The standard financial reintegration package is £800, but the higher offer has been introduced as the jail population hits record levels.

The "enhanced" incentive is available until the end of next month.

Lin Homer, chief executive of the Border and Immigration Agency, said: "We strongly believe foreign lawbreakers should be sent home at the earliest opportunity.

"Every day that we can get these individuals out of the country early saves our taxpayers over £100 a night.

"That's why we want to use the Facilitated Returns Scheme to get as many foreign criminals out of the UK as possible by extending last year's scheme to last until April."

The standard scheme - announced by then Home Secretary John Reid in 2006 as a means of easing the prison overcrowding crisis - offers a package of up to £800 for help with education, training, housing and resettlement.

This is in addition to the £46 discharge grant which prisoners receive on leaving jail.

Between October last year and January this year, the Home Office offered an enhanced package of £1,500 for reintegration assistance.

According to the Home Office, more than 4,200 foreign prisoners were deported last year - 80% more than the previous year. It said the Facilitated Returns Scheme helped achieve that figure.