I would be).
I have reported child abuse and the child abuser knew I reported them. So yes I wouldn't mind that person knowing.

@Bakewelltart987

Be funny if they moved back into the house untill they got the school place tho then what would you do?

That wouldn't necessarily work, due to councils being well aware of most admissions frauds. They would need to ensure that they registered with a local doctor, that that address was on child benefit records, and that it is also the address in other records such as the DVLA, banks, tax authorities etc.

@QueenBee70 we don’t know yet whether mine will or won’t get a place. We’re about the same distance from the school as one another (well, we were, before they fucked off down the road). I understand, per PP, that the birth rate is low this year, but last year this school bucked the trend.

So becuase they have moved down the road to a ‘cheaper area’ their child shouldn’t be entitled to a decent education?

No, that’s not right. Because they have moved down the road to a cheaper area and therefore likely out of this school’s catchment, their child ought to go to a school to which they can be admitted from their actual address. Is that controversial? (And, fwiw, most of the local schools are fine - but as often happens there’s a favourite.)

This area is expensive. If they wanted to lawfully apply for a place they could have gritted their teeth and stayed in a too-small flat another year(ish), applied, and then quite legally moved away but kept their place.

@Clarinet1

No but the point was making was that it should not be the fact that one’s own child is going to bear the brunt of the fraud that is the deciding factor on whether to report or not.

If I heard on the grapevine about something similar I wouldn't do anything because I don't know shit. If a friend disclosed something to me then I wouldn't report them unless it involved actual harm i.e. abuse or other safeguarding matter. Because they are my friend and my loyalty is with them. If my friend said they shoplifted something I would not be ringing up the police. Where do you draw the line with shopping in your friends for various misdeeds, because at the end of the day, people doing those things still impact our society? However if my child could be affected by a scenario, my loyalty with my child wins over loyalty with my friend.

I can't imagine there's many scenarios in which you would be equipped with the right information from someone who isn't a friend to make an accurate report, because why would a non-friend approach you saying for example they committed admissions fraud and explained how they did it (basically offering you the evidence for free)?

So you don't operate your friendships with same discretion? Interesting, but that's not the norm.

@IdentifyingAsAPrincess

I know someone who did this, they just loved their child like everyone else who wanted that school for their own. I couldn’t get worked up about it.

Even if it meant that an equally loved child was done out of a place to which s/he was rightfully entitled?

So in this situation if I decided to report this to the council I would not be nice to the persons face. I would tell them I disagreed with what they had done and had gone to the council about it.
As it is, this wouldn't meet the threshold for me personally to report. For me it would have to involve somebody vulnerable at risk of harm, abuse or neglect. Not school admissions

That's assuming the "someone else's child" with a "rightfully deserved place" doesn't also have parents who are committing fraud.

Whether there is one set of parents committing fraud or two, it remains the case that the child/ren of non-fraudulent parents are being deprived of the place/places that they are entitled to by law - unless it is a very unpopular school, which obviously is highly unlikely in this scenario.

I can’t stand the line “get a life” what does that actually mean ? You only have a life if you let people commit fraud ? We all have a life don’t we ?

I think it's a fair point that they did have a choice - they could have stayed in their too-small flat until places were allocated.

Lots of people delay moving until school places have been allocated. I know that's a pita for other people for lots of reasons, but it's not fraudulent.

The GP parents of a friend of my DD did this. They rented a house down the road from our 'outstanding' school and used that address when in reality they lived in the next town. DD's best friend, who lived in the same town as us and the school, didn't get in and had to travel a few miles out of town every day.

Horrible people, looked down on everyone. I often wished I'd reported them.

That's a tough one. Morally it's wrong and as you say this could put your family at a potential disadvantage but they are doing what they feel is right to give their child the best advantage. I can see both points.

@cherryonthecakes

If kids have 50/50 cars, they usually live quite close and most often the parents are decent at coparenting. I doubt the admissions process is being skewed by this small group.

I've known people even buy a property in the right catchment then rent it out as soon as placements are announced, though usually for secondary

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.

I don't think you are unreasonable for reporting it but you seen very unpleasant in the way you are here gloating about it. You don't want to know if people think YABU, you just want to feel smug about being able to get one over on someone who thinks you are their friend.

How did you find out?

It will teach the parents never to confide personal stuff to those in their 'social circle'.

I certainly wouldn't have reported them. Presumably there is more to being admitted to the school than where a child lives. Let us know if your child is admitted.

@macademiamum

I think you need to brush up on safeguarding because informing an abuser you are going to report them could put the victim/s at risk of further harm or jeopardise the investigation.

For example, if you told a man you were reporting him for abusing his wife, he could then murder her and the kids in a fit of rage? I know this might seem an extreme example but it's real and it happens so why would you take any risks?

What a bizarre moral high ground to stand on when it could cost lives.

(Obviously not costing lives in school admissions fraud, but you say you have this blanket rule).