https://forum.royalnavy.mod.uk/topics/childcare/The Defence Children Services and the Children's Education Advisory Service supports you as a Service Parent, get updates on Service Pupil Premium to Child Tax Credits, and see what other resource and support are available.en-USTelligent Community 12https://forum.royalnavy.mod.uk/topics/childcare/parenting/b/announcements/posts/parenting-and-relationship-support-for-royal-navy-familiesThu, 09 Oct 2025 13:00:00 GMTb28a645c-0ea2-4600-866f-e043a0fddeae:8b9a8595-106c-4a04-8378-1fb2443d70daRN Forum ModeratorSouthampton Family Trust is a charitable organisation which has been working in Southampton since 2002. They provide information, parenting courses, couple work and one-to-one support for the various life stages, difficulties and joys that family life brings. They are offering FREE tailored programmes for Royal Navy and Royal Marines Families. Their courses are designed to help you support your children’s needs, enhance family resilience and manage conflict. Everything is online, so you can participate from anywhere in the world! It’s easy to book onto a course or seminar – just email them at info@sftrust.org.uk Explore the full range of practical, accessible Online bitesize seminars – just 90 minutes long Upcoming courses and news - Southampton Family Trust Run with support from the RNRMC and the AFCFT.https://forum.royalnavy.mod.uk/topics/childcare/wrap-around-childcare-wac/b/announcements/posts/naval-children-s-charity---support-for-your-childThu, 09 Oct 2025 12:44:00 GMTb28a645c-0ea2-4600-866f-e043a0fddeae:f970cdcd-9c6a-4b72-93da-f0a0f14a4c99RN Forum ModeratorSee how the Naval Children's Charity could help your child.https://forum.royalnavy.mod.uk/topics/childcare/b/announcements/posts/royal-navy-youth-network-rnynWed, 08 Oct 2025 14:06:00 GMTb28a645c-0ea2-4600-866f-e043a0fddeae:c7159228-e61b-49ef-8b49-ba2859aee5d8RN Forum ModeratorWant to have your say ? Feel like Service Young People are not represented well in your local area? If you have answered yes and have some ideas of how to improve the lives of service children and young people, then come and join the National Royal Navy Youth Network (RNYN ). All meetings are held on-line via MS Teams every other Tuesday evening. Full details can be found on our Member Events and Activities Calendar - HERE (You will need to request to join the Member Events and Activities group if you have not already done so)https://forum.royalnavy.mod.uk/topics/childcare/b/announcements/posts/aggies-storybook-wavesWed, 08 Oct 2025 13:19:00 GMTb28a645c-0ea2-4600-866f-e043a0fddeae:4568516f-6b96-4ca7-9c2f-cfc86f13554cRN Forum ModeratorAggie's Storybook Waves enables personnel serving in the RN, RM and RFA, regular and reserves, to record bedtime stories for their children to listen to whilst they are separated. You don't have to be deployed to record a story for your child with Storybook Waves, other types of separation count. For more details and to be put in touch with your nearest recording center visit www.aggies.org.uk/storybook-waveshttps://forum.royalnavy.mod.uk/topics/childcare/wrap-around-childcare-wac/b/announcements/posts/wraparound-childcare-wac-autumn-term-2025-updatesTue, 15 Jul 2025 13:22:00 GMTb28a645c-0ea2-4600-866f-e043a0fddeae:6286fed3-0d33-4815-a45d-c17e5242f497RN Forum ModeratorWhat 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 costs. 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 the autumn term 2025? The WAC hourly capped rates are updated at the start of the academic year, capped rates may have gone up or down for your area. To find out if this affects your claims, c heck 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 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 the start of the 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. Need more information? Visit the Defence Childcare Information Page on defnet or Defence Connect where you can find the DIN, FAQs, TFC information and links to Step-by-Step Guides on registering and claiming WAC. Families can visit Discover my Benefits Army , RAF or Navy for more information. These sites 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.ukhttps://forum.royalnavy.mod.uk/topics/childcare/wrap-around-childcare-wac/b/announcements/posts/wraparound-childcare-wac-overseas-launchesMon, 06 Jan 2025 13:39:00 GMTb28a645c-0ea2-4600-866f-e043a0fddeae:eb6da554-a6f0-4650-bc3d-48f76daa1e9eRN Forum ModeratorIf you are assigned to locations within the European Economic Area & Switzerland (EEA&S) or use Defence Children Services (DCS) childcare provision overseas, you may be eligible to claim WAC from January 2025. 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. 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. (MODNET users) 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. What do families need to do to register to claim WAC funding? 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. The registration form link is available from your Unit HR. 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. 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 (MODNET users) or Defence Connect . When using DCS provision, the provider must have been paid via an active TFC account before the claim is submitted. 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 . (MODNET Users) 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 may go up or down and may affect the amount of funding you can claim. Check the rates which are listed in 2022DIN01-079 – Defence Wraparound Childcare Allowance on defnet (MODNET Users) or Defence Connect to find out the amount of funding you can claim. The WAC benefits calculator on the WAC Discover My Benefits Navy pages enables families to check how much they may be able to claim before deciding if they want to register for WAC Overseas. 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, so that families can 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. If you have any questions in the meantime, contact the WAC team at PEOPLE-AFFS-WAC-FRO-mailbox@mod.gov.ukhttps://forum.royalnavy.mod.uk/topics/childcare/m/resources/4030Mon, 21 Oct 2024 09:34:00 GMTb28a645c-0ea2-4600-866f-e043a0fddeae:6ef293ba-bf9c-4a48-8895-3c29ce965dfeRN Forum Moderatorhttps://forum.royalnavy.mod.uk/topics/childcare/m/resources/4029Mon, 21 Oct 2024 09:31:00 GMTb28a645c-0ea2-4600-866f-e043a0fddeae:c674a783-9ce0-428f-bc1e-71ec88be41e5RN Forum Moderatorhttps://forum.royalnavy.mod.uk/topics/childcare/m/resources/4028Mon, 21 Oct 2024 09:29:00 GMTb28a645c-0ea2-4600-866f-e043a0fddeae:19a58f1c-c89c-438a-afd1-732d7750c835RN Forum Moderatorhttps://forum.royalnavy.mod.uk/topics/childcare/m/resources/4027Mon, 21 Oct 2024 09:28:00 GMTb28a645c-0ea2-4600-866f-e043a0fddeae:24a773c9-11ef-45a1-bd61-38ed48a3be79RN Forum Moderatorhttps://forum.royalnavy.mod.uk/topics/childcare/m/resources/4008Tue, 01 Oct 2024 13:38:00 GMTb28a645c-0ea2-4600-866f-e043a0fddeae:4ae4f77f-687e-486c-927a-e2bda38dfc73ASK INFO Yeoviltonhttps://forum.royalnavy.mod.uk/topics/childcare/wrap-around-childcare-wac/f/forum/953/have-a-question-for-the-wrap-around-childcare-q-a-sessionsTue, 09 Apr 2024 12:29:00 GMTb28a645c-0ea2-4600-866f-e043a0fddeae:9fbaa853-c89d-4606-8b9a-5b8a0373db38RN Forum ModeratorIf you cannot make one of the Q & A sessions and would like us to push questions to the team then please add to this discussion. Just post your question via the reply below.https://forum.royalnavy.mod.uk/topics/childcare/f/forum/950/month-of-the-military-childFri, 05 Apr 2024 14:22:00 GMTb28a645c-0ea2-4600-866f-e043a0fddeae:735cd4e1-b2cf-4068-b248-579ea54509ecRN FPS HQIf you know of any extra support that is available to support Military Children and Young People, please add here.https://forum.royalnavy.mod.uk/topics/childcare/wrap-around-childcare-wac/m/resources/3591Wed, 10 Jan 2024 18:03:00 GMTb28a645c-0ea2-4600-866f-e043a0fddeae:e9257c45-b4f9-432e-bef3-b0e3de6bb231RN Forum Moderatorhttps://forum.royalnavy.mod.uk/topics/childcare/m/resources/3484Tue, 10 Oct 2023 19:16:00 GMTb28a645c-0ea2-4600-866f-e043a0fddeae:bf2132cb-5e3a-4f2c-868d-bf8ba099d766RN Forum Moderatorhttps://forum.royalnavy.mod.uk/topics/childcare/m/resources/3483Tue, 10 Oct 2023 19:15:00 GMTb28a645c-0ea2-4600-866f-e043a0fddeae:d586d2f6-1419-47f2-983b-a0c184a93151RN Forum Moderatorhttps://forum.royalnavy.mod.uk/topics/childcare/m/gallery/3431Thu, 17 Aug 2023 10:02:00 GMTb28a645c-0ea2-4600-866f-e043a0fddeae:6bd7e984-c27a-426a-9702-c136b7bcb375RN Forum Moderatorhttps://forum.royalnavy.mod.uk/topics/childcare/parenting/m/resources/3379Fri, 07 Jul 2023 10:52:00 GMTb28a645c-0ea2-4600-866f-e043a0fddeae:b8c0c162-2ef5-4e0e-a318-f4c9d99fdb1dRN Forum Moderatorhttps://forum.royalnavy.mod.uk/topics/childcare/wrap-around-childcare-wac/f/forum/510/are-you-considering-using-wrap-around-childcare-but-haven-t-yet-registered/1931Mon, 22 May 2023 08:06:00 GMTb28a645c-0ea2-4600-866f-e043a0fddeae:547990c5-ce41-49e9-a028-4a9d4596141bRN FPS HQIts good to see we have some replies to the Poll. Don't forget to write any comments you feel would be helpful to us.https://forum.royalnavy.mod.uk/topics/childcare/wrap-around-childcare-wac/f/forum/510/are-you-considering-using-wrap-around-childcare-but-haven-t-yet-registeredFri, 19 May 2023 10:01:00 GMTb28a645c-0ea2-4600-866f-e043a0fddeae:c7323af7-3ce3-4b91-a0d7-684a6f9688aaRN FPS HQ