LOW-INCOME families are set to make a saving after the launch of a subsidised childcare scheme.

Around 100 places in Bromley nurseries will be subsidised by the London Development Agency (LDA) to help less well off parents who want to go out to work.

Families on low incomes will pay a maximum of £175 per week to send their children to nurseries taking part in the scheme.

The LDA will pay the rest as part of the Childcare Affordability Programme, in which 12 of the borough's 40 nurseries are taking part.

They will receive a subsidy of up to £30 a week per child from low-income families attending nursery for a minimum of six hours a day, five days a week.

There will also be an additional £68 subsidy available depending on extra hours offered on top of the basic hours.

The scheme has been introduced to make childcare accessible to all families in London.

This is because childcare can cost up to 25 per cent more in the capital than the rest of the country.

Nurseries can join the scheme until it closes in 2008.

The LDA will then produce a report to decide whether the programme should be made permanent.

Parents are eligible for the subsidised funding if they are in line to receive more than £547.50 in Child Tax Credit for the financial year 2005 to 2006.