Moving house after offer day but before school starts

[Pigletin]

Can anyone help please? We are in the process of purchasing a house but have not yet exchange contracts. We applied for a secondary place for my daughter with our current address. We received and have accepted an offer for our preferred school. It has now dawned on me that we are very likely to exchange and complete some time in June/early July and we will need to give the school our new address once we move. As this will happen before she starts at her new school in Sep, are we at risk of losing her place? Our new address will likely be out of catchment although still walking distance to the school. Our council’s admissions policy does not give any information about this (only if you change address before offer day) and I can’t call the council until Tuesday.

After offer day a move won't affect anything.

Thank you for the quick response. I had a moment of panic! It would have been nice if the council made it clear in their admissions brochure.

Couldn't you just update your home address after she starts school? There is no rush. I think the school will send an email asking if all the info is up to date and that is when you update it. We moved house shortly after our dd started her new school (although it was actually to an address around the corner and closer to the school) and we did not update the school straight away. I cannot even remember when we updated, but probably the next time they asked if all the info was up to date. I would not have thought if I moved house first thing is to update the school. So I would wait at least until she starts the school.

@Pigletin The Schools Admissions Code says "An admission authority must not withdraw an offer unless it has been offered in error, a parent has not responded within a reasonable period of time, or it is established that the offer was obtained through a fraudulent or intentionally misleading application." When you applied for the place you used the address that was correct at the time, so your application can't be described as fraudulent or intentionally misleading.

@SamPoodle123 I get that but the council will already know I have moved house because the address on the council tax bill will change. It’s the council that looks after the school places rather than the school.

@tubbytoze thank you! You put my mind at ease!

@Pigletin yes, but once the offer is made and it’s given to school then it’s essentially left the council’s hands. There’s not some massive database linking up your council tax payments with the emergency contact number school has for you.

they will send you a form in September. Just update it then.

Will do thanks! I wasn’t sure if they send any forms or anyone else to your house before the kids start.

@Pigletin if you live in a tiered authority they're not even the same councils!

Don't worry, as others have said the council can't withdraw the place once it's been offered, unless you've made a fraudulent application

Don’t do anything just leave it as it is

You haven’t done anything wrong or fraudulent

As others have said, they cannot take your place away just because you move after offers day. However, there are at least two LAs that ignore this and attempt to do so. Should this happen to you, you will be able to appeal the decision. It should be an easy win.

Do you honestly think the council people have joined up thinking about the school and about your council tax address?

Yes, they do. Our LA admissions team contacts our school when this happens, to inform us, as we are our own admissions authority and have the last word on whether to withdraw the offer or not..However, usually they have investigated and found no evidence of fraud.

A friend of ours received an offer for a school (their third choice) based on their first address while living there. However, when they moved and didn't update the council right away, they were later offered their first choice based on the previous address. Since they no longer lived at that address on offer day, they could not keep that offer, and the council withdrew it. Fortunately, they were allowed to retain their original offer because they were living at that address within the catchment area when the offer was made. So, you should be fine.

Despite your scepticism, most councils are joined up on this. Most check the addresses given on admission applications against council tax records, for example.

If they have the details why do they want you to send in the evidence

They cross check the address you provide with the address they already have for you. If there is a discrepancy, they investigate, using the evidence you have provided. If necessary, they ask for nore evidence.

Yes, when you apply for schools this can happen

however OP has done nothing wrong. You can move after being offered a place and that’s fine your offer still stands. In the vast majority of cases anyway.

I was replying to Annoyeddd's question, not to the OP. (I already replied to the OP saying what you just said. 🙂)

Why do they need the evidence from you is I think the question . If you supply address A on the application and you are registered for council tax at address A why isn't that enough? Joined up checking would remove the need for evidence except where the two addresses are the same

@cyvguhb They only use the evidence you give them if they need to, i.e. because your application address doesn't match your council tax address. In most cases they won't use it.

However, whether they use it or not, just asking for it reduces temptation for fraud.

Perhaps it is the councils where I live just can't do this - if I make a request for a service they insist I don't live in the area but in the adjoining London borough about 0.5km away as well marked by the ulez cameras (I often wish I did as the services are better DC's schools are in the borough as is my work) but if they want payment for anything they can recognise my address is in their fiefdom.