CASH-STRAPPED schools in Worcestershire are paying teachers higher salaries than counties which receive bigger Government grants, it emerged today.

Mid Worcestershire MP Peter Luff said the "dynamite" figures reinforced the need for the county to be given a huge cash boost by Ministers.

He said they must reject the four new funding formulas proposed by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister this week and seek a better deal.

The best case scenario being proposed by the Government would see spending rise by 1.1 per cent - or £56 per pupil.

Tory MP Mr Luff said this was not enough. The cost of employing teachers - about three-quarters of all educational costs - is higher in Worcestershire than in 61 other council areas, including Oxfordshire, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Surrey.

But all these counties receive extra funding because their costs are supposed to be higher. The average teacher in Worcestershire is paid £25,110 - compared to an average for the 117 education authorities outside London of £25,103.

"These figures are dynamite," said Mr Luff, who is due to address a meeting of head teachers at County Hall tonight.

"They prove what I have been saying for 10 years under successive governments - that the cost of teaching in our county is higher than in other areas whose schools get more cash.

"I believe this is because teachers tend to settle in Worcestershire and move up the pay scale. I am not saying they are overpaid - far from it - but I am saying that the Government must give us enough cash to reflect this reality.

"I have reluctantly concluded that the Government is playing politics with the funding formulae. They are trying to shift about £40m away from the counties to London - away from areas that do not vote for them to areas that do.

"The only fair formula would reflect just three things - the real cost of employing teachers, as revealed in these figures, the relative poverty of the area, as measured by average incomes in the area, and any necessary adjustment for the special needs of ethnic communities.

"That is the only basis of a fair formula. That is what we must campaign for now. We must reject this smash-and-grab raid on our schools."

City MP Mike Foster said he had been arguing for Worcestershire to be compensated for the higher costs of delivering education to local youngsters for years.

"I am delighted to see that Peter has joined me in arguing this position, as he did not do so before 1997.

"We can now have a united voice for Worcestershire on this issue and I hope it will bring great dividends."

He added that teachers' salaries were not paid exclusively from the Government's education settlement. They are also funded from by the teaching standards fund.