Nearly a quarter of parents have moved house to be within their desired school catchment area, a survey has found.

Twenty-four per cent of parents with school-age children have either already bought or rented a new property to secure an address near to where they want their child to be educated, according to Santander Mortgages.

The survey found that families willing to move are prepared to pay a 12 per cent premium for their desired catchment area, equivalent to an extra £26,800 in the current property market - slightly under the average full-time salary in the UK of £28,2133.

Fifty-one per cent of families who have moved to be within a catchment area had sold their previous property, but 30 per cent said they had bought a second home.

Nineteen of those who moved to be in a catchment area rented a property to secure their desired address.

The survey found that parents make sacrifices to be located within a sought-after catchment area. Twenty per cent of those who moved had changed jobs, 20 per cent said they were forced to downsize and 19 per cent moved to an area where they did not feel safe.

Twenty-five per cent of parents also admit they overstretched themselves by paying more for the property than they could afford and 26 per cent moved to a location far away from family or friends.

Temporary moves

However, the survey suggests that the moves made by many of these families are temporary. More than 44 per cent of those who moved to be within a catchment area expect to leave as soon as their child has secured a place, rising to 66 per cent of parents in London.

Commenting on the findings, Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the NAHT headteachers’ union, said: “The obvious point here is that this disadvantages poorer families who cannot afford to move into the catchment areas of apparently strong-performing schools.”

“Successive governments have made much of parental choice but surely what parents really want is for their local school to be attractive enough to make moving house unnecessary.

“Proper investment to enable all schools to succeed is the answer, not ever-more convoluted admissions policies.”

In its manifesto for the 2017 general election, the Conservatives set out plans to review the admissions system to deal with “the unfairness of selection by house price”.

However, since the election concerns have been raised that the government will drop the review.

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