Are you ready to register?
Great news for Service families assigned to locations within the European Economic Area & Switzerland (EEA&S) or using Defence Children Services (DCS) before and after school childcare provision. WAC Overseas is now available to eligible families in these areas from today (6 January 2025).
What is Wraparound Childcare funding?
The Wraparound Childcare (WAC) scheme provides funding for up to 20 hours per week, per child, during term time (39 weeks), to eligible Service families with children aged 4 to 11 years old (4-16 years old if receiving Government disability allowances) who are in full time education in school or being home educated. Over 7,000 Service children's before and after school childcare is currently being funded by WAC in the UK.
WAC Overseas mirrors the WAC scheme in the UK, it is a reimbursement from Defence to Service personnel of up to 80% of the costs of before and after school childcare. Capped hourly rates apply and can be found in 2022DIN01-079-Defence Wraparound Childcare Allowance. The remaining 20% is claimed from HMRC via an active Tax-Free Childcare account. WAC funding does not provide childcare spaces, it is funding for costs incurred when eligible families pay for before and after school childcare. How do families register for WAC Overseas?
Registration is available from 6 January 2025 onwards. Contact your Unit HR for a link to the registration form. Once you have submitted your registration form, wait until you receive a WAC Overseas eligibility confirmation email including reference number and entitlement start date before submitting a claim.
Please note this is a temporary registration and claims process that will be in place until at least April 2025, before it is moved within JPA. If you registered your child(ren) for WAC UK within JPA and have since been assigned to a location included in WAC Overseas and are accompanied by your family, you will need to register again using the WAC Overseas process.
What do families need to do prior to registering?
* Make sure each child, that funding will be claimed for, has an active Tax-Free Childcare (TFC) account (active means that you reconfirm your account with HMRC every 3 months and receive the 20% top up from HMRC when you add money into the TFC account). * Check children have been recorded and verified on JPA; children are verified on JPA when there is a 'yes' in the certificate verified box.
How do families claim WAC Overseas funding?
Once you have submitted a registration and received your WAC Overseas eligibility confirmation email, you can submit WAC Overseas claims for childcare used from the date shown on the registration confirmation email. For guidance on how to submit a WAC Overseas claim please see the step-by-step guides on the WAC Overseas area of the Defence Childcare Information Page on defnet or Defence Connect. When using DCS provision, the provider must have been paid via an active TFC account before the claim is submitted. However, when using host nation provision, the provider must have been paid directly before the claim is submitted, a manual TFC claim is required for the 20% top up. Further information about how to do this can be found in 2022DIN01-102 Tax-Free Childcare. How much can families claim?
The WAC Overseas capped hourly rates are set to the average for providers in England and by provider type. The capped hourly rates change at the start of each UK autumn term, these rates may go up or down and may affect the amount of funding you can claim.
Make sure you check the rates which are listed in 2022DIN01-079 – Defence Wraparound Childcare Allowance on defnet or Defence Connect to find out the amount of funding you can currently claim. To support families with understanding how much they may be able to claim a WAC benefits calculator can be found on the WAC Discover My Benefits pages. Army, RAF, Navy. Have a question? Ask the WAC Team.
The WAC team are holding a live WAC Overseas Q&A session at 1200hrs on 28 January 2025, to give families an opportunity to ask any questions they may have. The session will be held on MS Teams, if you would like to attend please sign up here and the team will contact you with the meeting link. Families assigned outside of the areas covered by WAC overseas funding.
Not all overseas locations are able to mirror the WAC scheme eligibility criteria. Further work will be undertaken to look at other options for how we can support primary school aged childcare in other overseas locations. The overseas picture is complex where one solution will not fit all.
We will keep you updated as this work progresses.
Need more information?
Visit the Defence Childcare Information Page on defnet and Defence Connect where you can find the DIN, FAQs, and links to Step-by-Step Guides on registering and claiming WAC. If you have any questions, contact the WAC team at PEOPLE-AFFS-WAC-FRO-mailbox@mod.gov.uk. Some links in the above are only accessible through a MODnet device or to those with access to Defence Connect. Please contact HIVE if further information on the content of these resources/documents would be of assistance.
