Join more than 5500 Service families who are currently benefitting from claiming up to £3,400 per child, per year of before and after school childcare costs.

The Wraparound Childcare (WAC) scheme provides funding for up to 20 hours per week, per child, to eligible Service families with children aged 4 to 11 years old who are in school or being home schooled in the UK. Almost 8000 Service children's before and after school childcare is currently being funded by WAC.

WAC is also known as ‘Out of School care’ in Wales and ‘School Age Childcare’ in Scotland.

Following feedback from you and a review of the schemes take-up, we have expanded the eligibility criteria, created a new and easier to use registration and updated the claims calculator and capped hourly rates in time for autumn term 2023.

If you are already registered for WAC or are considering registering your child(ren), please take a moment to familiarise yourself with the changes.

What has changed?

• Expanded eligibility criteria now includes all eligible Full Time Reserve Service Personnel and unaccompanied personnel serving overseas.
• The new registration form is now available – register your child(ren) for the autumn term.
• The claims calculator for the academic year 2023 is now available, claims for autumn term childcare can now be submitted.find out how much you can submit on JPA
• The WAC hourly capped rates may have gone up or down for your area. Check the rates listed in 2022DIN01-079 - Wraparound Childcare on defnet or Defence Connect (Accessible to service personnel) to find out if it affects the amount of funding you can claim.

Families who are already claiming WAC funding do not need to re-register for WAC, so long as eligibility criteria continue to be met, eligibility for WAC continues. 

Further information including the registration form, claims calculator and FAQs are available on the Defence Childcare Information page on defnet and Defence Connect. (Accessible to service personnel)

Families can visit Discover my Benefits Navy / Marines, Army or RAF for more information.

Any questions? Contact: [email protected]