Useful advice in The Guardian:

There are lessons to be learned from the radical feminism of the
late 60s and 70s. Participatory and collective childcare involving both
parents, along the lines of the free kinderladen model developed in
northern Europe, removed the need for high-cost, privatised
arrangements and had the advantage of being local and thus contributing
to the revitalisation of the community.

Groups of parents formed
childcare collectives, which made them eligible for access to local
subsidised spaces (empty shops, for example). They were able to employ
paid assistants on the basis that they would themselves contribute at
least half a day a week to the nursery. Of course this required the
availability of flexible work to allow for such participation. The
advantage of these initiatives was that they built up trust between
parents and carers and involved all stakeholders (to use a once
favoured New Labour term).

Quite, don’t let central or local government anywhere near it. Both allow and encourage people to deal with such problems as they themselves see fit. The arrangements they come to will be, by definition, the ones that suit them best.