One in four families move house to secure school place – survey

One in four families in the UK have moved house or changed address to obtain a school place for their children, according to a new survey, with one in six saying they have deliberately bought or rented a second property within desirable catchment areas.

The survey of nearly 1,100 parents of school-age children – conducted by Opinium Research on behalf of Santander bank – also found that some parents were willing to pay a substantial premium to buy houses close to desirable schools.

Using data from the Land Registry and the Registers of Scotland, the survey found that respondents were willing to pay 18% more for a property near their favoured school – equivalent to £32,000 on the average price of nearly £180,000 in England, Wales and Scotland.

Parents in London – where property prices are well above the national average – were more likely to pay a higher premium of £77,000 on a house costing £474,000. But those surveyed in the north-east and Scotland were paying the highest premium in terms of percentage: 21% in Scotland, adding £34,000, and 21% in the north-east, adding £21,000.

In Wales, where the average house price was £117,000, families were paying a further 15%, or £17,000, to be within range of a desirable school. Only in Yorkshire and Humberside was the school premium percentage in single figures: 8%, or £9,500, on top of an average house sale worth £123,000.

“With competition for school places fiercer than ever, parents are making significant financial and lifestyle sacrifices to be within the catchment area of desirable schools,” said Miguel Sard, Santander UK’s managing director of mortgages.

“All buyers will have a wish list of what they want their new home to have, and being within a certain school catchment is increasingly common among young families but can often come at a cost.”

Many of those surveyed – weighted by income groups according to the UK population – who had bought a new house said they had to work extra hours or change jobs as a result. One in four of the 287 buyers reported that they had “paid significantly more for a property” than they could afford.

The bulk of state schools in England and Wales admit pupils based on their proximity to the school, meaning that the closer a family lives to their preferred school, the more likely they are to gain entrance.

The recent baby boom in England has put greater pressure on school places, especially for the parents of primary school-age children in south-east England and in cities such as Birmingham and Brighton, which have experienced rapid growth in recent years.

Of those parents with children aged four to 18, about 10% said they had sold their old house and moved to a new one within a desired school catchment area.

A further 11% said they had bought a second property in a specific catchment, and 5% said they had rented a second property for the same reason – which comes close to breaking the rules set by local authorities governing admissions to schools in their area.

Councils generally require applications to be made from a child’s main residence – and councils such as Camden and Islington in north London have uncovered multiple examples of parents using mail-drop addresses in order to appear closer to sought-after schools.

In one high-profile case in north London, a couple bribed a builder who was renovating a house near a highly desirable school to forward mail to their real address. But they later lost a school place after they were caught out by neighbours.

In most cases, local authorities require evidence of council tax payment and electoral-roll registration as proof of address – meaning there is little to stop parents renting or buying a property and using it as a basis to apply, so long as they are not paying council tax on a second residence.

The survey also found a similar number of families were considering making such moves within the next two years to obtain a school place, with 8% looking to buy a house near a school and 17% prepared to buy or rent a second property.

The figures also showed that parents of younger children were more likely to move than parents of those aged over 11.