COUNCILS face the loss of millions of pounds in government funding even if they narrowly fail to meet their share of new targets on teacher numbers.

David O'Neill, president of Cosla, claims local authorities which just miss out on meeting the figures for teachers will still face heavy financial penalties.

He added a council losing one teacher would be treated the same as a local authority losing 50.

The local authority umbrella body issued the warning in a letter sent to all leaders following a crisis meeting between the organisation and the government.

They are in dispute over demands made on councils to maintain teacher numbers and pupil teacher ratios or lose millions of pounds of funding.

Deputy First Minister John Swinney has offered councils £51 million if they maintain both their teacher numbers and their pupil-teacher ratio.

After the meeting last week, Mr O'Neill wrote to leaders stating that officials had confirmed that each council participating in the deal must meet its commitments "absolutely exactly".

He said: "My concern is that the harshness of this regime undoubtedly means there will be councils who in good faith accept Mr Swinney's proposals, but are sanctioned in December due to circumstances they cannot control.

"If a council fails to meet the exact number of teachers required, even by one teacher, the whole sanction of their share of the £51 million will be applied.

"Similarly, given changes in pupil numbers, if a council's pupil teacher ratio rises even minimally the whole sanction will be applied. No flexibility will be allowed to a council just because its existing ratio is well below the national average."

Mr O'Neill said that meant there would be no difference between a council losing one teacher as opposed to a council losing 50.

"Most surprisingly", he added, the Government had confirmed that, even if a council could demonstrate it had done everything in its power to meet its targets, but failed because of circumstances outside its immediate control, the full sanction would still be applied.

The row blew up after Mr Swinney blamed local authorities for breaking an SNP promise on teacher numbers, which have dropped dramatically since 2007.

The party has placed the retention of teachers at the heart of its education policy, but councils argue the number of teachers has no direct correlation to educational standards and the penalties are unfair.

With Cosla refusing to sign up to the £51m package, Mr Swinney invited individual councils to sign up for the deal or face losing their share of the cash before tomorrow. (fri)

More than 20 of the country's 32 local authorities have already agreed in principle to protect the number of teachers they employ in return for additional funding. However, Mr O'Neill said that was not the case for all councils.

He said: "It is clear that the Government expect all councils to agree to these proposals, from correspondence I know already that this won't be these case, and they intend to use this information to suggest that local government supports the deal.

"I suspect many councils will be in a position where, as a result of financial penalties, they feel they have to comply. It is important to our on-going work on this matter that if councils are in this situation they make it clear in their letters to Mr Swinney that their agreement is given under duress rather than willingly."

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said it is firmly committed to maintaining both teacher numbers and the pupil-teacher ratio.

He added: "Having not only the highest quality but also the right number of teachers in our schools to support our pupils is a policy we would hope all local authorities will support.

"The Deputy First Minister made clear to Parliament two weeks ago that we would offer Local Authorities £51 million - including an additional £10 million over and above last year's settlement - specifically to support teacher numbers.

"Each council's funding is contingent on them maintaining both their teacher number and their pupil-teacher ratio. Ministers have made clear that the conditions of the offer will not change and welcome the increasing number of local authorities who have indicated their interest in the offer."