The government has launched a new consultation that would transform the current school admissions code to make it fairer and more open.

Under the proposals, schools in England would be allowed to prioritise places for disadvantaged youngsters, to "provide greater freedom".

This, ministers explained in an official document, would support social mobility by ensuring schools are more diverse.

As such, it is the government's intention to empower state schools to give precedence to children who are eligible for pupil premium or service premium funding.

Other changes would include bringing forward dates for admission authorities to discuss their plans with local authorities and lower consultation times from eight to six weeks.

"The pupil premium is additional funding provided to schools to support disadvantaged pupils from reception to year 11 in reaching their potential and help schools reduce educational inequalities," the consultation explained.

"The funding is provided to schools and local authorities for each qualifying pupil on roll and schools are held to account for the achievement of their disadvantaged pupils through the performance tables and Ofsted."

News of this consultation follows on from the Department of Education giving permission to 30 grammar schools to change their admission procedures to give priority to disadvantaged children.

The Grammar School Heads Association (GSHA) told TES back in May that a further 58 schools are considering following suit.

Responding to the news at the time, James Turner, director of programmes at the thinktank Sutton Trust, said that this represented "an important step forward" in the education system.

"However, admissions policies are just one part of the equation," he went on to say.

"It is vital that the tests are as unbiased as possible. Schools should also reach out to a wider group of schools and pupils if the link between income and access to grammar schools is to be narrowed."