School place fraud?

[Whattodo3]

I started this WWYD but was advised to move it over here.

My friend lives in a rented property and has done so for years. The Ll has decided they want to move back this summer and her children therefore need school places for this September.

The LL has applied using the address she's moving back to over the summer but at the date of the application she didn't live there.

The LL had broken the rules. School places are really tight in the town especially for the Outstanding Schools which using the future address the LL will get.

Do I report the LL?

I think you have done the right thing. The LA can investigate. Don't like the comments that the LL is a "cheat". She will be living in the house and to me it is a hazard of timing vs trying to defraud others of a school place. It's not the same as renting in catchment in a non-genuine manner.

Well done whatodo. Leave it to LEA to decide if its wrong. Everyone reported stops another potential fraud and its fairer for everyone else

It is out of your hands now. You can forget about it. If you hadn't done anything about it, you would have spent the next 6 months feeling aggrieved about it.
Will be interesting to see where the LLs children end up going.

Katie - have you spoken to MNHQ? Media requests have their own section.

Hi MrsCakes, Yes I've sent an email to the press department, thanks.

You might any to read the Talk Guidelines too Katie :)

I think these things should be reported. It seems (from a few other threads where this came up, and where people very familiar with the process posted) that there is little or no enforcement. I also live on the edge for a very popular school, and we would have had a place in the few years before we applied, but we didn't in our year. I have heard through the grapevine of others further from us who were admitted, but I don't know enough to have informed the LA. And I didn't know it early enough.
Many parents won't know the relevant information to report these things, and LAs should be doing more to prevent this. Ideas include - don't use council tax; it is much, much cheaper to pay someone else's council tax than pay for private schools, or move house to within a desirable catchment. Same with child benefit - totally easy to change the address on it, and I think it can be paid by direct debit. Even if you couldn't receive it (if the address was wrong), its loss is trivial compared to moving or private schools. Use utility and credit card bills, online grocery deliveries, home visits (but of course those are expensive). Use a 10p credit card payment online - those payments don't go through unless the address you put in matches the billing address on the credit card. Or maybe people could just change their address in their bank for 2 weeks and change it back again? hmm.
Or even better - fund schools well and pay teachers well to make all schools good enough that people don't feel the need to go to such extremes. Idealistic, I know...

It seems (from a few other threads where this came up, and where people very familiar with the process posted) that there is little or no enforcement

Some LAs are very hot on checking up and enforcing, others less so.

I don't know enough to have informed the LA. And I didn't know it early enough.

All you need is to be able to identify someone who you think has fiddled the system. And there is no deadline either. A place obtained through a false or misleading application can be taken away even after the child starts at the school.

fund schools well and pay teachers well to make all schools good enough

A recent study looking at school outcomes versus funding in the state sector concluded that there is no link between funding and outcomes.

But she is your friend? And you only suspect ,you are not sure? wow
I would never ever do that to someone that i consider a friend.

It's not the OP's friend - it's the landlady

Remind me to never piss my tenants off...

You want other children whom you know nothing about to enter the school, but keep your friend's child in waiting list. Is that really what you want?

No , that's not what the OP is saying or doing. Have you read the thread? She is talking about the landlord who owns the property but does not live there and so should not have used the address to gain a school place.

Op are you the tenant, narked at having to move? Or are you narked cos your kids didn't get that school?

Are you always a hundred per cent by the book? Thought not.

Holiday I am not the op but op's friend was legitimately living at the space on the date hence would have been able to use the address if she had a child to put into school. So no need for op to post as a fake friend.

As for always being 100% by the book.. I cant speak for others but when it comes to school application and other official stuff yes with all 4 of my children and the 11 applications for schools we had done (counting moves and 2ndary schools here) yes I have been 100% by the book and I would expect others to be so as well.

if I was op's friend I would be reporting the landlord. No matter if landlord owns the house of nor they used an address they were not entitled to use for this application.