Kate Peach, managing director of Early Years Childcare, started an online petition in the summer calling for more funding for threeand four-year-olds or for nurseries to be able to charge top-up fees.
Campaigners at www.freechildcare.org.uk, set up by Ms Peach, are reporting a rise in nurseries closing, particularly smaller ones.
Ms Peach told Nursery World, 'To cut costs, we offer the free entitlement from 8.30am to 11.30am, so those hours will not cover a mealtime, for example. We offer those three hours every day and on a term-by-term basis. That reduces the cost of those hours so we're not losing as much money.'
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