Premium Bond prizes worth more than £100 million remain unclaimed.
There's a total of 2.5m unclaimed prizes - with 11 £100,000 prizes, 19 £50,000 prizes, 38 £25,000 prizes and 75 prizes of £10,000.
NS&I said that in the financial year 2024-25, more than £166 million was reunited through 52,693 NS&I accounts for holders who had lost touch with their savings and investments, thanks to NS&I’s tracing service and My Lost Account.
But, despite 99% of prizes getting to their owners, critics say the process to trace accounts needs reform as it is too difficult for people gifted them or those who only ever had paper records to know if they have won.
BBC Morning Live's resident money expert Iona Bain says: "Whilst it can be administratively complex to track down historic money, NS&I needs to consider how it can improve this process so it's much less rigid, bureaucratic and, frankly, disappointing."
How can you find your Premium Bonds account?
NS&I's tracing service can be contacted online, by post or over the phone, if people do not have their bond number or NS&I number.
They can also use MyLostAccount which is associated with UK Finance and the Building Societies Association. and can be used to trace old accounts with other providers as well as NS&I.
People with original paper Bonds such as those purchased over the counter at the Post Office can register them online or call the helpline on 08085 007 007.
A request can also be made for a trace by someone who is legally entitled to act on someone else's behalf, for example under a Power of Attorney or by an executor of a will.
You can check your numbers here.
Wills and probate solicitor Patrice Lawrence (she/her) said she had helped seven people trace accounts including clients, and friends and family. She has 12 years’ experience of wills and probate work.
She said it was “shocking that a government-owned bank is sitting on over £100m in unclaimed prizes…[and] how many people are being deprived of some financial respite from the cost of living crisis as a result?”
“There are also dormant Premium Bond accounts and as at March 2025 there were 12,366,135 Premium Bond accounts which were opened prior to March 2025 and have had no transactions since March 1995."
Miss Lawrence has begun a petition for reform of the Premium Bonds service.
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How to collect unclaimed Premium Bonds prizes (and to avoid losing them in the first place)
- Keep contact details up-to-date. This can be done on NS&I’s website.
- To prevent Premium Bond prizes going unclaimed, customers can choose to have winnings paid directly into their bank account, or automatically reinvested into more Premium Bonds, with nine in 10 prizes now paid in these ways.
- Balances can be checked on the NS&I app, and Premium Bond wins can be checked on the prize checker app.
- Old NS&I bonds, certificates, passbooks or account paperwork can often be found tucked away in drawers or among old documents. Customers who find forgotten savings are encouraged to use NS&I’s tracing service to locate any funds due to them.
Andrew Westhead, NS&I’s retail director, says: “These figures are a timely reminder to update your details, talk to your loved ones about your savings and make sure your money stays firmly in your hands, both now and in the future.”
Premium Bond prizes are considered by NS&I to be “unclaimed” after 18 months, but there is no time limit to claiming them.
NS&I defines unclaimed assets as holdings in closed products and assets kept in open products where there have been no customer financial transactions for a period of 15 years or more.
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