It is extrememly easy to cheat, the Birth certificate is just to prove child?s name and age (most people have moved since the birth), you can have your Child benefit redirected to any address with one phone call to say you have moved (the payment into you bank account will be unaffected.) It's the same with council tax, if I rang the council and said I had moved in with my relative/friend and asked to have my name put on their council tax they will send me a letter straight away, I've checked it out with the council. All you need is someone happy to take part in the fraud and pass on any letters. Also many relatives have the same name so they just pass it off as their own. It goes on all the time, I know of quite a few who have done it, someone I know who lives miles away has used Grandma?s address all the way through from Dulwich Infants to The Charter. There isn't any deterrent so they might as well have a go, once they have a place they tell the school they have moved and all the siblings get in. According to one of my daughters friends in year 11 there are about 8 pupils that say they used false addresses, one (who lives in Crystal Palace) even used a relative's shop in Dulwich village!