Wraparound Childcare* (WAC) Overseas launch - January 2025
Eligible working parents (at least one of whom is a member of the Armed Forces) with children aged between 4-11 years old (4-16 years old if in receipt of certain disability benefits) in school (including home educated children) will be able to claim back the costs of regulated wraparound childcare for a maximum of 20 hours per week, per eligible child, during term time.
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.
Eligibility - Summary
Location.
This scheme is open to all eligible Armed Forces families where the Service person (SP):
- Is serving overseas unaccompanied with the family resident in the UK. The WAC provider must also be within the UK; or
- Is serving overseas within the European Economic Area and Switzerland (EEA&S).
- Is serving overseas with a child attending a Defence Childcare Services (DCS) school or setting before or after school childcare.
Service Personnel
This scheme is open to Regular and Full Time Reserve Service (FTRS) personnel on Full, Limited and Home Commitment.
Children
- Child(ren) aged 4-11 years old (4-16 years old if in receipt of certain disability allowances).
- Child(ren) in full time education including home education.
- Active Tax-Free Childcare (TFC) account in place.
- Defence Information Note (DIN): 2022DIN01-102 Tax-Free Childcare (WAC) which service personnel can access through defnet.
- DIN Annex F: Interim WAC Overseas SP eligibility criteria flowcharts: Figures 1 and 2 – attached documents refer.
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.
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.
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.
Further Information
To check if you can claim funding for up to 20 hours per week before or after school care:
• Service personnel can visit the Defence Childcare Information Page on defnet or Defence Connect for further information including step by step guides on how to register and submit a claim (SSUGs), Tax-Free Childcare (TFC) accounts, ‘grossing up’ and Frequently Answered Questions (FAQs).
• Unit HR staff can visit the Defence Childcare Information Page on defnet or Defence Connect for further information about how to approve registrations, recover and audit claims (BPGs), HR guidance and FAQs.
• Family members can find more information by searching ‘Wraparound Childcare’ on Discover My Benefits.
If you have any questions, contact the WAC team at PEOPLE-AFFS-WAC-FRO-mailbox@mod.gov.uk.
* Overseas Nursing Authority (ONA)
Please note that this is a separate scheme offering 15 hours free childcare (30 hours funded childcare) for working families with child(ren) aged 9 months to 3 years old and all children aged 3 and 4 years old.