The latest prize draw for National Savings and Investments (NS&I) Premium Bond winners was announced at the start of October - and with more prizes now up for grabs, there is a higher chance bond holders may have won a prize. If you hold Premium Bonds, could you be missing out on a prize?
While the million pound jackpot winners get notified in person via Agent Million, other winners who could have won anything between £25 and £100,000, get a notification in the post or via email.
But problems arise if NS&I does not have your up-to-date contact information, meaning you may not know if you have won a prize.
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We look at how to check and claim your winnings for October and previous months.
How many Premium Bonds prizes are unclaimed?
According to NS&I, over two million premium bond prizes remain unclaimed. The unclaimed 2,307,167 prizes are worth £80,552,900. Around 268,104 prizes of which belong to winners in outer and inner London, worth more than £8 million.
In the October draw, two lucky premium bond holders won the October NS&I million-pound jackpot, from Greater Manchester and West Scotland.
But in these winning areas, thousands of prizes are still waiting to be claimed. In Greater Manchester alone there are 48,413 unclaimed prizes worth £1,629,450 - including a £100,000 prize from September 2010.
In West Scotland, one premium bond holder has won £25,000 in the February 2018 prize draw, but is still waiting to be claimed. This forms part of the 14,190 unclaimed prizes in West Scotland, worth a total of £432,325.
The oldest unclaimed prize goes all the way back to June 1961, worth £50.
How to check if you have unclaimed premium bond prizes
There are multiple ways to check if you have any unclaimed premium bond prizes waiting for you.
The easiest option is to go to nsandi.com and use its prize checker, or you can download the official prize checker app (available on Android or iOS). This will show you any winnings you may have over the past six draws and any unclaimed prizes.
If you use the website, you will need your Premium Bonds holder’s number to hand. If you don’t have this, you can use the app which requires your NS&I number which is 11 digits long.
You can also call NS&I for free on 08085 007 007 to check for any unclaimed prizes, but you must be registered for online or phone banking with NS&I.
If you’re not registered, you can write to NS&I to check if you have any unclaimed prizes. You can send your letter to: NS&I, Sunderland SR43 2SB.
You should include the following information in your letter so there are better chances of tracking down your prizes:
- Premium Bonds holder's number
- Your current name
- Your current address
- Any previous addresses where Bonds may have been registered
- Your signature
Any prizes you claim will be sent to your home address and not to your bank account.
October 2023 Premium Bond winners
The latest prize draw (October 2023) saw two lucky jackpot winners taking home £1million. A total of 5,786,217 prizes were won worth £470,853,175. Here are the details of the prize draw.
| Value of prize | Number of prizes |
|---|---|
| £1,000,000 | 2 |
| £100,000 | 90 |
| £50,000 | 181 |
| £25,000 | 360 |
| £10,000 | 902 |
| £5,000 | 1,803 |
| £1,000 | 18,834 |
| £500 | 56,502 |
| £100 | 2,339,946 |
| £50 | 2,339,946 |
| £25 | 1,027,651 |
| Total value of prizes: £470,853,175 | Total: 5,786,217 |
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