A CAMPAIGN by Worcestershire heads to win a fairer cash deal for county schools is being backed by headteachers across Britain.

Leaders of the F40 group - an organisation made up of the 40 worst-funded local authorities in the country - are to ask heads and governors in other areas to give £5 each towards the cause.

Cledwyn-Davies, chairman of the Worcestershire Headteachers Forum which hopes to use a top barrister and Human Rights legislation to win the county's case, said there were plans to meet with solicitors this week.

Battling

F40 has given battling Worcestershire heads a £2,000 "unsecured loan" against funds being raised to pay for legal representation.

"If we do go to court, then it's a test case from which, if we win it, other authorities will reap the benefits," said Mr Davies, headteacher at Droitwich High School.

Last week, the Government announced a 6.1 per cent increase in education funding for Worcestershire, equating to £12.3m.

But Mr Davies maintains Worcestershire has not

been given as good a deal as most other shire counties.

And he claims that the £12.3m is misleading.

When a £1.3m support grant - paid last year - is combined with 3.5 per cent 'school' inflation, as well as extra cash needed to fund a growth in pupil numbers and increasing responsibility for special educational needs, the cash rise is as little as £1m.

"Having studied the settlement further, it's clearly unacceptable and the county's schools have been failed badly by the Government," said Mid-Worcestershire MP Peter Luff.

"The headteachers are right to take legal action and this money will give more power to their elbow."

But City MP Mike Foster said: "Everybody acknowledges this is the highest increase in the education standard spending assessment Worcestershire's ever had.

"I don't know where the heads are coming from and it's clear they always wanted a fight - regardless of what the settlement was.

"That's unfortunate, because the opportunity's there for us to set about using the extra £12m to raise standards in our schools."