PRESSURE is mounting on ministers to ensure a flagship commitment on free childcare places reaches working families.

Under SNP legislation, parents are entitled to 600 hours of funded early learning and childcare for three and four-year-olds.

However, parents argue there are not enough suitable places available in some areas because of the way councils run the scheme.

Now Alison Payne, research director from the Reform Scotland think tank, has called for a voucher scheme to be introduced to ensure parents can access the free places regardless of which nursery they choose.

Writing in a pamphlet on the future of education commissioned by the Scottish Conservative Party, she said: "There is a fundamental problem, a problem that seems to be growing, and that is the attitude in certain areas to the use of the private sector in delivering government-funded nursery provision.

"Councils have suggested that parents can move their child to an alternative nursery as if the child was an object that could be taken out of one environment that they were secure and happy in and placed in another without consequence.

"This attitude ignores the fact that.... for many working parents it is almost impossible to take up a place at a council nursery... unless they have some sort of wrap-around system in place through family, friends, or another nursery."

Mrs Payne said the solution was to provide parents with vouchers that they could use in any nursery.

"This will offer far greater flexibility as parents can then access their child's entitlement in a way which better complements their family life," she said.

"It s our hope that a premium could be added to the nursery entitlement scheme to help children from more disadvantaged backgrounds or those with special needs."

A campaigning group in Glasgow called Fair Funding for Our Kids welcomed the intervention.

Sarah Metcalfe, a spokeswoman for the group, said: "It's good to see childcare rising to the top of the political agenda, but our children can't wait.

"There are mums in our campaign who have had to turn down jobs because Holyrood's childcare promise doesn't match what councils deliver.

"The process could be started tomorrow in Glasgow if the council agreed to provide funding for every three and four-year old attending a partnership nursery instead of making them compete for a set number of places.

"With one decision, Glasgow could make real inroads to delivering a virtual voucher system..... which would give significant support immediately to many families."

The call for vouchers comes after widespread concern over the handling of the policy.

Purnima Tanuku, chief executive of the National Day Nurseries Association Scotland, said recently: "The current system greatly restricts the choice available when it comes to finding a nursery that suits family and working hours.

"We strongly believe the choice of which nursery receives the funding should be led by the parents rather than the local authority."

The problem has arisen because council nurseries, despite being amongst the best in Scotland, are hard to get into, do not offer enough hours of care to cover the working day and are also closed in the school holidays.

That means parents have no option other than to use private providers, even if spaces are available in council nurseries.

However, funding to private nurseries in areas such as Glasgow is not allocated on the basis of where the children are, but is dependent on the council's judgment of the quality of the establishment and an estimate of demand in the area.

That means parents who have chosen a nursery that has been allocated fewer places - or none - have no option other than to move their children around in order to access the funding.

The Scottish Government has said that every council had a legislative duty to consult with parents about where free places should be allocated.