A multicultural society has its benefits, but it can also have financial implications.

That is especially true for schools who have to adjust to the changing demographics and that is something that Bradford is discovering as the population evolves to encompass people from different parts of the world.

An influx of immigrant families from Eastern European countries especially has placed certain financial burdens on schools, with resources needing to be diverted into coping with new children who don't have English as a first language.

However, it seems that although there is a funding process in place for helping schools in this regard, many schools are losing out because of the way this financial help is allocated.

Schools can access money, particularly through the recently instituted Pupil Premium system, but it is only freed up under certain circumstances, and one of those is basing the amount of cash schools get on the number of children in receipt of free school meals.

But many Eastern European families who are recently arrived in Bradford do not qualify for benefits, therefore their children do not get fee school meals, and schools lose out on funding through the Pupil Premium and other sources.

It is evident that while this system might well work for some schools in some areas, it is unfair that other schools should lose out because of the way benefits and school funding is tied together.

There should be an overhaul of the system to allow schools to access this funding through a different set of criteria. Schools are not necessarily asking the government to provide more cash - though that would of course be welcome - just to be given a fair chance to access money which is already available.