The campaign by Early Years Childcare, which has nine settings in Sussex, Hampshire and south-east London, says that underfunding the free entitlement means that providers could be forced to make cutbacks that will impact on the quality of their provision. The nursery chain has set up a campaign website and petition at www.freechildcare.org.uk.
Kate Peach, managing director of Early Years Childcare (pictured right), said, 'We work with five different local 
authorities and on average, the funding that we receive covers around 80 per cent of the cost of providing the free place.
'We fully support the idea of the free entitlement, but this is not free. The PVI sector is subsidising it. If the Government cannot provide a more realistic level of funding then it should allow nurseries to charge top-up fees.'
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