The Treasury's Childcare Tax Credit could be open to cases of fraud, ministers have been warned.

The National Childminding Association said on Friday that the government scheme, designed to make pre-school provision more affordable to working parents, is at risk of being abused.

Low-paid parents can claim tax exemptions against the cost of childcare but have to provide the Inland Revenue with the provider's registration details.

But the body representing nurseries and nannies warned that the need to make this information public meant fraudsters could access it and make false claims.

NCA chief executive Gill Haynes told the BBC on Friday that the Revenue has so far failed to make promised checks on the up to £140 a week per parent it is spending on the scheme.

"Having geared our members up to expect a call from the Inland Revenue, they didn't come, so we had lots of people in touch with us saying 'where is the Inland Revenue?'," she said on the Radio 4 Today programme.

"Our members still have real concerns that there is misuse. I think the big problem is we don't actually know how much of the money designed to go to childcare is actually getting there.

"Somebody - and it is usually the childminders and childcare providers - is picking up the bill when things go wrong."

Over 300,000 families are claiming the credit following its recent reform and expansion.

But the Revenue told Today that there was no evidence that the current system was more prone to abuse than previously.