A FUNDING bonus of £1.28 million for schools' sixth forms in Swindon and Wiltshire has been announced.

Total sixth form allocation for the financial year beginning next April has been provisionally set at £14.5 million.

This amounts to a £1.28 million increase on funding for the current year, and is a real terms increase of £925,000. Education chiefs claim this will go some way towards redressing the funding deficit between Swindon and much of the rest of the country.

The increase will come from Government funds, which are part of £1.356 billion transferred to its Learning and Skills Council (LSC). The LSC is distributing the money nationwide on the basis of the individual needs of schools and colleges.

Gary Williams, executive director of the Learning and Skills Council Swindon and Wiltshire, said: "This is the first step in the Government's intention to level the funding playing field.

"I am delighted that local schools and pupils will now benefit from the same level of funds enjoyed by sixth formers elsewhere in the country. Our long term objective is to introduce this level of funding into other learning routes at the earliest opportunity."