School want proof of address for child

[AmberTraybake]

Hello,
i have recently moved home and the school are asking for proof of address. I can provide this for my self ( council tax, insurance letters) but struggling for my daughter. I sent bank statements which were rejected.

They will accept child benefit letters. Will HMRC send me a letter to my new address when I change the address for my child?

That's up to the council, not the school.

Have you asked why the school want it?

Not everyone receives child benefit so they must provide an alternative option. Normally they should provide you with a list of what is considered acceptable documentation - like they do for DBS checks - "provide us with 1 from column A, 2 from column B etc". Can you check with the local authority?

Yeah you need to post some detail about the actual position you’re in, rather than short sentence responses. Specifically what year is you kid in now? Then you may get some help.

Yes, maybe ask to see the list of documents they can accept. Not saying it's unusual to make checks, but it sounds like they're very particular. A shame to risk the school place for the want to something you can probably get hold of, you shouldn't be left to guess.

After National Offers day, my daughter’s secondary asked all families to provide the same. School said they needed ‘proof of child’. We had to all send in a copy of birth certificate, and proof of address for child. They accepted any benefits with child’s name or, a GP registration note. Our GP practice was clearly used to it in area, made no fuss to print off her registration details

In answer to your original question, if you call, you can request proof of Child Benefit be posted out and you get it pretty quickly in my experience. We ask for this a lot in my work and it has never been an issue for a parent to produce.

If you lived in an area which has a lot of over subscribed schools, I think it’s pretty fair that they check this. As you mentioned, when parents split, it can allow one parent to claim they have them full-time when they barely see them and they always live out of catchment with another parent.

Possibly not if it's an academy?

If the school refuses to accept the online document as proof of address, ask them why given that that is exactly what it is provided for. As PP have pointed out, it's pretty ridiculous to insist on a letter given that they are quite easy to forge.

Because parental responsibility doesn't tell you where the child lives.

Still the same with academies.

How utterly ridiculous, I’ve never needed to do this, council tax docs and declaration child lives with me has been enough.

If parents are separated is there a custody arrangement? Proof of who claims child benefit? GP registration? Any other medical letters with address on?

Do you live with the child's father?
If no, is there a court order stating who the child lives with and proportion of the time spent with the other parent?

If yes, surely utility bills or mortgage document with father and mother's names and address plus birth cert would do?

The school aren’t in charge of school places. Ring your LA School Admissions team.

If this is in an in-year application for an academy, It is very likely to be up to the school - or at least the Academy chain it belongs to - as they are the admission authority for the school, not the LA. Many academies run their own in year applications outside the normal admission rounds.

We don't actually know because OP hasn't been very forthcoming with any detail, but one of the few grounds in which a place can be withdrawn is if the admission authority have good reason to believe was fraudulently obtained.

A place can't be taken away because you move, but any new application would need to come from the child's permanent address at the time.

If the place was offered because OP was top of a waiting list due to the address she used, and the admission authority now have reason to doubt that address, that maybe why they require some more proof.

For example, there was a poster just recently who had applied for a place using the child's father's address, where the child did not live. Any place allocated using that address would be have been in danger of withdrawal.

No, it is not. An academy is its own admission authority, as is a VA school. They must take part in the LA's co-ordinated admission scheme, but they can withdraw offers if they have reasonable grounds to do so regardless of what the LA thinks.

However, they must act reasonably. I understand that popular schools where there have been problems with false addresses on admission applications may want proof that the child is living at the claimed address, but they cannot insist on documents that parents cannot reasonably be expected to produce, nor can they unreasonably reject documents.

If OP cannot come up with documents the school finds acceptable and loses the place as a result, she will be able to appeal. An appeal panel can then decide whether it is reasonable for the school to reject bank statements when they would clearly be acceptable proof of address for an adult. As others have said, children don't get much in the way of official letters, and parents don't have to claim child benefit.

Have you asked them what they will accept? Obviously children have very few letters going to their homes as it is. There's no point in you sending various documents in if they're not going to accept them.

Lots are academys now not council run

Doesn't matter - councils are still responsible for allocating places.

No, they are not. Councils are responsible for running the co-ordinated admission scheme, which is not quite the same thing. Academies and VA schools are responsible for putting the applicants to their schools in priority order and, as they are their own admission authority, they can withdraw offers provided they have reasonable grounds to do so. The LA has no say in it at all.

This is crazy that they expect proof of address for a child when you have just moved. Most children only have a passport which wouldn’t be up to date yet.
I remember when my son started secondary about 4 years ago, I used the tenancy agreement that was only in my boyfriend’s name (who isn’t dad)…. So wild you can’t use your own ID as her parent.

If somebody has tried to play the system it will be investigated.

I had exactly this when my son started secondary. They wanted a letter in the child's name, and it had to be the Child Benefit letter.
When I pushed back a bit it transpired that the request came from the school secretary who was blissfully unaware that some people aren't eligible for child benefit and told me I should apply!
I contacted the LA, and they sent an email to the school confirming that they were happy they'd seen my proof of address and that was enough.

Well as long as you are not giving a false address I cannot see the problem as a parent. Am assuming you are not giving a false address or being obscure.

I have received an updated child benefit letter and will scan and email it to the school this weekend.

A passport doesn't have an address on it anyway so can be used as proof of ID, but not proof of address.

Anyway, hopefully the school accept the new letter @AmberTraybake !