Disclosure Log

fraudulent school applications (FOI/5536)

Message from Nottinghamshire County Council - 10 April 2025

Dear ***** *****
 
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 – REQUEST FOR INFORMATION REFERENCE FOI/5536

Thank you for your request for information relating to fraudulent school applications. Please accept our apologies for the lateness of the response. We are now able to provide the updated information, as mentioned earlier this week.

Under the Freedom of Information Act, please could you provide me with the following information:
  • The number of reports made to the council of attempts (successful or not) to obtain a school place through fraudulent means (for example giving a false address on the application). Please break the numbers down by primary and secondary. Please also break the numbers down by school year (September to August) for the past five years (2020/21, 2021/22, 2022/23, 2023/24, 2024/25)
  • Please breakdown the numbers by how many of those reports came from members of the public in each year.
  • The number of investigations into attempts (successful or not) to obtain a school place through fraudulent means. Please break the numbers down by primary and secondary. Please also break the numbers down by school year (September to August) for the past five years (2020/21, 2021/22, 2022/23, 2023/24, 2024/25)
  • Have private investigators been hired to investigate If so, please breakdown the number of times hired and cost by school year for the past five years.
  • The number of a) offers nor made, b) offers withdrawn and c) places withdrawn as a result of fraudulent activity on applications. Please break the numbers down by primary and secondary. Please also break the numbers down by school year (September to August) for the past five years (2020/21, 2021/22, 2022/23, 2023/24, 2024/25)
  • The number of times sibling priority has been removed as a result of fraudulent activity (i.e. the first place was obtained fraudulently so subsequent siblings will not get priority when applying to the same school). Please break the numbers down by primary and secondary. Please also break the numbers down by school year (September to August) for the past five years (2020/21, 2021/22, 2022/23, 2023/24, 2024/25)
Please provide the information as a spreadsheet or CSV file.
 
Please see the attached document for our response.

We trust this now satisfies your request and that you find this information to be helpful. 

If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request, you have the right to ask for an internal review. Requests should be submitted within 40 working days of the date of receipt of the response to your original request and should be addressed to: Complaints and Information Team, Nottinghamshire County Council, County Hall, Loughborough Road, West Bridgford, NOTTINGHAM, NG2 7QP or [email protected]

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, WILMSLOW, SK9 5AF or https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/foi-and-eir-complaints/

Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future communications.

Your privacy: we use your personal information such as name and address so that we can comply with our legal obligations to respond to FOI requests. For further details about the use of information about you, please see the information handling privacy notice on our website at https://www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/media/4323566/informationgovernanceandinformationrightsprivacynotice.pdf

Yours sincerely

Complaints and Information Team
Chief Executives Department
Nottinghamshire County Council

The Council is committed to protecting your privacy and ensuring all personal information is kept confidential and safe. For more details see our general and service specific privacy notices at: https://www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/global-content/privacy


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