SCHOOLS in Bradford could miss out on their share of over £5 million cash to boost young people’s lives unless they act quickly, a committee has warned.

Bradford was recently named an “opportunity area” by the Department for Education, meaning it is getting an £11 million boost to improve the life chances of young people.

It includes £5 million Essential Life Skills funding, designed to boost social mobility. Each Bradford school is given a “virtual” share of that cash, and can apply to unlock the money by detailing schemes they plan to run with the funding.

However schools only have until next Friday, March 9, to submit their applications, and concerns have been raised that not all schools would have their applications in in time.

The Opportunity Area scheme was discussed at a meeting of Bradford Council’s Children’s Services Scrutiny Committee on Tuesday. Kathryn Loftus, programme director, said the funding would help schools run after school activities to help young people, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds, reach their potential.

Some members of the committee questioned the short period of time schools had to make their applications, and if the scheme had been communicated well enough.

Joyce Simpson, Church of England representative on the committee, said: “What about schools that miss this deadline? I know how long it can take to apply for different pots of funding when you are a school.

“If the government funded schools properly in the first place we wouldn’t have to be dancing about to access different pots of money.”

Tom Bright, secondary school representative, said: “I’m not sure all schools know about this. I think you do have to look at improving the communication to schools.”

Mrs Loftus pointed out that she had written to every headteacher in Bradford, that the details were posted on Bradford Schools Online and that there had been two briefing sessions for schools. She said the deadline was needed so the Council could put its funding requests together in time. She added: “It is quite a simple application form, I don’t think it is too onerous an application process. Schools did know this was coming from before Christmas.”

Committee chair Councillor Dale Smith noted the concerns about how many applications there would be, and asked for an update on the numbers of schools that submitted applications in time at the next meeting.

After the meeting, a Council spokesman said: “We have written directly to every headteacher in the district to make them aware of this. Details of the programme and how to apply for the funding have been published several times on a schools online page, the programme has been promoted through the media, including radio and a lead article in the Telegraph & Argus and through regular posts on social media.

“Schools have also been invited to two briefing sessions, held in Bradford and Keighley, to help them prepare their funding applications. These were attended by representatives of around 70 schools and we have received very positive feedback about how useful these sessions have been.

“We have also communicated the new Life Skills Funding through the Bradford primary head partnership, the Catholic schools heads partnership, the Education Strategic Improvement Board and to the chief executives of multi-academy trusts in the district.

“We will continue to work to ensure as many schools as possible give their pupils the chance to benefit from this funding.

“Any school that wants to find out more can email OpportunityArea.BRADFORD@education.gov.uk"