Social workers target poor parents at budget supermarkets, urging them to put their toddlers in nurseries

Parents who shop in budget supermarkets and appear poorly dressed have been approached in the street and urged to put their toddlers in childcare.

Social workers trawled shopping centres to fill places in a controversial Government scheme which grants free nursery places to disadvantaged two-year-olds.

Ministers hope the scheme will persuade more mothers back to work. They also claim it will give poor children a better start in life, closing the social class gap in education.

But critics voiced outrage yesterday at "offensive" tactics used in up to 32 local authority areas to entice parents to take part.

An official report on the initiative revealed that outreach workersrepeatedly knocked on doors to target families who take "a lot of persuading" on the benefits of nursery education.

They also stopped parents in the street after assessing their appearance or shopping habits for signs they fit the criteria for the scheme because they are on benefits or low wages.

Some parents who were waylaid as they emerged from shops or post offices were asked sensitive questions about their household income. Many took offence, forcing the workers to operate in pairs for safety.

The report also reveals the scheme was jeopardised by the refusal of many parents to take up the free nursery places.

They told social workers they believed two-year-olds were too young for institutional care and preferred to bring up their children at home.

The revelations came in a report on the scheme produced by the National Centre for Social Research in conjunction with Oxford University and published by the Department for Children, Schools and Families.

Ministers have already extended a pilot involving 12,000 two-year-olds to a further 20,000.

But the scheme has proved controversial, with claims that prolonged use of institutional care can lead to anti-social behaviour.

Robert Whelan, deputy director of the think-tank Civitas, attacked the targeting of families on the street as offensive and discriminatory.

He said: "Why don't they just send out the childsnatcher?

"It's outrageous to make judgments about people's ability to parent based on superficial factors like where they shop and how they dress. It's a form of discrimination and a very unpleasant form."

Jill Kirby, director of the Centre For Policy Studies think-tank, said: "It is completely wrong for agencies of the state to be trying to entice parents into putting their children into institutional care from an early age."

Last night the Department for Children, Schools and Families revealed that councils had been advised to drop random approaches such as stopping parents in the street.