Primary school place application and address

[Heartofgoldmumof2]

Hi all
My son and I have moved in with my parents as both contracted COVID . But also my dad has dementia and mum was not coping as his carer prior to this. I’m in the process of renting my house out as I don’t want to leave it unoccupied.

I read the LA school admission policy for my mum’s area and have supplied the two pieces of evidence confirming the address.

I have also read the school’s own admission policy. They say they take the letter on the child benefit letter as the child’s address - I will need to change this.

My question is whether the new LA will contact previous LA council tax records and if my name is still showing whether that will be a problem? I have not got tenants arranged yet.

What other checks are they likely to make? I have changed the address with the nursery where we claim the funded hours. The nursery advised me the move would not make a difference to the funded hours. It’s in the original LA area.

They will go by the names on the council tax bill. You remain responsible for the council tax on the property you own so that will be counted as your main residence. If the property you own is within a commutable distance of the area you are trying to get a school place in, they will work on the assumption that you are trying to use a different address in order to play the system and the onus wil be on you to prove otherwise. Some LAs will require that if an owned property is rented out, the lease must be for at least 2 years with no break clause in order to ensure you aren't just letting it out for a few months as a hoop-jumping exercise with every intention of moving back there asap once the place is secured. If it's a totally different area (eg you are living in York and own a property in London) such that its not likely to be a fiddle, then they will be less strict.

Thank you for your reply. You have been very helpful. When will they makes these checks? I have already submitted the application and the deadline is 15th jan. So approaching fast. Is it likely to be after the closing date?

Have you informed council tax your not there?

Not an expert

How far apart are the two addresses given that you seem to be still able to use the same nursery?

I think if they are close your best option is to contact the new LA yourself by phone & follow-up email and confirm they will accept your new address. Do this ASAP before the submission deadline.

Otherwise you may need to submit an application as from your owned house.

Being open about the reason for the move and that it is permanent (until at least circumstances with your parents change) seems the best option for helping them understand it isn't an attempted fiddle.

If the addresses are close together, it is very likely they will take the owned property as the one for admissions purposes, even if you have let it out.

If it is London, then yes your council tax record will definitely be spotted (it's a pan-London system)

If you were moving say from Manchester to Hull, they would disregard the owned address because no-one would make the daily commute like that for school. But when within easy school run distance, it is not seen like that.

It is up to you to prove that your new address is permanent. Best bet is to talk to your new LA pre-emptively.

Does it just happen to be the case that your parents house is within a short distance of an excellent oversubscribed primary school that you need to live within 300m of to get a place, and the owned house that is currently empty is located such that the only place you are likely to get will be at an undersubscribed, underperforming school which you really wouldn't want your DC to go to? If this us the case then you will have a much tougher time proving that you are acting entirely in good faith and are totally innocent of such machinations. If there's not much to choose between the options available at the two locations then the authorities will be a lot less suspicious of your motives.