Whistleblower call over school place fraud

By Angela Harrison
BBC News education reporter

Mr Balls says children should not be punished for their parents' crimes

A report into parents who cheat to get their child into a school calls for whistleblowing hotlines to be set up.

England's Chief Schools Adjudicator, Ian Craig, also calls for councils to make random checks on 10% of applications to cut fraud.

He estimates last year 4,200 fraudulent applications were made in England.

Schools Secretary Ed Balls backed the idea of random checks but stopped short of saying that a place should always be withdrawn if obtained dishonestly.

Where a family is found to have cheated to get their child a school place, the adjudicator says local authorities should have a duty to withdraw the place from a child.

Punished

In his response, Mr Balls says he supports the idea of random checks and other deterrents.

But he says he does not want to criminalise parents and that no child should be punished for their parents' actions.

He says before a child is removed from a school his parents are accused of cheating to get them in to, an appeal should be heard - within two weeks.

No child should be punished for their parents' actions, but neither should families on waiting lists be unfairly disadvantaged or delayed Ed Balls, Schools Secretary

He says it is the "default position" that a place should be withdrawn but also that "it will be for the appeal panel to decide whether the child should remain in the school".

Ed Balls said: "While I am reassured that only a tiny minority of parents apply dishonestly, I am also clear that every place gained by deception is denying another child their rightful place.

"No child should be punished for their parents' actions, but neither should families on waiting lists be unfairly disadvantaged or delayed."

Harrow Council, which brought - and later dropped - a case of fraud against a woman it had accused of lying about her address - says the government should go further.

Cllr David Ashton, leader of Harrow Council, said: "While the Schools Adjudicator report does concentrate on the need for early detection, the reality is this will effectively act as an open season for all those parents who believe they don't have to abide by fair play when it comes to getting a school place."

Dr Craig's recommendations include:

• Local authorities should point out in their admissions booklets what the consequences of dishonest applications would be
• Local authorities should be encouraged to publicise a whistle-blowing telephone number
• Local authorities should routinely check, as a minimum, a random 10% sample of applications
• In cases where deception is proved, there should be a duty on local authorities that places must be withdrawn

On the recommendation that local authorities check a random 10% of applications, Ed Balls added: "This - along with further information in the School Admissions Code on detecting fraudulent applications and how they can be addressed, with letters being sent to parents whose applications are suspect - seems to be a reasonable approach."

Dr Craig was asked by the government to look into the issue of fraud in school places and then to make recommendations on how to curb the problem.

In his latest report, the chief schools adjudicator said local authorities had reported to him that they had dealt with 1,400 cases of fraud last year.

But he said the data suggested there were at least two cases suspected for every one that was found and dealt with, so he thought the number of fraudulent applications was "in excess of 4200 per year".

He said a "significant minority" of local authorities did not withdraw places once children had begun school, as this was seen as punishing the child for the actions of the parent.

Councils do not want to be in conflict with parents but are dependent on parents working with them to make the system fair Local Government Association

"Most of those consulted accepted that, reluctantly, this may be the only way in which a parent may be dissuaded from submission of false information," he added.

Dr Craig said most of the councils and parents he canvassed agreed that prevention was better than the cure and that effort should be concentrated on deterring would-be cheats.

Parents had complained to him that councils and schools did not do enough to catch or punish cheats.

Cllr Shireen Ritchie, of the Local Government Association urged parents to work with their local councils: "No council wants to be in conflict with parents who naturally want to do the best they can for their children.

"The existence of a tiny minority of parents who are willing to bend the rules to gain an unfair advantage over other families is very sad. When parents do deceive the authorities it is other children who lose out."

Any changes would be made through the Admissions Code, the government says, although the earliest opportunity for doing this would be in 2012.