A study has found that without support, councils could struggle to meet their duty by the deadline of April 2008.
Some authorities did not even understand the duty, which requires them to be able to provide parents who want to use childcare with information, advice and assistance.
The duty states that parents should be able to access information about parenting classes, resources, services for disabled children, information for fathers and a "brokerage" service for parents who can't easily find suitable childcare.
The research, for parent information organisation Opportunity Links, showed just one-quarter of directors of children's services surveyed had a plan in place to comply with this duty. Paul Bogen, managing director of Opportunity Links, said: "It is clear that the information duties section of the Childcare Act is currently not the highest priority and local authorities are extremely over-stretched and under-resourced.
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