Crackdown on parents who cheat for school places

Local authorities have been urged by a government advisor to set up a whistle blowers' hotline to trap parents who lie to get their children into the school of their choice.
The schools adjudicator Ian Craig is also calling on local authorities to make random checks on one in ten school applications.
Children should lose their school place if it is found that a family has cheated to get it, says the adjudicator's report. Mr Craig estimates that there were 4,200 fraudulent school applications last year, of which about a quarter were discovered.
Children's secretary Ed Balls said he took the issue of fraudulent applications very seriously, but did not want to criminalise parents, or punish children for the actions of their parents. He is proposing that if a child's place is withdrawn because their parents cheated to get it, there should be a fast-track appeals process to an independent panel. "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."
Just over four out of five will go to their first choice of secondary school this year, said Balls.