The Family and Childcare Trust will publish research next month on the take-up of the 2-year-old offer.

Commenting on a story about the research in Nursery World, Liz Bayram said, "These figures show that there needs to be better working partnerships between local authorities and parents to communicate the flexible range of care offered by childcare professionals.

"PACEY knows that high quality childminders working in domestic settings, are struggling to receive free entitlement funding, which limits accessibility and choice for parents. Not all children will be best suited to a nursery setting at age 2.

"Local authorities need to be doing more to communicate the benefits of all childcare settings – not just nurseries – and ensuring that families have accessible information around the benefits of each setting."

Liz is also quoted at daynurseries.co.uk on the same subject.