Council drops school admission "fraud" case

By Tim Castle

LONDON (Reuters) - A council called on Friday for legal sanctions against parents who lie to get their children into popular schools after abandoning the prosecution of a mother it accused of giving false details about her address.

Children's Secretary Ed Balls said he had asked a government education adjudicator to investigate the issue.

Harrow Council in northwest London had brought a case of fraud against Mrinal Patel but dropped the action after receiving legal advice that it was unlikely to succeed.

Normally, local authorities just withdraw the offer of a school place when then they find parents have given false information, but Harrow is believed to be the first to have sought a criminal penalty.

Priority for admissions to state-funded schools in Britain is generally decided by how near children live to the school.

But pressure to get into popular schools is so great in some areas that some parents move house to be nearer or -- as Harrow contends in the latest case -- even lie about their address.

Patel, 41, had been applying for a place at a local primary school for her 5-year-old son.

She confirmed in a BBC interview she had written on the admissions form that she had lived for 14 years at her mother's address -- in the school's catchment area -- when in fact she had only stayed there for four weeks after leaving her husband.