Unclaimed Premium Bond prizes piling up

OVER 17,000 winning Premium Bonds are lying unclaimed in the South of Scotland. And the prize pot from them is worth £626,625.

Meanwhile, the oldest unclaimed prize linked to this region dates from October 1964 and is for £21. National Savings and Investments (NS&I), the state-owned bank which operates the scheme, has released the information amid criticism they are not doing enough to find winners. According to them, at the end of March there were 214,329 Premium Bond accounts registered in Southern Scotland, worth in total £1,016,044,409. However, 143,441 of them have had no activity for 20 years. But it continues to be a popular form of investment locally with 23,794 bought in 2024-5. Furthermore, the area did well for prizes last year, with 559,198 won to the value of £42,114,925. Nationally, more than £100m of premium bond prizes remain unclaimed and critics say the process to trace accounts needs reform as it is too difficult for people, especially those who were gifted them or who only ever had paper records. In response, NS&I, said it had paid more than 99 per cent of the prize-winners since starting its tax-free draws in 1957, and every jackpot millionaire had received their money. Each month in the UK, premium bonds are entered into a draw that could see holders win £1m, or smaller prizes of descending value down to £25. Winners should receive notification via text message, email or post if they have registered their details. Some customers, however, relocate and forget to update their details. Other bond holdings are not registered. NS&I retail director Andrew Westhead said the bank recognised bonds purchased before digitalisation “were much harder to trace”. Picture above shows a Premium Bond certificate from 1971. Copyright: NS&I