What address can I use for DCs primary application?

[SecretMouse]

Very long story short... DC and I live with my mum in city A, 3.5 days a week (thurs-sun) as my office is based nearby. She looks after the kids on thurs and fri whilst I go into work. Meanwhile, DH works full time in city B (approx 200 miles away)and joins us in city A on a fri eve. We then all drive back to city B on a Sunday eve. I work from home mon-weds and the kids go to nursery. Then the kids and I drive back to city A on a weds eve/thurs morn so I can go into the office again.

This set up is exhausting so we all plan to move to city A permanently and DH will commute back to city B a couple of times a week.

I need to apply for primary schools by jan 2019. There’s no way we’ll have our own place in city A by then. So can I use my mums address on the application? At the point of application, we will live there approx. half the week anyway. We have bedrooms there. We don’t own or rent any other property in the area. But we’re not on the council tax and will still own our house in city B (but it’s 200 miles away).

I don’t want to obtain a place by ‘deception’ but I don’t think I’m doing that.

Will depend if you are asked to provide proof of address. Where are all your bills sent to? Where is the children's doctor / dentist? Do you own a house?

We do own the house in city B and that’s where our bills are sent. But we don’t intend to send the kids to school here. It’s obviously not commutable (200 miles away from the school) so my mum’s really is our only address in city A.

Doctors is currently in city B (where we own the house), but kids are also registered as temp patients in city A. I can swap this round.

Can you rent in city a? I would explain the situation to admissions to be honest

Get your Mum to pay the normal rate of Councill Tax - and pay one of her bills for her so have a bill in your name. Change your bank account and other not house based info to her address, Change the Dr and Dentists to your new locale, then phone the education team and explain the situation. You are genuinely living and working in assorted places so they must have come across this before or had people who have moved in from abroad with similar issues so it won't be majorly unusual

When applying you will need to send in 2 x proof of address ie council tax bill, tv licence, utility bill etc and proof of child ie child benefit award, child tax credit award, you will not be able to use your parents address, they really do not care that you are living there for work reasons and it will be easier for them to be schooled in that area, you will have to apply to your local authority and when the time comes apply for an in school transfer to new area, if you do apply using your parents address it will be classed a fraudulent.

We could rent in city a, but I’d rather stay with my mum until we find somewhere to buy. The house is big enough and the kids love it there. Perhaps I make the arrangement with my mum more official somehow?

I would also agree with looking at renting in city A. AT the moment your house, bill and child's nursery are in City B so that is viewed as your home (in terms of applying for school).

I am curious however about how this situation arose it must be extremely draining and expensive to drive such distances so often each week. Is there no chance you DH could get a job in City A rather than continue to commute?

I’m going to look into making the arrangement with my mum more official.

Yes, driving 400 miles a week with two kids is pretty dreadful. Unfortunalty DH’s job can only really be done in city B, but he can work from home some of the time so won’t need to commute everyday.

I'm no expert but I would move your DC and your GP to City A. Also get any child benefit or tax credits to that address.

Also get your name on your Mum's council tax.

I think you should sell up in City B and rent in A.
That way school places are not dependent on a buying-selling chain and you’ll be ready to move like a first time buyer so easier to buy in City A.

Unfortunalty DH’s job can only really be done in city B

I'd honestly suggest him looking for a new job even commuting several times a week if you moved to City A would cost a fortune. He would then need to stay somewhere, I doubt he could do the drive to work, work his hours and then drive back in the same day so that negates any increased pay he would be earning.

In the meantime I would be considering moving in full time with your mum and looking to sell the house in City B. It seems mindboggling from your description that you use it for a work from home base whilst your child is at Nursery. Couldn't you save yourself the driving by working from home in city A and moving your DC to a new nursery?

Thanks for the advice everyone.

I think we’d rather stay with my mum than rent. I’m not sure what the difference would be to the LA?

Yes, your mum's house needs to be your address in all ways that matter. E.g. inform child benefits, national insurance and HMRC, vehicle licence etc that this is now your address. This will affect council tax for the house too.
It doesn't matter that you own a house 200 miles away at which you sometimes stay. You can live in one place without owning it whilst owning property elsewhere. At that distance, nobody would think you just 'pretended' to live with your mum's for admission purposes whilst intending to move back to your owned house as soon as place offered, to have a 200 mile commute.

Also check school admissions guidelines. They usually have information on 'which address should I use?' particularly as regards children who spend part of the week with one parent, the other part with the other parent, which is a very common situation. Often it reads that you must use the address where the child sleeps the majority of school nights (so three or more nights Sun-Thu). Currently that is not the case, the children only spend Thu-to-Fri night (and sometimes Wed-to-Thu night) at your mum's, so 1-2 school nights. So until that changes, you cannot claim that their 'main' address for school purposes is your mum's. That's something you need to keep an eye on; you might have to move the kids into a local (to your mum's) pre-school and have them there for at least 3 school nights, before 15th Jan.

DH can absolutely only do his job in city B. He will take the train there 2x per week. We can afford to do this.

Our set up is not ideal! Hence the need to move full time to city A.

You need to make sure your mum isn't claiming the single person CT discount once you've moved officially. And get your house on the market.

titchy she doesn’t claim the single person’s discount - my step-dad is also in the house.

I’m eager to move ASAP but with the best will in the world, this won’t be achievable by jan 2019.

I’m genuinly not looking to claim a school place that I’m not entitled to. But I do want the kids to go to a local school in city a at the start of the school year.

I would talk to the admissions authority concerned, and try to get - in writing - something that says what you would need.

On the face of it, you are unlikely to be able to prove that your child's main residence is Home A, because it isn't. It's not even their address for the majority of school nights. Different authorities will require different proof, but it's standard to ask for, for example, council tax reference, or a signed lease agreement, which you aren't going to be able to provide.

However, you are in a slightly unusual situation, as your other home is clearly not relevant for an application in city A - you haven't moved out of a slightly further away property temporarily in order to secure a place, which is primarily what the safeguards are for.

Some authorities will be extremely hot on this and are unlikely to give you any leeway, others less so. Talk to them, and as I say try to get it in writing in case there are issues later.

What does your LA's policy say? There will almost certainly be a reference to children who live at 2 different addresses.

I've just had a look at our LAs. It refers to "permanent" address and not the address used temporarily (and specifically refers to grandparents and childcare arrangements). In the circumstances you've described where it's either 2 or 3 nights a week at Grandmas, compared to 4 or 5 nights at the house you own, your mum's address, even with bills in your name etc, wouldn't be considered as the children's permanent address.

I think you need to make the move to your Mums town before you apply for schools. I'd sell your house where your DH works and rent (if you can't buy immediately) near your mum.

We relocated during school application time, and are currently living with my parents.
We knew we would be moving, so as soon as applications opened we applied on the basis of my parents address. We were actually staying with them on the day I applied, but living elsewhere. We moved into my parents about 3 days before the application deadline. We have never been asked to provide proof of address. We're not on any of the bills here, but bank accounts are registered to my parents.

If your kids love it at grandma’s, you want to move permanently and you only WFH in City B, what is stopping you moving to City A now?
I agree with others that it sounds as though you run the risk of appearing fraudulent if you apply from your mothers address. I know you’re not but lots of people are and some LEAs are black and white in their application of the rules. I wouldn’t risk potentially losing a school place after allocation and the upset that would cause for the sake of a bit of inconvenience now.
Our LEA asks which house the child spends most school nights at and where CB is paid to.

I'm afraid your current living arrangements don't sound like they meet the standards for applying for a place in city A.
Would your DM and DSF considering you living with them full time? Your DH could join you every weekend. Is it feasible to find childcare for Mon-wed in city A? You could then be registered with GP in city A have child benefit paid to you in city A etc.
You can show your place of work has been in A for some time so this is not a sudden change. There must be plenty of people applying for school places that are not registered as paying the council tax on that property.
I can't see how you could argue that City A was your real residence as you return to the home you own etc in B. for half the week.
It sounds complicated and I can't imagine how you came to this arrangement. But from my understanding you would fall short of the residency requirements

Can't you and the children move I with your mum completely instead of driving home for 3 days a week? Your dh can still come down at the weekends as he has been.

As PatriciaHolm says, you need to talk to the local authority. Make sure you get their answer in writing.

Move to City A now and move the kids nursery there too. Establish residency at your mum’s and put your house on the market. You can have bought by January easily if you start looking now.