The coalition, using the Academies Act which was passed in July 2010, paved the way for all primary and secondary schools rated as “outstanding” by education watchdog Ofsted to apply to become academies.

The programme was again extended in April to include schools which were “performing well” with results towards or above the national average, as well as all other schools in a formal partnership with a school that is performing well.

Schools also receive £25,000 from the Department for Education towards conversion costs, and after becoming an academy, can gain control of up to 10 per cent of its budget which would have been previously retained by the local authority to pay for authority-wide services.

Coun Lawrence, who has been a vocal critic of Education Secretary Michael Gove’s push for greater numbers of academies, called on the Department for Education to “level the playing field” by compensating local authorities.

He said: “Those schools which wish to become an academy receive £25,000 from the Department for Education, and I do not have a problem with that, as that is money to support their application process.

“What I do have concerns about is the department is not assisting local authorities in dealing with schools who want to become academies. It is not what I would call our ‘day job’.

"Our day job is looking after schools, management, the youth services and so on. If the department wants to offset our costs, then that would be proper and appropriate.”

Figures released by Government last month showed that 1,070 schools nationwide have applied to be an academy since June 2010 – 240 since April.

Mr Gove said the application numbers showed a “fundamental shift in power away from government and towards teachers”.

He said: “Teachers, not politicians or bureaucrats, know best how to run schools.

“Schools want the freedom to decide what is best for their pupils. They want to be free to innovate in the classroom, inspiring pupils to learn.”

Coun Lawrence revealed in April how the drive to transform schools into academies has cost the council £100,000 as its staff deal with applications.

He said the council was “working flat out” to deal with applications from city schools wishing to leave local authority control.

Coun Lawrence ordered a “financial audit” in February to determine exactly how much is being spent by the authority on handling applications.

He said a team of 17 staff were dealing with legal and HR matters concerning academy applications “in addition” to their normal workload.