A FAMILY is facing prosecution for trying to "cheat" their child into a popular Scottish school.

In the first case of its kind in Scotland East Dunbartonshire Council has reported the parents of a pupil to the Crown Office.

The move came after concerns that documents used by the family to prove where they lived were fraudulent.

Currently, only parents living in a designated catchment area are guaranteed entry to their local primary or secondary school.

Those living further afield are only allowed access through a placing request if the school has enough spaces available.

East Dunbartonshire runs some of the highest performing state schools in the country including Bearsden Academy and Douglas Academy, which regularly top league tables.

Ian Black, the council’s director of finance, said: “Every person enrolling a child in an East Dunbartonshire school must bring along documents proving their residency in the catchment area for the school.

“We conduct investigations when we have reason to query an individual’s residency and, in the last three years, the corporate fraud team has received ten referrals regarding alleged fraud.

“Five cases of fraud were identified resulting in a school or early years place being refused and one case has recently been submitted to the Crown Office for consideration of criminal proceedings. This is a first for a Scottish local authority.”

The prosecution emerged after six families in Edinburgh lost their school places after being caught giving false statements to get their children into popular primaries.

A crackdown by Edinburgh City Council’s fraud team saw the six offers of places withdrawn and several other families dropping their requests when they discovered they were being investigated.

In some cases, families were also found to be fraudulently claiming housing and council tax benefits and were then forced to repay the money.

In one instance, where a tenant was discovered to be sub-letting their council house, they lost their tenancy.

Paul Godzik, convener of education for Edinburgh, said: “We know this is an issue that concerns many parents and we take it very seriously.

"If we believe there is a possibility that fraud is being committed, we will investigate. If we discover this to be the case we will withdraw the school place."

A spokeswoman for East Renfrewshire Council, which is home to some of the country’s best performing state schools, said they had put a “rigorous application system” in place to prevent such cases.

When registering for a school place for the first time, parents need to provide a council tax demand notice and a recent utility bill.

When pupils move from primary to secondary they are allocated a place based on the current address information held by their school, but spot checks are carried out to ensure this is accurate.