Heads get cash to recruit staff

Head teachers in many parts of England are to be given £44m to help them recruit and retain "the very best" staff in the coming year.

The Department for Education claims the funding - allocated through 70 local education authorities - will mean some schools receiving an extra £44,000 from April 2002.

Stephen Timms says the cash will put heads "in the driving seat"

The cash is aimed primarily at secondary schools in high-cost or challenging areas - most notably London and the South East - which have struggled in the current climate of teacher shortages.

But local education authorities will be able to spend up to 20% of their allocation on primary schools where there is a particular need.

Click here for a table of allocations

The authorities of Essex and Kent get the most cash, with each earmarked to receive £2,120 and £2,241 respectively.

Of the London boroughs, Croydon is awarded the most cash at £1,041.

And the smallest slice of the cake - £104 - goes to the Isle of Wight.

'Tailor-made'

The government says the money will give head teachers the power to create their own recruitment packages tailored to their schools' needs and specific circumstances.

It is suggested heads spend the extra cash on initiatives such as:

• housing subsidies for teachers
• support for childcare and wider family care
• travel costs
• recruitment campaigns covering groups of schools
• additional salary payments to improve recruitment and retention.

The School Standards Minister, Stephen Timms, said the package would help many heads in high-cost areas tackle the challenge of recruiting and retaining the very best teachers.

"Heads are in the driving seat here. They are best placed - in partnership with local authorities - to target money where it will be put to most effective use.

"Whether it's helping teachers with their travel costs or boosting pay directly, heads know best how to attract and keep the staff they need," said Mr Timms.

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The table below shows recruitment and retention fund allocations for 2002-03

LEA	£ for 2002 (thousands)
Kent	2,241
Essex	2,120
Hampshire	1,885
Norfolk	1,203
Suffolk	1,066
Croydon	1,041
Newham	1,019
Enfield	1,012
Barnet	1,009
Bromley	991
Hertfordshire	916
Redbridge	895
Ealing	887
Hillingdon	851
Bexley	845
Brent	799
Buckinghamshire	792
Tower Hamlets	786
Havering	784
Hounslow	749
Greenwich	747
Southwark	737
Lewisham	736
Waltham Forest	736
Surrey	733
Haringey	713
East Sussex	703
Luton	671
Bedfordshire	668
Barking and Dagenham	619
Sutton	617
Harrow	608
Wandsworth	599
Lambeth	582
West Sussex	558
Hackney	554
Sandwell	538
Islington	506
Leicester	501
Camden	486
Merton	479
Medway	478
Thurrock	467
Oxfordshire	445
Wolverhampton	441
Kingston upon Thames	429
Nottingham	421
Richmond upon Thames	414
Cambridgeshire	411
Derby	398
Westminster	388
Hammersmith and Fulham	369
Milton Keynes	362
North Tyneside	329
Southampton	323
Brighton and Hove	318
Swindon	316
Portsmouth	280
Southend-on-Sea	276
Blackburn with Darwen	270
Herefordshire	259
Wokingham	252
Kensington and Chelsea	235
Slough	207
Windsor and Maidenhead	202
Reading	181
Bracknell Forest	159
Peterborough	156
West Berkshire	129
Isle of Wight	104

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