A plan has been drawn up to help Oxfordshire County Council combat a financial black hole resulting from new academies.

County Hall is hoping to raise millions in income by offering its services to new academies which were created to break free of local education authority control.

The council is proposing to provide financial and human resources services, such as accounting and payroll.

It is even expected to offer to supply the new academies with school meals.

It will also offer its services to academies in other local authority areas including Milton Keynes and Buckinghamshire.

A county council paper submitted to deputy leader David Robertson said: “In order to mitigate the risk of reducing income levels, approval is sought to undertake work for any academy or free school or organisations where the relevant service were previously provided by the county council.

“This will not fully protect income levels because some academies will seek to support services from elsewhere.”

County council spokesman Owen Morton said its total income from work undertaken at schools was currently around £17m. It is not known how much the new scheme would raise.

Chris Blakey, Oxfordshire representative on the National Union of Teachers executive, said: “It seems to me chickens are now coming home to roost. When I recently read the county council leader’s comments on academies I was tempted to say ‘we told you so’.”