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Join Which? MoneyMarch premium bond winners – how many children have won the jackpot?
Seven lucky children have become millionaires in the past 10 years
Two lucky premium bond holders have become millionaires after winning the jackpot prizes in the National Savings & Investments (NS&I) March draw.
The £1m winners are from Nottinghamshire and Oxfordshire. Meanwhile, 62 other winners were picked for the next best prize of £100,000.
Premium bonds can be a fun way to get your child interested in saving – but are they likely to win a prize?
Here, Which? reveals the winning premium bond numbers, and finds out the chances of your child winning the jackpot.
March 2023 premium bond winners
The first winning bond (417YB876187) was bought by a lucky winner living in Nottinghamshire, and is part of a total holding of £50,000. The winning bond was bought in October 2020.
The second winner, from Oxfordshire, bought their bond (319WC638508) in January 2018. They have a total holding of £30,284.
- Find out more: premium bonds – are they worth it?
How many winners were drawn in March?
There were 5,007,989 premium bond prizes paid out in the March draw. Of these, 4,952,808 were worth £100 or less.
March's draw saw the prize fund rate increased from 3.15% to 3.3%, boosting the total value of prizes to £330,527,200 – up from £314,347,875 in February. It's the fifth time the rate has risen in the past 12 months, and the third time in 2023 alone.
The total number of prizes has also increased slightly – while there are around 232,000 fewer prizes worth £25, there's been a boost to the number of higher value prizes. However, there are still only two £1m jackpot winners, and the odds of winning remain at 24,000:1.
| Value of prize | Number of prizes in February 2023 |
|---|---|
| £1m | 2 |
| £100,000 | 62 |
| £50,000 | 124 |
| £25,000 | 249 |
| £10,000 | 622 |
| £5,000 | 1,242 |
| £1,000 | 13,220 |
Source: NS&I
Can children win premium bond prizes?
Buying premium bonds for children offers a way to help young people save for the future and they stand the same chance of winning as anyone else.
In fact, there were 78,526 winners under the age of 16 in February's draw. While most of them – 77,750 – won £100 or less, one lucky child got a whopping £100,000 prize.
A total of seven children have won the jackpot over the past 10 years.
How do you buy premium bonds for a child?
Anyone over the age of 16 can buy premium bonds for a child, but an adult will have to manage the account on their behalf or nominate someone else to do so.
If a child wins a prize, it's up to the adult to decide what happens to that money. While smaller prizes can be reinvested, as the maximum investment is £50,000, jackpot winners will have to move most of their winnings elsewhere.
Once the child turns 16, they can manage the premium bonds themselves. To do this, they will have to register online, using their NS&I number or the account number/holder's number. You can find these details on correspondence sent you by NS&I. After that, there will be an identity check and possibly a registration form to fill out – sometimes, these will need to be signed by a witness.
- Find out more: what is National Savings & Investments?
How many unclaimed prizes are owned by children?
Despite the potential huge payout, some people lose touch with their premium bonds prizes.
According to the latest NS&I data, there are 64,081 unclaimed prizes belonging to people who were under the age of 16 when they won.
A prize is recorded as unclaimed if you haven't come forward to claim it after 18 months.
The best way to avoid this happening is to opt to automatically receive your prizes via bank transfer or reinvestment.
To see if you have a prize waiting for you or your child, use NS&I's prize checker tool – or use its tracing service if you've lost your details.
- Find out more: premium bonds – are they worth buying?
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Listen nowHow do premium bonds compare to Junior cash Isas?
Premium bonds are a quick and easy way to save money for your child.
While they could become millionaires, the chances of that happening are very small – just 1 in 391,462.
Despite the 3.3% prize fund rate, premium bonds don't pay interest, so if your child doesn't win any prizes, their nest egg will lose value in real terms over time due to inflation – which is currently soaring at 10.1%.
If you want a more guaranteed return on your child's savings, you might want to consider opening a Junior cash Isa or children's savings account instead. The table below shows the top rates for restriction-free Junior cash Isas:
| Junior Cash Isa | AER | Terms |
|---|---|---|
| Skipton Building Society | 4% | £1 minimum deposit |
| Coventry Building Society | 3.8% | £1 minimum deposit |
| National Savings & Investments | 3.4% | £1 minimum deposit |
| Tesco Bank | 3% | £1 minimum deposit |
| Halifax | 2.75% | £1 minimum deposit |
Source: Moneyfacts. Correct as of 28 February 2023, but rates are subject to change.
As you can see, NS&I's Junior Isa product ranks third in our savings table. The provider has helped the account stay competitive by boosting the rate from 2.7% to 3.4% AER last month.
Note that you can only deposit up to £9,000 into a Junior Isa in the 2022-23 tax year – but all interest is tax-free. When your child reaches the age of 18, the account will convert into an adult Isa, which they can take control of.
- Find out more: Junior Isa rules and allowances
