Childcare charity the Daycare Trust was commissioned by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) to run Parent Champions for Childcare schemes in the London boroughs of Camden, Newham and Tower Hamlets.
Councils recruited parents to share positive experiences of formal childcare among groups where take-up is traditionally low.
Schemes that paid champions a basic hourly rate were the most successful, according to the report. "We found that the pilots that did not reward parents recruited fewer champions - and the champions they did recruit were less active," said a DCSF spokeswoman.
Daycare Trust's joint chief executive Emma Knights said: "We reached parents who didn't trust official services or wouldn't otherwise have known where to get information about childcare. Now more local authorities can use this proven model to increase take-up."
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