The 11 August rule
Will your number for prison calls keep working?
If you are scared for someone inside, call Prisoners’ Families Helpline on 0808 808 2003.
A rule changed on 11 August 2026. It is about numbers that pass the call on. It is not a ban on landlines. Check yours in three taps.
1When they ring, do you answer in an app?
2Does your provider say forward, divert or redirect?
3Is the number working now?
Answer the three questions.
Your answer shows here. Nothing you tap is saved or sent.
The difference
Three ways a call can reach you.
Every call starts at the same wing phone. The rule is about what sits between that phone and you.
Forwarded
Passed on. That middle stop is what the rule is about.
In an app
Passed on too. When your internet drops, so does the call.
ringyard
Straight through. It rings like any call.
In their words
Paragraph 7.9 tells prisons to restrict 0800 numbers as social contacts, and “numbers linked to call diversion and re-routing services”.[3, 7.9]
- It is not a ban on landlines.
- There are exceptions. They sit in a manual we have not been able to read.
- It is about numbers that pass calls on. Ours doesn’t.
Check us
- Interception, monitoring and security of prisoner communications policy framework. HM Prison and Probation Service / Ministry of Justice, issued 11 August 2026. Read 26 August 2026. Paragraph 7.9 points to a separate operations manual for exceptions. We have not read it. Read it yourself