A 39-YEAR-OLD mother who falsified her child’s birth certificate so the youngster could attend school a year early has been spared jail because she is expecting another baby in August.
Assistant Magistrate Adam Clarke instead sentenced the woman, who the JEP has decided not to name in order to protect the identity of her child, to 150 hours of community service and a nine-month probation order.
The Magistrate’s Court heard that the child was born on 11 September 2018, but the mother had told a nursery school the child had been born on 11 August that year, ensuring that the child was placed in the academic year above. Academic years run from 1 September to 31 August.
The woman also put down the false date of birth when filling in forms for the government’s Nursery Education Fund – which pays part of the fees for nursery school.
Advocate Katie Ridley, prosecuting, said she had therefore obtained £7,638 from the fund a year earlier than she would have been entitled to it.
The falsehood only came to light when the child had reached primary school – and a head teacher noticed the child’s birth certificate had been altered.
Advocate Ridley said that when the woman was arrested on 13 January this year, she asked the police: “Is it really that serious?”
Advocate Sarah Dale, defending, said the woman had not gained financially from the fraud, as she would have received the nursery school funding the following year.
And she said the mother had wanted the child to start school earlier in order to stretch her academically.
“This absolutely wasn’t motivated financially,” the advocate insisted.
“She felt that her child needed to be challenged mentally.
“She didn’t feel as if she was defrauding anyone or doing anything very wrong.”
The court heard that the woman had a previous conviction for falsely claiming £39,000 in income support over a number of years, although Advocate Dale said the money had been set aside for her children’s education and had been repaid in full.
“It wasn’t spent on anything lavish or frivolous,” she said.
The Assistant Magistrate told the woman: “You might not have thought this was serious, but it was serious.
“In other circumstances prison would be the most likely outcome.”
He said he would grant her extra time to complete the community service order as she was pregnant.
