Moving back to UK and applying for primary school place

[Figthefox]

We could potentially move back to the UK at the end of the summer or early 2019 and I’m wondering how you apply for a school place if you’re staying with family while you find a place to rent. Has anyone got experience if this? I briefly looked at applying for a place through the LA and they need a copy of a rental agreement which I don’t have yet!

As far as I know you can only apply when you have a permanent address. The furthest ahead you can do is half a term but you need proof of where you will be living. Email the local authority for advice.

We returned last autumn to a London borough. We had to produce proof of address including our names on a council tax statement, bank statement and utility bill. Plus we needed the kids child benefit numbers. Without all of this the council wouldn't accept our applications for school places.

It took the council 4 weeks to produce a council tax bill to prove to the same council that we were resident. It took 7 weeks for the kids child benefit numbers to be produced because they were not born in UK. After that it took then about 6 weeks to find places in a primary school. So the kids had a total of 3 months without a school.

If you can get your names on the council tax, bank statements and utility bill in advance of your arrival that would help.