prisoncheck

prisoncheckPhone · 4 min read

How much do prison calls cost?

They pay from PIN credit. Official weekday rates: 2.48p a minute to a landline, 5.50p to a mobile. 10p minimum per connected call. Until 31 May 2027.

Official
  • Landline2.48p a minute
  • Mobile5.5p a minute
  • Minimum10p a connected call

Weekday rates — the dearer days. Weekend is cheaper. A typical 15-minute call, five times a week, is £4.13 to a mobile and £1.86 to a landline. Until 31 May 2027.

Same week, both numbers

Your mobile

£4.13

5.5p a minute. They pay this from PIN credit.

A landline

£1.86

£2.27 less from the same week. The rate is official, not a product.

Work out your own week

What the Official page says

  1. They pay. You do not.

    Prison phones do not accept incoming calls. They can only call numbers on their PIN list. The cost comes off their credit.

  2. Weekday is the dearer rate

    UK landline 2.48p a minute. UK mobile 5.5p. Weekend is 2.2p and 3.6p. 10p minimum per connected call. Until 31 May 2027.

  3. The incentive level does not change the rate

    Basic, Standard and Enhanced pay the same pence per minute. Private-cash — the weekly pot they can spend — is what changes.

  4. A number can be restricted

    Since 11 August 2026, 0800 numbers as social contacts — and numbers used for call diversion / re-routing — must be restricted.

Which landline number should you give them?

A landline costs them less than half as much on weekdays. Since 11 August, numbers that forward calls can be refused.

100%approved

Partner

Not like other prison numbers.

WhatOthersringyard
Your callPassed onRings your phone
You needSome need an appJust your phone
MinutesMost are cappedUnlimited
Get your landline

£20 a month. Stop any time.
The prison still checks each new number.

Others: ringyard's check of 11 prison number services, Aug to Oct 2026.

Any UK landline gets the landline rate. If you have one at home, give them that. It costs nothing extra.

Which virtual landlines still work?Number removed from their PIN?

Questions families ask

  • Official weekday rates: 2.48p a minute to a UK landline, 5.5p to a UK mobile. 10p minimum per connected call. A typical 15-minute call, five times a week, is £4.13 to a mobile and £1.86 to a landline. Weekend is cheaper. Until 31 May 2027.

  • They pay from PIN credit, not you. There is no incoming call. Credit is bought from spends. Private-cash is one part of that.

  • A landline is 2.48p a minute on a weekday. A mobile is 5.5p. Same week, same minutes: about £2.27 less from their PIN on a landline.

  • A UK landline is the cheap rate: 2.48p a minute on a weekday, against 5.5p for a mobile. Cheap prison-call apps usually forward the call, and prisons can refuse those numbers since 11 August 2026. The call-services guide lists which ones still connect.

  • No. The call rate is the same. Weekly private-cash is not. That is the Incentives Policy Framework, not the phone tariff.

  • The pence-per-minute is national for the public estate. What is local is the PIN wait, the first call, and any call-length cap families report.

Costs at a prison

Rates are national. These pages add the local PIN wait, first call, and any cap families report.

BerwynNorthumberlandDoncasterWandsworthElmleyForest BankOakwoodRisleyHumberBristolBelmarshWakefieldPentonvilleWormwood ScrubsLeedsManchesterSpring HillHigh DownSwinfen HallMillsike

How we price a week

  • The tariff is national for the public estate. A prison page does not invent a local rate.
  • The calculator and worked examples use weekday rates — the dearer days. Weekend is cheaper.
  • Each connected call is at least 10p, even if the minute-rate would be less.
  • They buy PIN credit from spends. Private-cash is one part of that. The call rate does not change on Basic, Standard or Enhanced.
  • Local pages add what families report at that prison: PIN wait, first call, and any call-length cap. Those are community reports, not an HMPPS service level.
  • Rates last checked September 2026. The published tariff runs until 31 May 2027.

Sources: GOV.UK · Staying in touch with someone in prison · Ministry of Justice · letter to the Justice Committee, 1 July 2025 · GOV.UK · Incentives Policy Framework · GOV.UK · Interception policy framework · §7.9. Last checked September 2026. IEP updated 31 March 2025.

What next

Guide · 3 minWhich virtual landlines still work?Since 11 August 2026, prison numbers that redirect or re-route can be refused. This is how each call service connects.Guide · 5 minHow do I get on the phone list?PIN, numbers, security checks, and why “they should have called by now” is often the wrong clock.Guide · 2 minPrison landline not working?It may be the number, not the phones. If it forwards to your mobile, prisons are told to refuse it since 11 August. A landline on your phone is different.Guide · 3 minWhy was my number rejected?The phone list can refuse a number. That is not the same as the phones being down. Mobile, landline, and numbers that forward are treated differently.ToolWhat a week costsOfficial weekday rates. They pay from PIN credit.Their prisonFind their prisonPhone, visits and money are local.