The Admissions Code deals with applications for admission where the applicant has not told the truth. It is one of the very few situations in which a place may, in certain circumstances, be withdrawn.
Our sister 11KBW blog on information law, https://www.panopticonblog.com/, has an entry for 2nd August written by our colleague Robin Hopkins, dealing with the decision of the Investigatory Powers Tribunal that Poole DC had misued surveillance powers under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 when it sought to police admission applications.
As Robin reports, the Council suspected that an applicant may have lied about living in the catchment area of a sought-after primary school in Dorset. For about 3 weeks, therefore, it covertly monitored the family.
The IPT found that:
(1) investigating a potentially fraudulent school application was not a proper purpose in the sense required by RIPA;
(2) the Council’s actions were in any event disproportionate, in that they were not necessary to achieve that aim; and
(3) the Council’s actions had breached the family’s rights under Article 8 of the ECHR.
Peter Oldham QC
Tags: admissions, information law