The party's manifesto includes plans to remove restrictions that currently only allow parents to use childcare providers that are registered with the education watchdog Ofsted.
The document criticises "perverse government policies" for creating a shortage of childcare places and inflated prices, and promises to "de-regulate and simplify an increasingly fragmented system".
But National Day Nurseries Association chief executive Purnima Tanuku said the proposed policy "raises safeguarding concerns".
"This proposal opens up the possibility for taxpayers' money to be used to pay for childcare at organisations that are not subject to regulation," she said.
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