A national children's charity has warned of an intensifying postcode lottery for free nursery places in England following a report by the National Audit Office (NAO).

Commenting on the NAO report, which looked at education for three and four-year-olds, the chief executive of the Daycare Trust, Anand Shukla, said children from disadvantaged families were less likely to take up free nursery places than their more affluent counterparts.