A scheme offering 30 hours of free childcare a week has had a financial impact on providers, a charity says. Since 1 September 2017, most working parents in England have been entitled to the free care for children aged three to four during term time. But the Pre-School Learning Alliance (PSLA) said some childcare providers were struggling to remain open because of increased running costs. The government said it would "continue to monitor delivery costs". According to the Department for Education (DfE), the parents of more than 340,000 three and four-year-olds have benefitted from the initiative since it started 12 months ago. lenovo Support Number The PSLA charity surveyed 8,000 nurseries and childminder firms between 17 July and 23 August. It received answers from 1,662 providers and found 46% of them felt the scheme "had a negative financial impact on their business", while two-thirds said funding for child places did not "cover the full hourly cost of delivering the places".