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Trying to send money to someone in prison and just can't figure it out? This page supports families navigating the system.
When a loved one goes to prison, one of the first practical questions families face is how to send them money. Prison does not provide most basic toiletries, and phone credit to call home has to be bought from the canteen. Without money coming in from outside, many prisoners quickly find themselves without the basics. Understanding how to send money quickly and reliably takes some stress out of a difficult situation.
The good news is that the UK system has been simplified significantly in recent years. There is one main method, it is free to use, and it works for all prisons in England and Wales. The process itself takes about five minutes once you have the right details to hand.
You can no longer send money by bank transfer, cheque, postal order, or cash by post to any prison in England or Wales. The only widely accepted method is the official GOV.UK service, which uses a debit card payment. This applies to all HMPPS-operated prisons and the majority of privately managed prisons in England and Wales.
The service accepts Mastercard, Visa, and Maestro debit cards. It is free, and money usually takes less than 3 working days to reach the prisoner's account. You will receive a confirmation email once the payment has been submitted. The service is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The web address for the service is gov.uk/send-prisoner-money. There is no need to create an account or register. You can make a payment as a one-off or return to the same service each time you want to send money.
Search results for "send money to prisoner UK" sometimes surface third-party websites that charge fees for a service the government provides for free. Always go directly to gov.uk/send-prisoner-money. If a website is asking you to pay a fee or create a paid account to send money, it is not the official service.
The payment will not go through unless three pieces of information match the prison's records exactly. It is worth taking a moment to confirm these before you begin rather than having the payment rejected and waiting up to 10 days for a refund.
You need the prisoner's full name exactly as it appears on their prison record. Middle names are not always required but the surname and first name must match. You also need their date of birth and their prison number. The prison number is a unique identifier assigned when a person enters custody. It appears on letters from the prison or on visit slips. If you do not have it yet, you can usually get it by calling the prison's main switchboard and asking the reception team. Your loved one can also pass it on in their first letter.
You will need a valid Mastercard, Visa, or Maestro debit card to make the payment. Credit cards are not accepted. If you do not have a debit card, you may be able to apply for an exemption, for example if you are unable to use a computer or smartphone or the internet. Contact the prison directly for guidance in that case.
The UK government offers secure ways to send money to inmates:
Go to gov.uk/send-prisoner-money
Open the official service in your browser. There is nothing to install and no account to create.
Select the prison
Choose the prison your loved one is held in from the dropdown list. If they have recently been transferred, make sure you are sending to the correct current establishment.
Enter the prisoner's details
Type in their full name, date of birth, and prison number. Check all three carefully before proceeding. A mismatch will cause the payment to be rejected.
Enter the amount
Choose how much you want to send. There is no minimum, and most families send between £10 and £50 at a time depending on their circumstances.
Enter your debit card details
The payment is processed securely. You will not be charged any fee by the government service.
Confirm and submit
You will receive a confirmation email. The money typically appears in the prisoner's private cash account within 1 to 3 working days, though it can occasionally take up to 5 working days.
There is no limit on how much money you can transfer to an individual in a UK prison. However, the individual is limited in how much money they are allowed to spend. The two figures are different things and it is worth understanding both.
Some sources indicate that the online service imposes a monthly sending limit of around £900 per prisoner across all senders combined. In practice, the vast majority of families will never come close to this figure. If you do find a payment rejected, it is worth contacting the prison directly to understand whether a limit has been reached.
Weekly amounts vary by prison category. Category A sites allow less than open prisons. As a general guide, most prisoners can transfer around £20 per week from their private cash account into their spending account, depending on their IEP level and whether they are convicted or on remand. Unconvicted prisoners on remand typically have slightly more flexibility than sentenced prisoners.
The implication of this is important: sending a large lump sum does not mean your loved one can spend it all at once. The money sits in their private cash account and is transferred to their spending account weekly in small amounts. Regular smaller payments work just as well as one large payment, and some families prefer to send a set amount weekly or fortnightly to keep the balance ticking over.
If phone credit is a priority and your loved one is calling you on a mobile number, a significant portion of that credit is being spent on the more expensive mobile rate (5.50p per minute on weekdays). A virtual landline number from Prison Call cuts that to 2.48p per minute, effectively more than doubling the call time available from the same amount of credit. It is the most practical way to stretch every pound you send.
When using the online service, you will receive a confirmation email with a reference number. Keep this for your records. If there are any issues, such as delays or the money not being credited to the inmate’s account, contact the prison or the payment service using this reference. For postal orders, retain the receipt as proof of payment.
Money sent via the GOV.UK service goes into the prisoner's private cash account. This is separate from their spending account and their earnings account. Money that you earn in prison through work or other activities goes into a spending account. Money from your private cash account can be transferred to your spending account. The amount that can be transferred depends on whether you are convicted or unconvicted and which IEP level you are on.
Prisoners use their spending account to order from the prison canteen, usually once a week. The canteen is essentially a prison shop. Items available vary by establishment but typically include the following.
For payments made via the GOV.UK debit card service, funds typically appear in the prisoner's private cash account within 1 to 3 working days. Payments made before 4pm on a working day tend to process faster than those made late in the day or over a weekend. If your loved one needs credit urgently, sending on a Monday or Tuesday morning gives the best chance of it arriving within a day or two.
If the payment has not appeared after 5 working days, the first step is to check the confirmation email you received to make sure all the details were correct. If the prisoner's details did not match, the system will have automatically rejected the payment and it will be refunded to your debit card, typically within 5 to 10 working days. If the details were correct and the money has still not arrived, contact the prison's finance department directly via the main switchboard.
If the name, date of birth, or prison number do not match the prison's records, the payment will be automatically rejected and refunded to your debit card. This typically takes 5 to 10 working days. The most common reasons for rejection are a misspelled surname, an incorrect prison number, or sending to the wrong prison if your loved one has recently been transferred.
If you are unsure of the correct prison number, do not guess. Call the prison switchboard or wait until you receive a letter from your loved one with their details on it. A rejected payment that takes 10 days to refund is more frustrating than a short wait to confirm the right information.
You may be able to apply for an exemption if you are unable to use a computer, a smartphone, or the internet. In this case, it may be possible to send money by post. The GOV.UK service has a contact option where you can explain your circumstances and request guidance. The prison itself can also advise on what options are available if the online route is not accessible to you.
If you are sending from outside the UK, international debit cards are accepted by the GOV.UK service in most cases, though some international cards may be declined. If your card does not work, the next best option is to ask a UK-based family member or friend to make the payment on your behalf, or to contact the prison directly for guidance.
Scotland operates a separate system from England and Wales. The Scottish Prison Service uses Secure Payment Services at secure-payment-services.com. There is a limit of £50 per prisoner per day, and any amount exceeding this will be returned to the sender. There is a minimum transfer of £5 and a maximum of 10 transactions per week with a maximum total value of £250.
The process involves creating an account on the Secure Payment Services website, adding the prisoner as a recipient with their name, prison, and prisoner number, then making a transfer. The daily limit of £50 applies across all senders combined, so if other family members have already sent money that day, you may need to wait until the following day.
Northern Ireland is managed separately from both the HMPPS England and Wales system and the Scottish Prison Service. The Northern Ireland Prison Service handles its own financial processes. For the most current guidance on sending money to a prisoner in Northern Ireland, contact the Northern Ireland Prison Service directly or check their official website, as processes can differ from those in England, Wales, and Scotland.
When a prisoner is released, any remaining balance in their private cash account is typically paid to them as part of their discharge grant, usually in cash or via a cheque at the gate. If the prison holds a cheque for any reason, it will be posted to the prisoner's registered address. Money sent to a prisoner is considered a gift once it enters the prison system and cannot be reclaimed by the sender. If you have concerns about money sent shortly before a release date, contact the prison finance team directly.
If a prisoner is transferred to another prison, their account balance travels with them. You do not need to resend money or take any action. The funds should be visible in the new establishment within a few working days of the transfer being processed.
Phone credit is often the first thing a prisoner spends their canteen money on. Staying in touch with family is a priority, and for most prisoners, calling home is one of the most important parts of the week. But if your loved one is calling your mobile directly, they are paying 5.50p per minute on weekdays. A 20-minute daily call costs £1.10 each time, and over a month that adds up to more than £22 just from weekday calls.
A virtual landline from Prison Call changes this. You get a standard UK local number that forwards calls straight to your mobile. Your loved one adds it to their PIN list and calls it instead of your mobile. The prison system charges them the cheaper landline rate of 2.48p per minute, cutting the weekday cost by more than half. The same amount of phone credit lasts more than twice as long, which means less pressure on the canteen budget and fewer top-ups needed from outside.
Use the official GOV.UK service at gov.uk/send-prisoner-money. Pay by debit card using Mastercard, Visa, or Maestro. The service is free and covers all prisons in England and Wales. You need the prisoner's full name, date of birth, and prison number.
Payments via the GOV.UK service typically arrive within 1 to 3 working days. It can occasionally take up to 5 working days. Postal orders and cheques take much longer, up to 10 working days, as they are processed manually.
There is no stated limit on how much you can send in total, though some sources indicate a monthly cap of around £900 per prisoner via the online service. The more relevant limit is how much the prisoner can spend each week, which is typically around £20 depending on their IEP level and prison category.
No. Bank transfers, cheques, postal orders, and cash by post are no longer accepted at prisons in England and Wales. The debit card service on GOV.UK is the only standard route.
Prisoners use their spending account to buy from the prison canteen. This typically includes phone credit, toiletries, snacks, stationery, stamps, and books. Phone credit is usually the most important purchase for maintaining family contact.
You need the prisoner's full name, date of birth, and prison number, plus a valid Mastercard, Visa, or Maestro debit card. The prison number appears on letters, visit slips, or court paperwork.
The payment will be automatically rejected and refunded to your debit card within 5 to 10 working days. Always double-check the name, date of birth, and prison number before confirming.
Scotland uses a separate system via Secure Payment Services at secure-payment-services.com. The daily limit is £50 per prisoner across all senders combined, with a minimum transfer of £5.
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