Any extra money made available for Bradford's schools should be invested in education - not Education Bradford, says a teachers' union leader.

The plea to Bradford Council education bosses follows Thursday's verdict by watchdog Ofsted into how the district's schools are being run.

Inspectors said improvements had been made and rated the service as 'satisfactory' but cast doubt over the ability of the Council's contract with Education Bradford to deliver higher long-term standards with the money available.

But Ian Murch, Bradford branch secretary at the NUT, said that more Government cash would be 'compensating failure'.

He said: "The reason Education Bradford is asking for more money is that it has not met its targets, so it did not get the bonuses it thought it would.

"It is now having difficulties selling its services to other Councils. It needs Bradford Council to compensate it for not making that money.

"We think the Council should say to Serco, you took on this contract, you should make it work."

The original ten-year contract between Bradford Council and Serco was set at £360 million with annual reviews since 2001.

In 2003, an extra £1.5 million was given, but this included £660,000 for unanticipated extra work, and earlier this month a further £1 million was agreed.

Chairman of Bradford Council's young people and education improvement committee, Councillor Phil Thornton, agreed: "There is a gap in the provision for schools in special measures and serious weakness and that has to be filled somehow.

"If the Council is looking to extend the contract to fund that gap, that is one thing, but I will not be sympathetic if Education Bradford just throws it at shareholders.

"I understand they are a commercial organisation and they need to make a profit, but they came here with that contract and have found that it could not be achieved. Every year since then we have increased the money we have given them."

Councillor Dale Smith, the Council's executive member for education, said future spending depended on the outcome of a post-Ofsted action plan and an independent review, both to be completed over the summer. He said: "It is too early to say how any money will be allocated."

Mark Pattison, managing director of Education Bradford, has already vowed the company would make the contract work whether it led to more Government money or not.