Parents are being told to provide evidence they can no longer afford private school fees to guarantee a place at a state school.
An email sent out by Buckinghamshire Council showed a mother being told her daughter had been rejected by two local secondary schools because "they are full."
After this, she was requested to give evidence of her financial situation in order for her daughter to be considered for another school in the area.
It comes after the mother, who asked to remain anonymous, had applied for a place at two schools via the council’s online portal amid fears she could be priced out of her daughter’s private school by the Government’s VAT raid.
The council has apologised for its wording in the email
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The email from Buckinghamshire council seen by The Telegraph said: "Unfortunately we cannot offer any places at your preferred school/s as they are full”.
"In this circumstance, we would normally advocate that [the child] should remain at their current school.
"However, if you can provide evidence that you can no longer finance the independent school fees, please advise and we can make a local authority non-preference allocation."
A spokesman for Buckinghamshire Council said they wanted to "apologise for the choice of language" and insisted it did not reflect any formal policy.
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The law states that all children in England between the ages of five and 16 are entitled to a free place at a state school. The Government’s school admissions code also states that in some cases, local authorities may seek supplementary information from parents if schools are oversubscribed.
However, the code states that councils must not ask for information relating to a family’s financial status, criminal convictions, language ability, disabilities or medical conditions.
Buckinghamshire Council’s website claims it has received a "large number of applications" for schools in Aylesbury and High Wycombe, and that schools are currently oversubscribed.
Council data shows that just five state secondary schools out of a total of 38 in Buckinghamshire had places available for Year 7 students at the latest count in July, while only four had spaces for pupils in Year 8 and three in Year 9.
Buckinghamshire Council’s cabinet member for education and children’s services Anita Cranmer said: "We believe this wording was taken from an individual correspondence rather than being a formal policy and we apologise for the choice of language.
"We are happy to confirm this directly with the family and will not be seeking personal financial information from them or any other Buckinghamshire family.
"The intention was to seek confirmation in this case as to whether the family was relinquishing the child’s current school place and would definitely be seeking an ‘in-year’ school place even though their preferred school is full, or whether they would be staying at their current school which is often the case when families aren’t able to get a place at a preferred school."
She added that Buckinghamshire council had "seen higher numbers of ‘in year’ applications from families with children in the independent sector in recent months"
