preferred school not in our catchment area but can move

[BeOliveMentor]

Hello all, after some advice please for a family member

They do not want to send their child to the secondary school which is in there catchment area.
They have a property in the catchment area, which had tenants in there but now empty. Do they have to permanently live there or could they shift between to two? i.e. a few days a week. The council tax will be one of of their names as well as the bills. Application form will need to be completed in October this year

Thank you

They will have to prove its their main residence and the previous address is unavailable (sold or rented out)

So even if the father just puts his name on the council tax on the home in the catchment area and the mother already has her name on the existing house, will that not be sufficient?
would that class it as "main residence"?
thanks

They need to check their local authority to see how they treat applicants where they own two homes. Some would want to see the second home actually sold, not merely rented out.

No, unless it’s the father who is going to school. It’s the child’s residence that counts.

They need to actually live in the house. So that means no longer living at their current house.

It sounds like you're looking for advice on how they can cheat the system, though, rather than whether or not they would actually be eligible.

If they aren't planning to move into The catchment for their preferred school, then they should avoid trying to defraud the system. And if they do make a fraudulent application which would potentially deny someone else a place, then I very much hope that they get caught .

It depends on how the LA defines address. In Bucks you need to be resident for a period and not have a second property which may be deemed the permanent residence,

It is only their "main residence" if they actually live there.

If they don’t “live” in the property on the application, then the school place can be taken away even after the child has started.
if their present address is: bigger, nicer etc. then claiming the one they let is their permanent one will raise questions. Having Dad paying council tax for one and Mum for the other would only make sense if they are separating. And even in cities neighbours will know - and if a friend of one has narrowly missed out on a place at the desirable school …

Your relative’s local authority will have clear guidance on how they treat applications based on where the child lives. They’re usually very strict about the address being the permanent main home for the whole family. They might ask for evidence. And they can take away the offered place if they discover that the address given isn’t the true main family home.

A random example, Watford School for Girls, states:

"Normal home address means the address where the girl is resident for a majority of school nights at the time of the closing date for applications. A school night is defined as Sunday through to Thursday night.

An address is presumed not to be a genuine address if:- • the address has not been the girl’s normal home address since 1st September of the calendar year preceding proposed admission;
• the property is rented and the tenancy agreement is less than 12 months, or
• if a parent/carer with whom the girl is resident for the majority of school nights, owns an alternative property further from but within 20 miles of the school which has been the main family home within the last five years."

Another random example, from a popular school close to me:

*‘Living in the normal area’ is defined as the child having full-time residence in a property which is the child’s only or main residence. Documentary evidence including proof of actual permanent residence at the property concerned will be required.

Residence: This is defined as the child’s permanent place of residence, which is deemed to be the residential property at which the child habitually resides with the person or persons having parental responsibility for the child.

If a parent lives in rented accommodation within the catchment area yet still owns another property within 20 miles of the school, the address of the owned property will be taken as the place of permanent residency, even if it is rented out to a third party.*

So no, chances are unless they sell the property they currently live in and move to the other one, they will not get the place they are hoping for.

They have a property in the catchment area, which had tenants in there but now empty. Do they have to permanently live there or could they shift between to two? i.e. a few days a week.

This is called address fraud. If your family member has even the slightest capacity for empathetic thought, perhaps they could consider the child whose rightful place at the school in question will be denied them, should this plan work out. And then spare a thought for their own DC being removed from the school, once someone who suspects the true situation drops a line to the school and / or the local authority.

So when did they discover that they didn't like the school in the catchment area of which they live (schools have catchment areas around them, people live in the catchment area for a school, or schools- they don't have a personal catchment area around themselves)? And that they really did like the other school? Seriously not long enough ago to have sorted out their living arrangements suitably and accordingly to admissions rules by now? - after all, they do have two homes to choose from. Have either or both of the schools perhaps recently had an Ofsted inspection, and the outcome wasn't what it used to be?

They might want to look at the data on how places were offered in recent years and at the LA’s school place sufficiency documents. In many areas (although admittedly not in mine) the peak of the birth rate has passed at the secondary intake point and pressure on school places is easing. They might find that they can get a place without committing fraud.

No a rental isn't a shortcut to a better placement. It hasn't worked for years.

You need to check with your LA what their rules are around resident addresses and actually comply fully. It varies from LA to LA slightly, but is usually permanent resident address only and designed to stop use of a temporary address.

If it’s a popular, over subscribed school and you get a place based on fraud, someone will very likely report you if other children in catchment missed out on places. Then you will be subject to extra checks, you’ll have the place withdrawn if there is found to be address fraud and will be allocated a school based solely on where they have space.

Our LA withdrew 6 out of 180 places at one popular secondary alone last year due to address fraud.