INVERCLYDE schools are set to lose up to £2 million a year under Scottish Government plans to end a fund aimed at closing the poverty gap in education.

The move has been condemned by local leaders who have branded the decision 'unforgivable', saying that it will ruin all the work done to help local pupils from poor backgrounds.

Inverclyde was one of the first areas to benefit from the government's attainment challenge fund, which targeted funding directly at schools in deprived areas.

Now in a shock move the government is pushing ahead with plans to redistribute the money among all 32 local authority areas.

Council leader Stephen McCabe said: "There is no doubt that this will have an impact.

"It means we will be able to do less than we are currently doing at present.

"Ideally I would have liked the Scottish Government to have increased the amount of funding available rather than just share the same amount of funding among all 32 councils but they weren’t prepared to do that.

"However myself and the leaders of the other eight 'challenge authorities' did persuade our counterparts in the 23 non-challenge authorities to agree to phasing the reduction in our funding over four years."

At the moment Inverclyde receives £3m a year to pay for work in a number of schools to raise the literacy and numeracy levels.

The policy was introduced amid growing concern about the gap in attainment and widely regarded as a success locally.

As part of the funding package additional measures like parents groups, holidays clubs and family support workers were all put in place.

But the government is now bringing an end to the fund and instead of providing targeted support they will distribute money to all 32 local authorities.

Alba councillor Chris McEleny says the decision is a big blow to Inverclyde.

He told the Telegraph: "We have been ranked as the most deprived area in Scotland.

"We don’t need to repeat all of the wrong league tables that we are at the top of, so for the government to make this decision - which which will run a wrecking ball through all the good work our schools have been doing - is appalling.

“Deprivation is at the heart of so many of the challenges we face.

"Ensuring that the educational attainment gap between the richest and poorest households in Inverclyde reduces is vitally important to achieving better outcomes in the future.

"To implement a funding cut of over £2 million to Inverclyde’s education funding is unforgivable.

"If the Scottish Parliament wants to increase funding to more affluent areas then they should not do this by robbing the most deprived areas in the country."

Confirming the decision in the Scottish Parliament, education secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville defended the decision

She said: “Poverty exists in every local authority in Scotland, and that’s exactly why we’ve taken the decision we have.”

The education secretary said the government had worked closely with the local authority umbrella body Cosla on the changes.