A new semi-microscopic functional for studying adsorption of ⁴He on solid surfaces is presented. In this proposal the helium.helium interaction is screened at small distances by the pair distribution function g(r) and, in addition, the contribution which plays an important role in the interpretation of the experimental static response function is written in terms of the gradient of g(r). This functional reproduces the usual test properties. Moreover, a detailed comparison with results of the Orsay.Trento density functional is performed.