Disadvantaged families need to be made more aware of the free nursery hours available to them, according to a new government report.

A study by the Department for Education found that promotions of the entitlement were failing to reach many disadvantaged families who knew nothing or little about the free hours of childcare they could claim.

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

Results of the research indicated that of the eight per cent of parents with three and four year olds that were not receiving any nursery provision, a third were unaware that there was a free entitlement. This was found to be higher among disadvantaged families, where half indicated that they did not know about the entitlement.

Parents of three and four year olds are entitled to 12.5 free hours a week of nursery education for 38 weeks a year. Purnima Tanuku chief executive of National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA) told Children and Young People Now that the promotion of free nursery education needs to involve more outreach work in disadvantaged communities and should be promoted more by health visitors and any qualified social worker supporting the family.

"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," she said.