A shortage of jobs for newly-qualified teachers is being blamed on a lack of school funds.

Diana Brightling, head of teacher training at Brighton University, said students were struggling to find posts in Brighton and Hove.

She blamed the lack of vacancies on budget shortages and said some headteachers were unable to take on new recruits because they lacked the money to pay their salaries.

Three-quarters of 44 UK teacher training colleges said students were finding it harder to secure posts.

Education minister Stephen Twigg said falling pupil numbers were to blame, with 60,000 fewer primary school children expected in September. He said it could lead to smaller class sizes but pointed out there were still hundreds of vacancies across the country.

The Department for Education and Skills (DfES) has spent millions of pounds encouraging people to take up teacher training.

The Government offered a £6,000 "golden hello" and cheap loans to students in core areas where there was a shortage of staff.

Thousands of people took up the offer expecting a well-paid, secure job and a rewarding career.

However, Ms Brightling said the hard reality was that too many newly qualified teachers (NQTs) were now chasing jobs while primary schools were reducing staff.

Ms Brightling is also a governor at a Brighton school.

She said: "The significant thing is that a number of primary schools do not have the funding for the teachers they need.

"They are losing teachers who are retiring and they are not being replaced.

"Some schools have had to put two smaller classes together."

David Hawker, director of children, families and schools at Brighton and Hove City Council, said 80 to 100 newly qualified teachers started work every year.

He said: "Budgets are tight at schools and it's true a number of primaries are having to reduce staff numbers because of that.

"We have just asked schools how many NQTs will start and there is no indication at the moment that numbers will be down."

Jackie Pendergast, headteacher at Woodingdean Primary School, said: "The budget situation has deteriorated over the last two years because of increased costs.

"This will affect the number of staff in the end because you will not be able to afford them."

A spokesman for the DfES said: "The success of the Government's recruitment and retention policies has undoubtedly created more competition for posts than only a few years ago."