Government pumping in funds has produced 'a spectacular own goal'

For Mary Bousted, the new leader of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, the Government's attempts to show it cares for public services by pumping in extra cash have turned into a "spectacular own goal".

Rather than celebrating Labour's largesse, schools up and down the country are being forced into deciding how many staff they can keep at the end of the summer. It is true that every local education authority has been given extra money to spend in real terms above the cost of inflation this year. The lowest increase is 3.2 per cent, the maximum ­ in Hartlepool, according to a survey published yesterday by the National Union of Teachers ­ is 9 per cent. The trouble is that the Government money isn't enough to keep pace with spiralling costs.

John Atkins, the independent consultant who did the research for the NUT, says schools need between 8 and 14 per cent more to make ends meet. This is because, for instance, the cost of teachers' salaries in many cases requires far more than the 2.9 per cent national rise approved by the pay review body.

Changes have been made in the teachers' pay scale that allow for individuals to progress more swiftly, and a £2,000 performance-related rise is also payable to good teachers who have reached the ceiling for classroom staff. In many cases, more experienced teachers are receiving rises of up to 8 or 9 per cent.

Another factor is the decision this year to adopt a new formula for distributing resources, which has moved money away from some London authorities to urban authorities in the north.

The Government says that, even given spiralling costs, a 1.1 per cent real increase has been made in funding this year. Earlier this week, David Miliband, the Schools Standards minister, said one reason why schools were having to cry hardship was that local education authorities were holding on to £500m that should have been passed on ­ an accusation denied by town hall leaders.

The trouble for the Government is that some schools will have to sack teachers at a time when it is desperate to push through its agreement with the five unions, other than the NUT, on reducing workload.

Questions need to be answered, and soon. 31 May is the deadline for schools to declare any redundancies.