Visitor Information - Yarl's Wood

COVID-19 update

Social visits can take place. However, social visits may be curtailed in the event of an escalation in control measures at a local, regional or national level. Where visits take place, they will follow wider UKHSA guidance for prisons and places of detention and regulations around the use of face masks.

All visitors are encouraged to arrange and pay for their own LFD test prior to visiting the IRC and obtain a negative result before arriving at one of our facilities.

Legal visits can continue alongside other means of contact (video conferencing, telephone and email).

Arrangements for external medical practitioners to attend IRCs for the purpose of conducting medico-legal, or other formal medical examinations will be permitted. Requests should be made in writing to the relevant IRC. Visiting medical professionals will be required to observe, for the purposes of consultation and examination, all reasonable precautions to prevent COVID-19 infection.

Handwashing facilities should be available for all visitors and they should be advised of the requirements to wash their hands, maintain social distancing and to follow the relevant safe systems of working.

Social visits

Social visits take place in our large, tastefully decorated visits room, complete with soft seating and low coffee tables. We provide a self-vend café bar for both visitors and residents and there is a small garden where residents can sit with their visitors if they prefer. Our aim is to make both residents and visitors feel comfortable and better able to enjoy the visit.

Social visit times:
14.00-17.00 (2pm – 5pm)
18.00-21.00 (6pm – 9pm)

Social visits and transfer bus* must be booked 24 hours in advance. Visiting rooms fill up quickly and booking ahead ensures that we can guarantee that you will be able to spend time with your family member or friend.

*If you are travelling by train, you can request the Yarl's Wood bus to transfer you into the Centre by calling the number below.

Call: 01234 821000
Fax: 01234 821096

What identification is required?

Social visitors (i.e. personal visitors to residents) must provide one of the following:

A passport (current or if expired within 5 years of expiry date). This can include foreign passports and travel documents recognised by HM Government.
European Community identity card
Photographic driving licence

Or two of the following:

Birth certificate
Marriage certificate
Rail or bus pass with photograph
Employer’s ID card or NUS student card
Young person’s proof of age card
Trade union membership card
Senior citizen travel pass issued by a local authority
Home Office ARC card (asylum support application registration card)
Benefits book

Remember to bring your ID for each and every visit you attend, failure to provide the correct forms of ID can and will result in refusal of entry to the centre in accordance with this Detention services order.

Arriving for visits

We have introduced a visitors’ self-service kiosk in VC1 which will allow visitors to sign in 30 minutes prior to their visit to the Centre starting. The first time you attend you will need to be enrolled by our VC1 team. On subsequent visits all returning visitors can use the self-service kiosk.

What information will I be asked to provide?

At Visitor Reception, you will be asked to provide sufficient ID, once that has been completed your photograph will be taken. This information will be validated on your entry to and from the visits hall. This personal information will then be encrypted immediately and will be destroyed if not used within six months, in accordance with the UK Data Protection Act. This data will not be cross checked against any other database; it is purely used to ensure the same person exits the Centre as presented to the staff at entry.

RIGHTS OF ACCESS, CORRECTION, ERASURE AND RESRTICTION
You have legal rights in connection with personal information. Under certain circumstances, by law you have the
right to:

Request access to your personal information (commonly known as a “data subject access request”). This enables you to receive a copy of the personal information we hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it.
Request correction of the personal information that we hold about you. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate information we hold about you corrected.
Request erasure of your personal information. This enables you to ask us to delete or remove personal information where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it. You also have the right to ask us to delete or remove your personal information where you have exercised your right to object to processing.
Object to processing of your personal information by us or on our behalf in certain situations.
Request the restriction of processing of your personal information. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of personal information about you, for example if you want us to establish its accuracy or the reason for processing it.
If you want to review, verify, correct or request erasure of your personal information, or object to the processing of your personal data, please submit your requests in writing to the data protection officer as detailed below.

Can I request the information used at Yarl’s Wood IRC to be removed when I finish my visit?
Unfortunately not, but our system is set to auto remove all of your of your details if you do not attend site for 6 months or more

What details are removed?
The system removes your picture any personal details we may have taken, we keep basic information about your visit i.e. time date and visit number for audit purposes

What do I do if I need further information or would like to provide feedback?
We welcome all feedback. Please write your request to:

Security Manager,
Yarl’s Wood IRC,
Twinwood Business Park,
MK44 2FQ

How do I send money to a resident?

We offer a straight forward secure service that enables you to transfer money directly into the residents account.

You can send money securely to a resident via this website, it takes only a few minutes to sign up and, your funds are transferred to Yarl’s Wood electronically.

Our sophisticated systems allow you to enter the amount to be sent, press ‘send’ and sit back in the knowledge the funds will be delivered safely and securely to us.

From all corners of the World you can now send money to residents., the funds will be added to residents accounts Monday to Friday. To this this service all you will need is the residents name and their Home Office CID number, (if you do not know the CID, please contact the resident) please note, we can accept up to a maximum of £1000.

Use the Sercure Payment Service here.

Legal visits

All legal visits take place in private interview rooms, complete with table, chairs and a hearing loop, which is always available if needed. It is the responsibility of the interviewer to arrange the services of an interpreter or translator. The legal visits rooms are supervised but there is no CCTV in this area.

Legal visit times:
09.00-12.00 (9am – noon)
13.30-17.00 (1:30pm – 5pm)
18.00-21.00 (6:00pm – 9pm)

Legal visits must be booked 24 hours in advance. Visiting rooms fill up quickly and booking ahead ensures that we can guarantee that you will be able to see your client.

Call: 01234 821000
Fax: 01234 821096

What identification is required?

Legal representatives (i.e. official representative for resident) wishing to visit detainees must make an appointment with the IRC. On arrival, legal representatives must provide:

Any photographic ID, as described in paragraph 16 in the Visits DSO;
Identity card issued by their firm or chambers, or business card;
Be able to identify the detainee(s) to be visited by providing name, date of birth and/or the Home Office case identification number.

All visitors to Yarl’s Wood are searched and have their photograph taken as part of the visit clearance procedure. This is necessary to speed up identification, entering and exiting the visitor centre.