The Government has launched a £5 million pilot scheme aimed at easing childcare problems for parents going back to work.

Unemployed parents in three pilot areas Bradford in Yorkshire and the London boroughs of Haringey and Lewisham will be given a week's free childcare to help them make the transition into employment, Work and Pensions Secretary Andrew Smith.

The announcement follows a report from the TUC and the Daycare Trust warning that many women were prevented from returning to work because of a lack of affordable childcare.

The report said poor childcare provision was trapping parents and children in large families into a life of poverty.

Some 1,200 families are expected to benefit over the next two years from the pilot schemes, which could be extended nationwide if they prove successful, said the Department of Work and Pensions.

Single mothers are expected to be the main beneficiaries of the scheme and the pilot areas were chosen because of the high proportion of lone parents.

The DWP estimates that around 500,000 jobless lone parents across the country would like to find work.

The department is in talks with the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly to identify areas where similar pilots could be carried out.

Parents taking advantage of the scheme would not have to take the free childcare in one chunk when they start work, but could use individual days to try out different childcare options in advance of taking up a job or to go on training days to boost their chances of finding work, said a DWP spokesman.

The scheme will aim to build up parents' confidence that their children will be well looked after while they are at work.

Yesterday's report said that childcare provision was "patchy and expensive", preventing many women from returning to work or forcing them to work fewer hours to fit around their arrangements.

Parents paid out £1.8 billion to day nurseries in 2002, said the study, written for the TUC and Daycare Trust by Bristol academic and childcare expert Professor Hilary Land.

She said the Government should be proud of its record of lifting families out of poverty and creating thousands of new childcare places, but called for more to be done.

But Government measures to help parents with their childcare costs took no account of the extra cost of having three or more children.

Although only a third of all children were in large families of three or more children, they accounted for half of all poor children.

Some minority ethnic groups were particularly affected, the findings showed.

Nearly a third of Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Indian families had three or more children compared with 18% of white families, and these groups were more likely to have very low incomes.

The traditional link between family size and poverty had not been broken, said the report.

Day-care Trust director Stephen Burke said: "Childcare is crucial to lift families out of poverty.

"This report highlights the price many families are paying because caring responsibilities limit employment and training opportunities. The Government must act to help larger families break this cycle of poverty."

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: "Childcare, or rather the lack of it, has a lot to answer for.

"Being unable to work because costly childcare remains way beyond the family budget is condemning hundreds of thousands of larger families to a life of poverty.

"Childcare is now one of the most pressing concerns for unions and parents both in and out of work.

"The Government has made a good start. Now it's for ministers, local councils, employers and unions to grasp the challenge and help make childcare a reality for every parent who wants it."

Children and families minister Margaret Hodge said the Government was committed to helping parents have access to good quality and affordable childcare.

She said that when Labour came to power in 1997 there was no entitlement to free nursery education for three and four-year-olds, no national childcare strategy, no children's centres and little financial support for families to meet childcare costs.

By April, every three and four-year-old will be entitled to free, part-time nursery education, the number of childcare places will grow to more than two million by 2006 and the Government was now spending £2 million a day subsidising the childcare costs of working families, the minister said.

"The Day-care Trust is right to recognise that we have a long way to go, but it is important to acknowledge how much we have already achieved."