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Wraparound Childcare

Wraparound Childcare

Get funding for the cost of up to 20 hours of before and after school care for your 4 to 11-year-old children (4-16 year old children if in receipt of certain disability allowances).

Eligibility check:

Am I eligible?

Wraparound Childcare is available to Regular Service personnel and FTRS (Full Commitment), (Limited Commitment) and (Home Commitment), who are assigned either within the UK, assigned overseas within the European Economic Area and Switzerland (EEA&S), assigned overseas using a Defence Children Services (DCS) childcare provider or assigned unaccompanied in other overseas locations with family remaining in the UK, EEA&S or overseas location and using a DCS provider for before and after school childcare.

Disabled children who are in receipt of Disability Living Allowance, Personal Independence Payment, Armed Forces Independence Payment, or are certified as blind or severely sight-impaired, may be able to claim double the amount of funding.

More detailed information can be found in the WAC eligibility criteria flow chart.

What is this for?

Defence recognises that Service parents face additional difficulties when trying to access good quality, enriching and appropriate childcare for their children. The Wraparound Childcare (WAC) scheme is designed to assist working families with the cost of before and after school childcare and to allow partners to get back into work (or work more hours).

WAC funding does not provide childcare spaces, it is funding for costs incurred when eligible families pay for before and after school childcare.

What do I get?

You will be able to claim up to 20 hours of WAC funding per week for each child, for 39 weeks of the year, during term time. On average, your family could save up to £3,400 per child, per year.

To find out how much you will be able to claim, use the WAC Benefits Calculator at the bottom of this page. The rates are based on the regional average costs included in the Coram (England, Scotland and Wales) and Northern Ireland Childcare Surveys. WAC Overseas rates are based on the average rate for England.

Which childcare providers can I use?

The childcare provider may be run by private companies, nurseries, schools, sports and youth clubs, voluntary organisations such as charities, or may be a childminder or nanny. The scheme cannot be used for informal childcare, such as grandparents, friends and babysitters.

Providers must be either:

Located in the UK, must be OFSTED registered (or equivalent) and accept Tax Free Childcare (TFC) payments.
DCS childcare settings which accept TFC payments.
Overseas (EEA&S) Host Nation providers that are registered, regulated and inspected by host nation authorities.

How do Service families claim Wraparound Childcare funding?

To benefit from the WAC scheme, you must complete the five steps below in sequential order.

Record on JPA

Record each child on JPA.
The 'certificate verified' box must state 'yes'.

Check if you meet the eligibility criteria

Check if you meet the WAC eligibility criteria f ow chart.

Apply for TFC account

An active TFC account must be in place for each child before the WAC registration can be completed. 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 (for UK or DCS providers overseas), or when you use the manual TFC claim process for Host Nation providers within the EEA&S.
Apply for a TFC account for each child on GOV.UK. Wait until the TFC account is activated and you have your account number. A TFC account is not WAC registration.

Register each child

Register each child and add your childcare provider on JPA - in the 'My child allowances: WAC' section.
Detailed step-by-step guidance can be found at step-by-step registration guide (only accessible on defnet).
Wait until the registration status of your child shows as 'registered' before continuing to step 5. WAC funding can only be claimed for childcare used from the effective date shown on the WAC registration.

Claim

If using a UK or DCS provider, pay your provider via your child’s TFC account.
If using a Host Nation provider within the EEA&S or when using a DCS provider that does not accept TFC payments, pay your provider directly.
Families using Host Nation childcare provision in overseas locations will need to complete the TFC manual process to claim the 20% top up from HMRC. Guidance on submitting a manual TFC top up can be found in the DIN, search ‘Tax-Free Childcare for eligible working parents’ at DINs Search (defnet) or Group: Defence Instruction Notices - DIN's | Defence Connect. (Service personnel only)
Claim up to 20 hours per week, per child during term time (39 weeks per year). To do this, add the invoice information into JPA - in the 'My child allowances: WAC' section. The step by step claim guide (only accessible on defnet) provides detailed instructions on how to do this.

For more information

For more information about WAC read:

WAC Frequently Asked Questions
WAC grossing up document which has important information about how WAC may affect your income tax payments and other benefits that you receive.
WAC How to claim flow chart
TFC & Salary sacrifice info
For detailed policy information search ‘WAC Allowance’ at DINs Search (defnet) or Group: Defence Instruction Notices - DIN's | Defence Connect. (Service personnel only)

Still have a question? Contact the WAC team: People-AFFS-WAC-FRO-mailbox@mod.gov.uk.