A NURSERY group has introduced charges for parents taking up their 'free' childcare hours after slamming funding arrangements which leave it struggling to cover costs.

Tops Day Nurseries, which has 17 nurseries across Dorset, Hampshire and Somerset, is asking hundreds of parents to pay up to £10.80 a week for "general extras" if their children use only their 15 hours free childcare - which all three and four year olds are entitled to under government policy.

Managing director Cheryl Hadland said the funding rates for these places - which come from the government via local authorities- were already well below the £5 per hour it actually costs them, but some of her nurseries were now getting even less.

She said they were worst affected in Poole where funding has fallen by 45p per hour - to £3.71 per hour - at Tops' Parkstone nursery. Borough of Poole insists there has been no overall 'cut' - but it has changed how the funding is dished out.

Cheryl told the Echo they were informed of the change last month - which came in with immediate effect. It also follows the introduction of the National Living Wage. "It's just not sustainable for us," she added.

"I hate doing this - it's absolutely appalling. I think parents should be raising hell, not just with the local authority, but with their MPs. The local authority is blaming the government, the government is blaming the local authorities, and we're just being dumped on."

She is now spearheading a campaign for better funding and has launched an online petition.

Cheryl added: "There is only so much that can be cut to still sustain the level of childcare, and with the highly responsible role we have in developing the children of our future, we should not be in the position we are."

One parent with a four-year-old son was at Tops in Parkstone told the Echo she cannot afford the new charges and might have to move her son.

"I don't agree with the way they've gone about it - but obviously they've been forced into that situation by Poole council. Ultimately the ones who suffer are the children."

Vicky Wales, head of children, young people and learning, Borough of Poole, said following "extensive consultation" with providers it had changed the way the "deprivation supplement" is paid, "allowing children most in need to benefit."

She added: "With any change to the funding formula, some settings will gain and some will lose funding according to profile of children they have attending."

She reassured parents their entitlement to 15 hours of Early Education remains free.

The government is currently consulting nationally ahead of a new national funding formula next year.