Issued by the Northern Ireland Prison Service for the guidance of prisoners' relatives

In order to ensure that prisoners are not deprived of visits from their close relatives because those relatives do not have sufficient resources to enable them to travel to the prison, the Northern Ireland Prison Service will in certain circumstances pay the cost of travel. The payments are made on behalf of the Northern Ireland Prison Service by the Social Security Agency from their local Social Security Offices.

Who may be able to get Assisted Prison Visits?

The wife, husband, mother, father, daughter, son, sister, brother of a prisoner or young offenders centre inmate. If you are the adoptive, foster or step-parent, child, sister or brother of the prisoner you may also qualify. If you were living with the prisoner as a partner for four months or more immediately prior to imprisonment and have not since terminated that relationship you may qualify for assistance.

Which establishments are covered by the Scheme?

All penal establishments within Northern Ireland, England, Scotland, and Wales. The scheme does not extend to the Republic of Ireland, Isle of Man, Channel Islands or any other place outside the United Kingdom.

Does your income qualify you for assistance?

You qualify for help automatically if:

· You receive income support; or

· You receive jobseeker's allowance (income based); or

· You have a Certificate HC2 (full help) or HC3 (partial help) issued by the Social Security Agency; or

· You receive Pension Credit *including the savings reward element; or

· Where your gross household income does not exceed £13,895 a year and you are in receipt of any of the following: Working Tax Credit (WTC) with the disability allowance; WTC with Child Tax Credit (CTC); Child Tax Credit only; or

· The person on whom you depend for your support falls into one of the above categories.

*NOTE :- Pension Credit does not apply until 6 October 2003

If you do not have a SSA Certificate but you think you may qualify because your income (or the income of the person on whom you depend for support) is not much above the Jobseekers Allowance (income based) level, you should apply for a certificate using Form HC1 which you can obtain from your local Social Security Office.

What payments can be made under the Scheme?

If you qualify for assistance you will receive the return fare to the prison by the cheapest route to enable you to take two visits every four weeks.

Visits to prisoners in GB Prisons

In the case of visits to a prisoner in Great Britain the major portion of the travel will be paid by travel warrant, covering surface travel by the cheapest route. Should you prefer to travel by air, arrangements can be made which enable you to pay the difference in cost between air and surface travel from your own resources. This is done by the issue of a giro payment directly to the travel agent of your choice, to the value of surface travel. Only in very exceptional circumstances will the Northern Ireland Prison Service consider meeting the cost of air travel.

Because of timing of the sea crossings you may have to spend a night in Great Britain before returning home. In such circumstances a limited amount of payment will be made towards overnight accommodation and main meals.

In order to facilitate claimants, who may not wish to travel to Great Britain for two visits every 4 weeks, accumulated visits are permitted, to the limit of 26 visits in a 12 month period. Claimants who prefer to take accumulated visits should ensure that they do not use their 26 visits too quickly resulting in them not being able to visit on a later date when they may wish to do so. The 26 visits are not related to a calendar year but to the 12 months previous to the date when you next wish to visit, ie if you plan to visit on the 30 July 2003 the number of visits which have been paid under the scheme since 30 July 2002 will determine your entitlement.

How to apply

In order to receive an Assisted Prison Visit you should ask your local Social Security Office for Form PV9 which you should fill in and return to them with any visiting permits which the prison may send you. Maghaberry and Magilligan no longer issue visiting permits (Hydebank Wood is to move to the new system later this year). Instead they issue a stamped form at the end of a visit confirming that the visit has taken place.

You must produce confirmation of your last visit the next time you wish to make a claim. You should complete Form PV9 for 2 visits each time you claim. These visits can be taken on separate dates. You should ensure that there will be sufficient time to allow the visiting permits, where appropriate, to be returned to you before the date of the visit as you will not be admitted to the prison without them

Form PV9 requires you to give an undertaking that any payment made to you under the scheme will be used for the purpose intended or else returned in full or in part as appropriate to the Social Security Office. Visits for which payments are made are checked with the establishment concerned.

This leaflet provides a brief description of the scheme. If you think that you may qualify for assistance or there are any special circumstances which you would like to have considered, you should contact your local Social Security Office, in the first instance. For further advice you can also contact the Northern Ireland Prison Service on 028 9052 2922.

Published by the Northern Ireland Prison Service in April 2003

Northern Ireland Prison Service
Dundonald House
Upper Newtownards Road
Belfast
BT4 3SU
Tel: 028 9052 2922