THE Government has confirmed that extra cash will be paid to Worcestershire's hard-pressed schools.

The cash boost is to compensate the county council for the impact of a change in the way money is allocated for post-16 education.

Last week, the Evening News revealed the county had been hit hard by the rule change, which will cut Worcestershire's budget by almost £4m.

Now, in a written Parliamentary answer to Mid-Worcestershire MP Peter Luff, Schools Minister Stephen Timms has confirmed that details of a grant to the council will be finalised next month.

Mr Timms has not disclosed the size of the grant, which will top up the spending settlement that split MPs and head teachers when it was announced earlier this month.

''The council will have to calculate just how much extra cash this means for local schools, but anything that reduces the growing gap between us and other counties is welcome,'' Mr Luff said.

The case for extra cash centres on the amount of money that is to be deducted from the council's budget to pay for post-16 learning.

In the past, the council has been in charge of allocating the money, a job that has now passed to the Learning and Skills Council.

The council estimated that it would spend £12.2m on post 16-learning in this financial year, but the sum of money to be taken off the council's education budget and given to the LSC to cover next year's spending is £16.07m

Neighbouring Warwickshire, which is expected to spend the same amount as Worcestershire, has had only £14.257m sliced from its budget.

Worcester MP Mike Foster last week revealed that he was confident the discrepancy could be ''exploited'' to win extra cash for the county's schools.

Today, he said: ''On top of next year's record increase for Worcestershire schools, it now seems that the Government will correct the anomaly in post-16 funding that was highlighted last week.

''I am delighted about this because I think Worcestershire has been disadvantaged more than our neighbours, such as Warwickshire. I am looking forward to an announcement in January that will bring more cheer to local schools.''

Mr Luff has urged the county's head teachers to press ahead with their legal challenge to the Government.