Disgruntled parent accusing us of fraud

[PMP3]

Hi

Thanks for reading this, I’m totally stressed out.

There’s a parent who’s very upset her DC3 didn’t get into the same school as her DC1+2 (out of catchment, where admissions favours in catchment before siblings out of catchment). She’s basically tried to pick holes in everyone else’s applications as she things she’s number 1 priority in the waiting list. She’s targeted and reported, we think, several people challenging various points as fraud such as time spent at each parents not being correctly disclosed and a few for temporary addresses.

We fall under the temporary address group she’s targeting. We moved into our previous rented property in October 2020, having sold our old house (about 10 miles across the city). We had been buying, but the purchase side of our chain collapsed and as we knew we needed to leave our old home to be living in the area we wanted to settle (where I grew up) we still sold and moved into rented accommodation. We immediately started looking to buy again and had an offer accepted on a house closer to the school. We thought this would be exchanged by the cutoff date for applications but it wasn’t, so our old address was used for the school application. We got into the local school and since then have completed and moved in to the new house, closer to the school.

It didn’t cross my mind that we could be seen as doing anything wrong here, circumstances dictated we had to rent and with buying closer to the school I didn’t even consider this as an issue. I have kept the admissions authority up to date with our move already.

Is there any way the place could be withdrawn? We’ve moved closer so would be higher priority to when we originally applied, and surely if our application was reassessed we’d be top of the waiting list even if our place was withdrawn?

Sorry for the wall of text, this has just really stressed me out in an already stressful year.

[ThePlantsitter]

God I would be livid with her for reporting me like that! I get she's pissed off and I don't blame her but she's basically trying to oust your kid for the sake of hers! She would be off my Christmas card list that's for sure!

[lanthanum]

There is a very simple question: what other address could you possibly have used? You only had one address that it would have been legal to put on the form. You've also updated them on the subsequent move.

I believe there are some schools where the admissions policy doesn't count living in rented property in catchment if you've moved from fairly locally, to rule out people moving just for the application, but I think that's fairly rare (and usually secondary), and it would presumably say so in the admissions criteria. It would also have been applied when the places were allocated, so if you've got a place, that's that.

[unim]

You absolutely haven't done anything wrong, honestly, stop worrying about it. You had no other home address other than the temporary one at the time and you were actually living there.

[CharityDingle]

Don't give it any more headspace. You didn't do anything wrong, and that's it really.

[SarahAndQuack]

I will add to the chorus of people saying please stop worrying.

We rent a house next door to the local school; we literally couldn't be closer. When we put DD's name down we told them the house was up for sale and it was perfectly possible we'd end up moving well out of catchment before she even started, because there's not much to rent round here. I got so much reassurance from school about it - they made it perfectly clear this sort of thing happens and it wasn't a problem.

I think everyone else must be falling about laughing at this woman for being so silly.

[ivykaty44]

If we were investigated I would hope common sense would prevail and our commitment to the area is evident.

if you were investigated what evidence would anyone be able to find that you were not living were you said you were living at the time of the application?

you don't need to prove anything, someone else needs to prove you weren't doing what you said you were doing

[Viviennemary]

If you put an address on the form and you were living elsewhere and had left that house how can it not be fraud.

[SpiderinaWingMirror]

Well she has a mighty fine cheek, given that she doesn't live in catchment.
Our LA are crystal clear on this. More fool her.

[EssentialHummus]

If you put an address on the form and you were living elsewhere and had left that house how can it not be fraud.

OP sold and moved out of her house. She moved into rented accommodation and was living there at the time she applied for the school. She then bought and moved into an owned property closer to the school. She let the LA know at every step. Where do you see the possibility of fraud here?

[MiddleParking]

@Viviennemary

If you put an address on the form and you were living elsewhere and had left that house how can it not be fraud.

Couldn’t you just read it? And then if you don’t understand, read it again? Maybe make some notes for yourself? Christ.

[RedToothBrush]

So the LEA knew where you were living when you moved as you had sold your house. You are allowed to live in rented accomodation.

The LEA also know you have moved from this address and the school know you new address, which seeing as you have bought there is a permenant move within catchment, rather than out of catchment.

And the LEA themselves don't appear to have raised it as a concern despite being fully aware of what you have done.

Why are you worried about a batshit woman with a chip on her shoulder and not a leg to stand on?

Is it in the interests of the LEA to investigate you? Is investigating you likely to succeed (including the possibility of you lawyering up in the process leading to the investigation being costly to the the LEA)?

Honestly, if there was a case to answer you would already be under investigation.

[Twatterati]

There's a very simple way for her to resolve this, which isn't widely known. She needs to remove the child without a place from any school and electively home-educate them for at least 7-8 weeks and then apply for a place at her chosen school.

They are obliged to accept any home-schooled child who has been out of the school system for at least 7 weeks.

This fact isn't advertised by the LEAs for obvious reasons (it's open to abuse). The majority of people eventually accept that they don't have their first choice of school and either appeal and/or give up and get on with the second/third choice of school.

However, what I've detailed above is possible and I've done it with my own child. LEAs have a legal obligation to find - or create - a school place for a previously home-schooled child, even if the school of choice is over-subscribed.

[MarieIVanArkleStinks]

You used the address you were living at at the time. Even if this was intended as a temporary address it's still not fraud.

The size of some people's sense of entitlement never fails to amaze me. Imagine trying to issue a formal challenge against someone else on this basis? She's an idiot, and not a particularly intelligent one at that.

[Viviennemary]

If the form was completed using a previous or future address then its fraud. If the form was filled in honestly then of course if isn't fraud. People are up to all sorts of tricks. Folk a few houses away from us had grandchildren who didn't live in the area. They went to our local school. I thought nothing of it as it was years ago. Somebody said how did they get in. Someone else said by using the grandparents address I expect. Don't think that would be as easy these days.

[PMP3]

@ivykaty44

If we were investigated I would hope common sense would prevail and our commitment to the area is evident.

if you were investigated what evidence would anyone be able to find that you were not living were you said you were living at the time of the application?

you don't need to prove anything, someone else needs to prove you weren't doing what you said you were doing

Nothing at all, because we were living there!

I’ve been watching too much Line of Duty, but my phone records would be evidence of my version of events I bet they can’t use phone GPS records this scenario, but fact is I’ve been honest throughout.

[PferdeMerde]

Are you actually the snooper and you’ve somehow managed to find all the parents addresses and want to know if you can claim some as fraudulent to the school?

[memberofthewedding]

Find a way to let the other parents know that she is an untrustworthy snitch!

[Aroundtheworldin80moves]

@Twatterati

There's a very simple way for her to resolve this, which isn't widely known. She needs to remove the child without a place from any school and electively home-educate them for at least 7-8 weeks and then apply for a place at her chosen school.

They are obliged to accept any home-schooled child who has been out of the school system for at least 7 weeks.

This fact isn't advertised by the LEAs for obvious reasons (it's open to abuse). The majority of people eventually accept that they don't have their first choice of school and either appeal and/or give up and get on with the second/third choice of school.

However, what I've detailed above is possible and I've done it with my own child. LEAs have a legal obligation to find - or create - a school place for a previously home-schooled child, even if the school of choice is over-subscribed.

They need to find a place somewhere. Not necessarily where you chose. I was given a school the opposite side of town to where I lived and the school sibling was offered a place at.
They only create places if there is no other option, or parent wins an appeal.

[Staffy1]

Not really sure what the problem is at all. Both the house you were in at the time of the application, and the house you are in now are in the catchment area. I could see there might be an issue if the house you were in now was out of the area, then it might look dodgy, but the way it is now, there's no issue at all.

[HolmeH]

READ THE FRIGGING THREAD @Viviennemary -

OP sold her house & moved into rented while looking for somewhere new to buy. Their house was SOLD & someone new moved in. Not theirs anymore.

She used her RENTED address that they were LIVING IN for her application.

Meanwhile, found somewhere to buy also in catchment, in fact, closer to the school than their rented accommodation. They now live in the house thats still in catchment.

ZERO FRAUD.

We did this OP. We sold & our onward chain fell through. We moved into rented in the village we wanted to live in and applied for schools. We bought & moved into a new house early this year on the same street actually. We let the council know all the way through. We applied for 3 out of catch schools (from rented & new house) as it happened as the local school isn’t great. We got second choice.

[MindGrapes]

Not only have you not done anything wrong, it sounds like she's not even telling the LA any new information that they don't already know.
It's a non-event for you!

[BakedBeeeen]

A similar thing happened with my DC - got offered a school place, and then a few months after we moved house, just outside of the catchment. Before we agreed the sale, I called the LEA and asked if this was allowed, they said yes, as we had been living in the previous property for 6 years. (Ie we hadn’t moved to benefit from the system). I asked if I could have it in writing that it was ok (for my own peace of mind!)

[HarveySchlumpfenburger]

@Viviennemary

If the form was completed using a previous or future address then its fraud. If the form was filled in honestly then of course if isn't fraud. People are up to all sorts of tricks. Folk a few houses away from us had grandchildren who didn't live in the area. They went to our local school. I thought nothing of it as it was years ago. Somebody said how did they get in. Someone else said by using the grandparents address I expect. Don't think that would be as easy these days.

No. She applied using the address the child was resident at on the 15th Jan, Which is the rules. This happened to be the rented address because they had completed the sale of their previous property and no longer owned it, but hadn’t yet bought another house.

Not even in the LAs with the stricter rules around school place fraud could what the op has described count as fraud.

[Nith]

I don't think VivienneMary is saying there actually was fraud, is she? Her post reads to me as if she's dealing with both possibilities. Time to stop the pile-on?

[Toomuchtrouble4me]

If you’ve done nothing wrong then why are you so anxious about it?
Nothing wrong with renting near the school, you don’t HAVE to own a property to get into the school!
But you sound a bit ‘guilty’ by the way you’re panicking to me.