Speaking ahead of the Montessori School Association's (MSA) annual conference, the association's chair, Martin Bradley, said that in 'at least three local authorities' providers reported that they were allowed to stipulate that parents could only use their free entitlement hours in the afternoons.
In practice, this means that if parents want hours in the morning or over lunch they have to pay for them, which Mr Bradley said was actually helping nurseries to cover their costs.
He said, 'The fact that the free place is surrounded by charged hours means they can break even.'
This appears to run counter to the new Code, which was designed to give parents more flexibility over their 15 hours and the right for the first time for parents to ask local authorities to find free childcare when they want it.
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