Press Release

    WANTED! 433,397 MISSING WINNERS OF PREMIUM BOND PRIZES WORTH OVER £25 MILLION

    30 August 2005

    A major search is underway to find the missing winners of more than £25 million of unclaimed Premium Bond prizes - the largest amount ever. The unclaimed prizes range in value from £25,000 to £25, according to National Savings and Investments (NS&I), the government-backed savings and investments provider. (See Notes to Editors for list of top 20 unclaimed prizes)

    More prizes
    NS&I is giving away more Premium Bond prizes than ever before - over one million tax-free prizes are awarded each month, ranging from £50 to two £1 million jackpots. This, coupled with people's failure to notify NS&I of their new address when they move home - recent NS&I research¹ shows that one in four people (26%) who moved house in the last 12 months forgot to pass on their change of address details to all their financial providers - has led to the growing amount of unclaimed Premium Bond prize money.

    Regional breakdown
    Greater London holds 19% of the UK's £25 million of unclaimed Premium Bond prize money - the highest in the country. Scotland has the second highest (£1,415,725), followed by Greater Manchester (£798,100), West Midlands (£785,025) and Essex (£604,100).

    Top 10 UK regions for unclaimed Premium Bond prizes

    Ranking

    Region

    Number of unclaimed prizes

    Value of unclaimed prizes

    1

    Greater London

    81,734

    £4,849,400

    2

    Scotland

    24,151

    £1,415,725

    3

    Greater Manchester

    13,507

    £798,100

    4

    West Midlands

    13,135

    £785,025

    5

    Essex

    £10,015

    £604,100

    6

    Kent

    9,767

    £581,275

    7

    Hampshire

    9,750

    £572,900

    8

    Surrey

    9,310

    £568,625

    9

    West Yorkshire

    8,978

    £530,725

    10

    Merseyside

    7,613

    £446,350

    Premium Bond prize checker
    NS&I notifies customers of their winnings by writing to them directly. Customers who have kept NS&I informed of their new address details are unlikely to have any unclaimed prizes outstanding.

    Customers who own Premium Bonds and think they may have any unclaimed prizes can use the Premium Bond prize checker² on the NS&I website at:

    www.nsandi.com - customers simply need to enter their Premium Bond holder's number.

    Alternatively they can write to:

    Premium Bonds
    National Savings and Investments
    Blackpool
    FY3 9ZW

    No time limit
    NS&I is keen to reunite winners with their prizes and urges customers to get back in touch and check if they are a winner.

    There is no time limit on claiming. Each unclaimed prize is held until the winner can be tracked down. The oldest unclaimed prize dates back to the first draw in June 1957.

    Childhood saving
    Some people might not be aware they have Premium Bonds, which are entered into a prize draw each month. They might not remember making their original investment or perhaps they, like many others, were given Premium Bonds as a child and have simply forgotten about them.

    Sally Swait, Premium Bond manager at NS&I said: "There is at least one unclaimed prize valued at £25,000 plus three of £10,000 each outstanding and hundreds of £1,000 prizes. It's remarkable that we need to remind customers to claim any prize, particularly those worth £25,000. We're standing by to give away as much as possible of the £25 million in unclaimed prizes and urge customers to get in touch to check if they are a winner."