Please Help

[Anon3012]

Hello all! Sorry for the long post ahead but I desperately need help and suggestions. I have applied for my DCs secondary school admission before the deadline but have moved house since. Prior to moving I contacted my then local borough regarding the procedure for changing address on the application and was informed that they would need proof of residence for the new house and then they would transfer the application to the new borough and that it would not be considered a late application ( no deadline was mentioned). I have looked at the borough's secondary school admission website and even there no deadline is mentioned for house move. Now after the move I sent them the email (on 3.1.23). This week I got a call from my new borough saying that they are going to treat it as a late application as we did not inform them of the move before 9th Dec!! Now I have emailed both the councils requesting them to treat the application as on-time but I have not heard from them yet. If anybody has gone through this please let me know how I can persuade them? Worst case scenario they treat the application as late, does anybody know when are late applicants put on waiting list. As 5 of our preferred schools are grammar and I am sure with the 11+ scores that my DC is going to be offered a place in atleast two of them. I know these schools have waiting list after 15th march. Are late applications processed before 15th march? Is my DC's application going to be pushed back because it was late?
Thanks

Have you moved far? If you stayed on time using your old address would you get in? If so you could ask them to use new address for admin only and old for admissions purposes?

@prh47bridge and others may be able to advise.

Late applications are dealt with after all on time ones.

It sounds like you are in London. Without knowing which borough we are talking about I can't comment on their website. However, all London boroughs use a common eAdmissions system and will not accept a change of address after 9th December. If you move within a borough or from another London borough, most will use your original address for deciding your application. If the borough you have moved to is one of those, they shouldn't be treating you as a late application. If you want me to take a look for you, let me know which borough we are talking about. You can PM me if you don't want to post the information publicly.

Your application should be processed before offers are sent out. However, if they treat you as a late application, you will be at the back of the queue for places at all your preferred schools. However, once the waiting list is in operation you will be on it and your position will be determined by the school's admission criteria. You won't be pushed to the back of the waiting list just because of a late application.

Yes I am in London..I will PM you the names of the boroughs. Thanks

We have not moved far. And my DC would have got the admission even if we stayed at our old address.

Ok, I've taken a look. They do have the 9th December date in their brochure. In my view, it isn't clear what happens if you are moving in from another borough. However, given what they say about moving house, I think there is an argument that they should treat you as an on-time application from your original address and use your new address for correspondence only. I am assuming you amended the address on your original application rather than making a completely new application?

I've now found the LA's admission arrangements. They say that, if you apply to another LA participating in the pan-London scheme and move into the borough and apply by 9th December you will be treated as on time. They do not say what happens if you miss that deadline. However, I would combine it with the statement in their brochure that address changes after 9th December will result in the original address being used for allocation purposes to argue that this is what they should do with your application. You may well have to go to appeal and I can't say for certain that an appeal panel will accept this argument, but I think you've got a case.

Yes, there is a mention of 9th Dec deadline in the brochure of the borough we have moved in but nothing on the one we have moved from. My argument is same as there is no mention of application being considered late, my DC's application should be considered on-time. Can we appeal this now or we will have to wait after the results are announced?
Thanks

Your original LA's website is very poor on admissions and does not appear to meet the requirements of the Admissions Code. The 9th December deadline is mentioned in their co-ordinated admissions scheme which is on their website but doesn't seem to be linked from the admissions pages.

However, since you are now applying from an address in your new LA, it is their rules that matter. You won't get anywhere arguing that your original LA's rules should apply even if they were different.

You can't appeal now. You can only appeal once offers have been made. All you can do for the moment is ask the LA to treat you as an on-time applicant from your original address, but there is no guarantee they will agree.

I did request my new LA to treat the application as on-time with the original address but they told me to contact my original LA for this!! I am still waiting for a reply from them.
I guess my only hope is that application is processed before waiting lists are issued and my DC can have a chance from the WL then.

You will definitely be on the waiting list from the moment the waiting list starts operating.

We are a London borough - if you had made an on-time application to us and had moved out borough after 9 Dec, we would continue to process the application in our LA but we would advise the borough you have moved to that you were now in their borough. Your preferred schools would all still measure to the original application address and correspondence posted to the new address. On 1 March, the application would be taken over by the new LA, all addresses updated and any waiting list positions adjusted to reflect the new address (if you hadn't been offered already).

If you moved in to our borough, we would expect the same in reverse - some authorities will withdraw an application if there is a move before 9 Dec as an on time one can be made to the new LA (we would only withdraw once we had confirmation that the new LA was processing an application) but I wouldn't expect to see any changes at all after 9 Dec

Why all the London LA have different rules. I am told by my old LA that any change after 9th Dec, the application automatically goes in the late application category and they can't retrieve it?? I am sure the system is not that complex!

yes - but the application you submitted before 9 December should still be processed. You cannot change the application in any London borough after 9 December - but your old authority should still process the one you submitted to them.

Hi
As it turns out my DCs application was not processed on time. I have not heard from the borough even after numerous emails and messages. What are my options now? Anybody knows when would I know the outcome?

You need to appeal and argue that they should have continued to use your old address and treated you as an on-time applicant. They would have done that if you were moving within the borough. Their admission arrangements don't say what happens if you move from another borough. They can't just make it up, they must follow their published arrangements. And, since they don't say anything about this situation, it is reasonable to assume that someone moving from another borough would be treated the same as someone moving within the borough.

I have called the borough several times in the last few weeks and been told a different answer every time and that I should wait till 1st March! We have not been allocated any school. I am going to call them tomorrow to see if I can get a definitive response. Can I only appeal after they have allocated a school?

When you get the letter or email telling you that you haven't got a place at the school you want, that will include instructions for appealing. If you haven't heard anything today, chase them.

Hi
No updates/email from the council and they were clueless when I called in the morning. But miraculously just got an offer letter from one of the schools on our CAF form.
Thank you everyone for the comments and advice. Much appreciated.