Disadvantaged families are missing out on free nursery hours due to poor promotion

A Department for Education study found that promotion of the entitlement was not reaching many disadvantaged families, who were in the dark about the free hours they can claim.

The report, Towards Universal Early Years Provision: Analysis of Take-up by Disadvantaged Families From Recent Annual Childcare Surveys, found that "lack of knowledge about local early years provision was a substantial barrier to taking it up".

This was an even greater issue than lack of good-quality childcare places, which was highlighted as another barrier by the disadvantaged families surveyed in the report.

Purnima Tanuku, chief executive of National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA), said promotion of free nursery education needs to involve more outreach work in disadvantaged communities and be promoted better by social workers and health visitors.

She said: "Some parents are unaware it is available because historically they have no experience of formal provision and do not hear about it from friends and family."

The report found that there was "a low level of information about local options for nursery education and childcare" and "the way the entitlement to free early years provision is delivered through a range of providers appeared to have an impact on its uptake by the disadvantaged families".

Among the eight per cent of parents of three- and four-year-olds not receiving any nursery provision, around a third did not even know that the free entitlement existed. This was higher among disadvantaged families, where half did not know about the entitlement.

The report, which used data from the 2008 and 2009 Childcare and Early Years Survey of Parents, found that a quarter of three-year-olds from disadvantaged families were not taking up their entitlement.

Parents of three- and four-year-olds are entitled to 15 free hours a week of nursery education for 38 weeks a year.

A link to the report will follow shortly.