A school has agreed to pay £10,000 compensation to its former finance officer who blew the whistle about its financial irregularities.

Elizabeth Mitchell has been awarded the out-of-tribunal settlement against Oakbank School, Keighley, after she said she was forced to resign by her actions which sparked a police and Government probe.

The irregularities involved the school's declaration of business sponsorship which led it to being granted Sports College status in 1996 triggering nearly £1 million of extra Government funding.

Following her revelations last summer, the school was stripped of its status but was later reinstated after Schools Minister Estelle Morris eventually accepted the school's explanation that it had misunderstood the funding rules.

But Mrs Mitchell, 52, of Riddlesden, claimed she was forced to resign after blowing the whistle because the stress she had been subjected to had made her position untenable.

She was one of the first people in the country to use the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 - dubbed the Whistle Blowers' Charter - to raise her concerns with the Funding Agency for Schools.

The Act gives legal protection against harassment and victimisation.

City Hall union Unison immediately took her case to an employment tribunal claiming unfair dismissal.

Cliff Williams, Unison's regional secretary, said today that Mrs Mitchell could have sought a higher payment, but she had been told the school was not insured for a claim and any payment to her would have come from money meant for the pupils.

Mrs Mitchell said: "I didn't want to deprive pupils of vital funding but I very much wanted the principle to be established. I couldn't go along with it.

"It was a nightmare simply for doing my job and refusing to turn a blind eye to financial practices which I believed were illegal.

"I am now employed by a charity, at a much reduced salary, but the money isn't important. To have my professional integrity once again valued and respected is a marvellous feeling.

"It has been a nightmare and I couldn't have got through it without the support of my family and Unison."

Keighley Labour MP Ann Cryer said Mrs Mitchell was right to take her concerns to the Department For Education and Employment.

"All schools must be transparent in their financial dealings and exercise the utmost financial probity with respect to bids for additional funding," she said.

"I think she has been an extremely honourable person. Not only did she do what she felt she had to do, she knew she risked her career.

"She is a very rare person. She put the school before everything else."

Mr Williams said: "She has been placed under enormous and completely unjust pressure but has shown great courage. We are proud to have someone like Mrs Mitchell as a member.

"The fact that she did not proceed to seek much more substantial compensation because it would have affected the pupils speaks volumes about the sort of person she is

"We now have a whistle blowers' charter enshrined in the law and it is disgraceful that Mrs Mitchell was treated in such a grossly unfair way for exercising her legal, moral and professional rights."

Oakbank head teacher Mr Roberts declined to comment on the case today.

The irregularities involved Oakbank using funds from the Oakbank Recreation Centre - used by the public - as a business sponsorship source when it applied for sports college status.

Schools Minister Estelle Morris said it was a recycling of public funds and was not acceptable as a source of business funding.

Mr Roberts said then that the school had not understood that by accountancy definitions it was public money.

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