Welsh education minister says councils have had more cash

Wales' biggest teaching union, NUT Cymru, has forecast that more than 300 teachers and support staff will receive redundancy notices by the end of the day.

Officials say schools in Wales are being underfunded by �40m, but that has been denied by the Welsh Assembly Government.

Headteachers and governors have to make up their minds on future staffing levels by Friday.

But the group representing Welsh education authorities have dismissed claims that schools are underfunded.

Fallen birthrate

The Welsh Local Government Assocation says budgets are calculated largely on the basis of pupil numbers, and budgets have fallen as the birthrate has dropped.

School redundancies Pembrokeshire: 20-25 provisional Neath Port Talbot: 31 (10 voluntary) Torfaen, Monmouth, Powys: 3 each

The National Association of Head Teachers Cymru has claimed that another �40m is needed.

But Welsh education minister Jane Davidson said central funding to local councils had gone up by 9.2% this year.

A survey by BBC Wales has confirmed that a number of Welsh counties are making teaching redundancies.

A fall in the Welsh birthrate is cutting money for schools

In Pembrokeshire, between 20-25 staff have received provisional notices, and a small number are in discussion on early retirement.

There are also 31 redundancies scheduled in Neath Port Talbot, of which 10 are voluntary. Another eight staff have been offered early retirement.

Census figures

Other areas making redundancies include Torfaen (3), Monmouth (3 nursery nurses), Gwynedd (2), and Powys (3).

Official figures show how dramatically the birthrate has fallen in recent decades.

Nearly 45,000 children were born in Wales in 1961. That had dropped to below 36,000 by 1981, and to below 31,000 in the latest census in 2001.

The Office for National Statistics said there were several reasons for the downward trend.

This included the 1960s baby boom, and the change in lifestyles which means people now marry later, more decide not to have children, and others have fewer babies.