SCHOOLS in Worcestershire will be given less money per pupil for next year, say the county's headteachers.

The financial blow comes as the government is expected to announce £320 million worth of funding for free schools, paving the way for more grammar schools to be opened.

Sean Devlin, principal at Blessed Edward Oldcorne Catholic College, said he was shocked when he received a breakdown of his budget for next year from Worcestershire County Council and discovered the school would be £45,000 worse off.

He said: "I am given so much money per student and that is being cut across all schools.

"This is the very basic, basic funding being cut."

Mr Devlin said while the money, known as the age weighted pupil unit (AWPU), was being cut, running costs at schools were increasing.

He said: "I've got a £45,000 reduction but my numbers are stable and we are full, as we were last year.

"Add to that we have a one per cent pay increase for all staff which is another £30,000 to find.

"We have got the new apprenticeship levy which is 0.5 per cent.

"What we are cutting is the basic funding per child in a time when they say they are protecting schools and trying to address inequality.

"It's a joke but it's not a joke it's so serious.

"We will be struggling this year."

Mr Devlin has written to Worcester MP Robin Walker while Clive Corbett, head at Pershore High School, said he would also be writing to all of Worcestershire's MPs in his role as chairman of the schools forum.

He said heads and governors had agreed they had serious concerns about current and future funding at a meeting last week.

He said: "I've rarely encountered quite so many negative heads and governors.

"There is no new money and we are faced with having to make some serious decisions.

"It is not a good situation."

He added: "We are not going to let kids suffer and we will make it work but there's a feeling that when you've already cut to the bone, you may have to cut limbs off next."

Mr Corbett said: "It costs exactly the same amount to run a school in Worcestershire as elsewhere with the exception of London.

"Our budget is down - mine is £40,000-£50,000 down in 2017/18 - but we are still facing increased costs."

A spokesman for Worcestershire County Council said the base rates for this year were the same as last year - £2,857.77 for primary, £3,909.01 for KS3 and £4,438.27 for KS4.
However, last year's budgets included a one-off funding boost of £28.50 per pupil to help alleviate cost pressures in schools.

Mr Walker said he had received Mr Devlin's letter and had met with another head and would be taking the issue up with Nick Gibb, schools minister.
 

He said: "I will be pushing back on this and asking why there should be this reduction and getting an explanation on this."

Mr Walker said all of the county's secondary schools were set to gain if proposed changes to the national funding formula went ahead.