WORCESTERSHIRE'S schools, which warned of a cash crisis at the start of last year, have managed to stash an extra £2m in the bank.

The total amount of unspent "reserves" held by county schools stands at £14.2m, even though 21 of Worcestershire County Council's 260 schools ended the year in the red.

Headteachers at these schools had overspends ranging from less than £1,000 to £129,000.

The financial position of all the county's schools has been revealed to councillors but has been stamped "confidential".

Schools have control over their spending and those which have reserves of £30,000, or more than five per cent of their budget, will be asked to explain themselves to the council.

A total of 90 primary, 28 secondary and eight special schools exceed this figure - which is designed to protect them from "unknown events".

The latest Ofsted inspection of the local authority, published earlier this year, criticised the size of unspent school reserves - one of which was more than £456,000.

Worcester MP Mike Foster said it showed that the schools were getting enough money from the Government. But Christopher Whitehead High School headteacher Neil Morris accused Mr Foster of false accounting.

"It's wrong of Mike Foster to say this and he knows it," he said. "For example, we were given two grants on March 31 - the very end of the financial year - so it looks as though we had saved money.

"While we were grateful for the one-off grants, and have spent them gladly, we are one of 15 schools that I know of, who have made teachers redundant, which none of us would do if we had enough money."

Director of education Julien Kramer met 120 primary school headteachers and told them to spend any excess to avoid undermining the county's bid for fair funding.

Primary schools reserves stand at £7.1m, an increase from £6.6m. Secondary reserves are £6.6m, up from £5m and special schools have £400,000, down from £500,000.