What is Wraparound Childcare (WAC)?
The WAC scheme provides funding for up to 20 hours per week, per child, during term time, to eligible Service families with children aged 4 to 11 years old (4-16 years old if in receipt of
disability allowances), who are in full-time education in school or being home educated. WAC funding is available to eligible working Service families in the UK, assigned overseas within the European Economic Area & Switzerland (EEA&S), assigned overseas and using Defence Children Services (DCS) before and after school childcare provision or assigned overseas unaccompanied with family remaining in an eligible location.
Since September 2022 WAC has provided funding for 12,500 Service children's before and after school childcare.
WAC funding does not provide childcare spaces, it is funding for costs incurred when eligible families pay for before and after school childcare.
Wraparound childcare is also known as ‘Out of School care’ in Wales and ‘School Age Childcare’ in Scotland.
What is new for autumn term 2025?
The WAC capped hourly rates, which are set by region and provider type, have been updated for the 2025/26 academic year. The capped hourly rates may have gone up or down and may affect the amount of funding you can claim.
To find out if this affects your claims, check the updated rates in the ‘WAC Allowance’ DIN at DINs Search (defnet) or Group: Defence Instruction Notices - DIN's | Defence Connect. The DIN will be updated over the summer.
The WAC Overseas registration and claims process will be added to JPA at the start of the autumn term. If your child attends a Defence Children Services (DCS) or host nation provider within the EEA&S, from autumn term 2025 all registrations must be completed in the ‘My child allowances – WAC’ section of JPA. Service personnel that have already registered their children for WAC Overseas will receive an email from the WAC team with further direction and guidance.
To avoid completing a registration for the same child twice, Service personnel who have not yet registered for WAC Overseas but are planning to register for the start of the autumn term should wait until the autumn term has started.
Already registered for WAC?
- If you have already registered your child for WAC within JPA, you do not need to re-register them for autumn term, however any changes in your JPA record may result in a WAC de-registration. If this happens, so long as eligibility criteria is still met, you will need to update your WAC record to continue to claim the funding.
- If you have already registered your child on the temporary WAC Overseas registration, you will need to re-register them in the ‘My child allowances: WAC’ area of JPA at the start of the autumn term 2025 to continue to claim from the start of the autumn term. All WAC Overseas registrations will be sent to the Allowance Checker for approval.
Registering for WAC for the first time?
- Complete the WAC registration within the ‘My child allowances: WAC’ area of JPA. This can be done once the child has turned 4-years-old, started full-time education (including home education) and has an active Tax-Free Childcare (TFC) account. Active means that you receive the 20% top up from HMRC when you deposit funds into the account, or you receive the 20% top up by completing a manual TFC claim if using a host nation childcare provider overseas.
- Registrations for 4-year-old children cannot be completed until 1 September 2025, and the child has started full-time education. Nursery, pre-school and FS1 are not full-time education.
- A WAC registration must be completed (and approved if required) before claims can be submitted.
- Claims can only be submitted for childcare used and paid for from the ‘effective date’ shown on the WAC registration.
- Claims must first be paid via an active TFC account for UK and DCS providers.
- For WAC overseas claims when using a host nation provider, the provider must be paid directly first and then a manual TFC claim submitted for the 20% top up from HMRC. The TFC account must be active at the time the childcare being claimed for is used.
- Direction and guidance on how to claim WAC can be found on the Defence Childcare Information Page on defnet and Defence Connect.
Further information, guidance and support...
Visit the Defence Childcare Information Page on defnet and Defence Connect where you can find the DIN, FAQs, Tax-Free Childcare (TFC) information and links to Step-by-Step Guides on registering and claiming WAC. The page will be updated over summer to add WAC Overseas information into the general WAC direction and guidance.
If you have any questions, contact the WAC team at
PEOPLE-AFFS-WAC-FRO-mailbox@mod.gov.uk
Visit the Defence Childcare Information Page on defnet and Defence Connect where you can find the DIN, FAQs, Tax-Free Childcare (TFC) information and links to Step-by-Step Guides on registering and claiming WAC. The page will be updated over summer to add WAC Overseas information into the general WAC direction and guidance.
If you have any questions, contact the WAC team at
PEOPLE-AFFS-WAC-FRO-mailbox@mod.gov.uk
