Is this admission fraud? AIBU to report it?

[grammarmom]

Here's the situation.

We live in a grammar school catchment area that gets smaller every year. When we bought our house several years ago, it was very comfortably within the catchment for an excellent local grammar (very high in the league tables), and oh boy was it reflected in the price. Now we're right on the boundary. Among the thirty or so houses around us, some children got in last year and some didn't, literally a difference of a few yards.

Another child on our street, who is in the same class as my DC, only just passed the 11+ (a few points above the pass threshold). We live on the same road, but they are about 50 yards further from the school gate. Based on last year's distances, my child would likely get a place while theirs wouldn't.

Over the weekend, during a sleepover, the child mentioned that her mother has now rented a house much closer to the school to secure a higher priority for admission. The tenancy was apparently signed one day before the cut-off date, making it "legal" for admission purposes. She still owns their original home, but the story being presented is that relatives who were previously "homeless" will now live there free of charge, and all bills and utilities have been transferred into those relatives' names (I strongly suspect that the mother will in fact pay these bills as those relatives are penniless).

She's even moved the children's belongings to the rented property and makes them spend nights there (they hate it). There's no doubt that once the school place is obtained, they will move right back.

This effectively pushes my child down the priority list and means they may now miss out.

Would this constitute admissions fraud? It feels incredibly unfair that someone with £40k to spare for rent can effectively buy their way into a top grammar school, especially when their child didn't perform particularly well in the exam (despite being tutored for hours every day).

Should I report this? I have no more detail apart from what this child told me (and they obviously weren't too sure about some aspects of it due to age).

Quite a few people are saying that it might be worth reporting the woman, in some areas it would be considered fraud.

Can you give any reason why OP could be considered to have committed fraud?

My parents didn't discuss things with me.

Your parents were wise. Saved you attending sleepovers and being pumped for information like a WWII PoW by an adult who wanted to drop your parents in the shit.

Name, rank and service number is the way to go.

The point is that - as prh47 says - the line where fraud starts is drawn between OP’s house purchase and her neighbour’s temporary rental of a second flat.

You can argue that both are ‘unfair’; but only one is fraud.

The sibling criteria is about helping families have one rather than multiple school runs and the practical side of not having an entirely different uniform to purchase.

Not all schools include siblings in their oversubscriotion criteria.

As a parent of three children currently at 3 different schools living in a rural area with almost non existent public transport, the sibling link is more about making things workable. My youngest had hoped to go to the same school as my eldest however the sibling criteria was dropped last year.

Rural areas are never close to any school, it's always a disadvantage.

You can argue that both are ‘unfair’; but only one is fraud.

It remains to be seen whether the council OP lives in would 1) class it as fraud and 2) take action accordingly. Would be interesting to see the outcome of any investigation.

OP seems to be building a case entirely on the word of a child she mined for information at a sleepover. Hopefully the investigators would be a little more thorough.

My understanding is that it is fraud everywhere but different councils vary in how active they are in terms of investigation.

The OP doesn’t have to judge it as fraud. She simply has to report the facts as she knows them, and leave the council to their investigation.

Did you mean to quote me? Your question doesn't have anything to do with my comment

Yet OP thought she'd resolved it by spending £££ buying her original house in the catchment area, no? It then turned out she's wasted her money by not buying a crappy house that's not 30mins travel away... Her friend has got past this issue by renting a crappy house that's next to the school.

Not all schools include siblings in their oversubscriotion criteria.

It would appear that OP's desired school does, as she was bemoaning the potential impact of her ex friend's conduct on sibling priority and what it would mean for her younger children.

I understand the rationale in some cases (eg, rural schools) for sibling priority, but this sort of unearned privilege will still play out very unfair for some/many children.

I think it's Glasgow Academy (very prestigious private school) who says bluntly on their website, we don't care how many generations of Cavendish-Spencers your family has sent to this school - if little Maximilian doesn't pass the entrance exam, they ain't getting in!"

@grammarmom says straight out the gate in her OP:

We live in a grammar school catchment area that gets smaller every year.

I think, knowing this, it was a seriously risky move buying a house in that area several years in advance.

The friend's actions, whether 'fraud' or not, make more sense to me and I wonder if, on some level, OP is kicking herself for not having done the same.

OP has not committed fraud. Her friend has, if the information is correct. By reporting it appropriately, the veracity of the information can be tested to see if fraud really has been committed.

While there may seem some ‘moral equivalence’ between buying a house with catchment in mind, and setting up a short-term rental with a cover story specifically for the period of school admission, the fact remains that the ‘fraud’ line is drawn between the two.

My advice to OP would be to report it and forget about it. Get rid of the ‘what if’s, and move on with life.

Apparently you can indeed not have everything in life OP, and if you'd bought a crappy house right next door to the much coveted school. Then your children would be likely to go there. Rather than the crappy comp down the road. However you'd have lost out on the nicer house...

To be fair you're bitching about a school that's half an hour travel away, which is a fair old distance in anyone's book. So did you genuinely think it'd remain within reach as apposed to the kids 5mins travel away?

Nobody knows if the friend has committed fraud unless we know the specifics of the schools acceptance. Both mothers seem particularly unpleasant in their conduct to be honest. And frankly their kids might turn out to be no better people in life either... Hopefully they'll be lesser twunts. But who knows 😅

Agree. I kind of admire her dedication to the cause.

I can't actually see what she's done wrong.

I wouldn't report this based on the fact that its not actual fraud.

Hope your child gets into a good school OP. Its extremely stressful.

The school won’t care. Mum’s rented the house and the bills are in her name. The children also stay there a few nights. In their eyes, she’s adhering to the rules 🤷‍♀️ You’re within the catchment area anyway so if it’s meant to be then your child will get in.

It is potential fraud - so there is nothing whatever to lose by reporting it.

If it is fraud, the investigation will prove it.

If it is not, the investigation will prove that it is not.

The OP doesn’t not have to be judge and jury - just a witness.

Ime of a ‘desirable’ school with its fair share of admissions gaming, the school and LA do care, and will investigate carefully. If no wrongdoing is found, the child gets and keeps their place. If wrongdoing is found, the child isn’t given, or loses, their place.

Being an immigrant doesn’t automatically insulate you from prejudice.

https://youtube.com/shorts/yJkk9YDJhYs?si=2WIuBtGsRNlMX85S

This Simpsons sketch covers the identification people's attitude.

It's not fraud if they are renting inside the catchment area. They can't have a blanket ban on renting and only allow admissions to home owners.

Wanted to add - the school I have experience of is a leafy comp, with house prices and rents rising closer and closer to the school. The victims of admissions fraud were children who had been living in cheaper housing, including social housing, on the fringes of the catchment all their lives. The head and LA were absolutely adamant that such children were not going to miss out in favour of those who could afford temporary addresses of convenience close to the school - some properties near the school that were making a killing through annual renting to parents committing admissions fraud simply had their addresses blacklisted, for example.

This makes my piss boil. This happened to my daughter being robbed of her grammar school place many years ago ! She was the only girl in her class that passed 11+ who didn’t get a place at local grammar school! Historically this had never happened before miso a real shock.
We ended up going to the ombudsman and one our case but not before the beginning of the school year. Turned out that 5 people had lied stretched the truth about their home circumstances! The damage it did to my daughter confidence and obviously the children who then lost their places were immeasurable.

It IS fraud if that renting is short term for admissions purposes and they still own a nearby house outside the catchment.

Many LAs, for example, will use a permanent house address, if it is still owned, not a rented address. The onus is on the applicant to prove that it us a genuine move eg across the country for a job or because the original house is uninhabitable under renovation.

Obviously there is no issue with a family renting a house as their only home.

It happens all the time, they played the game following the rules.