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Premium bond winners in August – plus could you have an unclaimed prize?
More than 2.5 million prizes are still unclaimed, including almost £4m worth of higher value rewards
Two premium bond holders have struck gold, each winning £1m in August's National Savings & Investments (NS&I) draw.
The £1m jackpot winners include one from Central Bedfordshire and one based overseas. Meanwhile, 75 other winners were picked for the next-best prize of £100,000.
Yet with more than £103 million in unclaimed winnings spread across 2.5 million prizes, many could be missing out on their own windfall.
Here, Which? reveals the winning premium bond numbers and how to find out if you have a prize waiting for you.
August premium bond winners
The first winning bond (148YD123622) was bought by a lucky winner living in Central Bedfordshire, and is part of a total holding of £7,000. The winning bond was bought in December 2008.
The second winner, based overseas, bought their bond (205XQ030808) in May 2013. They have a total holding of £50,000.
- Find out more: what is National Saving and Investments?
How many winners were drawn in August?
There were 6,005,404 premium bond prizes paid out in the August draw. Of these, 5,939,200 were worth £100 or less. In total, this month’s prizes were worth £396,356,500.
This month's draw saw the premium bond prize fund rate drop from 3.8% to 3.6%. While the lower rate means the total value of prizes has fallen by £21,344,675, the odds of winning remain the same at 22,000 to 1.
| Value of prize | Number of prizes |
|---|---|
| £1,000,000 | 2 |
| £100,000 | 75 |
| £50,000 | 151 |
| £25,000 | 301 |
| £10,000 | 753 |
| £5,000 | 1,506 |
| £1,000 | 15,854 |
Source: NS&I
- Find out more: premium bonds – are they worth it?
Could you have an unclaimed prize waiting for you?
A prize is recorded as unclaimed if it hasn’t been collected after 18 months.
So far this year, NS&I has reunited:
- 2 prizes worth £25,000
- 5 prizes worth £10,000
- 11 prizes worth £5,000
- More than 92,000 lower-value prizes
Despite this, there are still 2,598,139 prizes worth £103,270,175 waiting to be claimed. Among these are higher-value unclaimed prizes:
- 11 prizes worth £100,000
- 19 prizes worth £50,000
- 38 prizes worth £25,000
- 75 prizes worth £10,000
How to check for unclaimed prizes
NS&I will write to you by letter or email every time you win a premium bonds prize. These alerts, however, can get lost if you move home or change your email address without updating your NS&I account.
There are a few ways to check if you think you might be missing a prize:
- Call or seek help online: Anyone registered for online and telephone banking with NS&I can call or use its online chat service to request someone to look for unclaimed prizes.
- Use the online prize checker tool: This is available via the NS&I website and mobile app. Use it to find out if you've been lucky the day after the draw and, at any time, check for any unclaimed prizes owed. You'll need to enter your holder's number, which will be quoted in previous correspondence you've received about your premium bonds.
- Write to NS&I: You can post a letter asking NS&I if you are due a prize. You'll need to include your name, holder's number and current address, as well as any previous names or addresses your premium bonds might have been registered to. You should also include your signature. Send this letter to: NS&I, Sunderland, SR43 2SB.
The best way to avoid a prize going unclaimed is to opt to automatically receive your winnings via bank transfer or reinvestment.
How to check for other forgotten savings
Premium bonds aren't the only savings product which NS&I offers and which customers may have forgotten they have money stashed in.
Last year, almost £45 million was paid back to savers whose NS&I accounts had matured. Some were from old products that haven't been on sale for years.
Index-Linked Savings Certificates, for example, were taken off the market back in 2011, but last year the government-backed provider reunited £11,401,804 with customers who used their online account tracing tool.
- Find out more: how to find lost savings accounts
NS&I boost for one-year bonds
If August’s draw didn’t deliver a win, now could be a good time to review whether your premium bonds are still the best home for your savings.
Recent rate changes mean NS&I’s one-year Guaranteed Growth and Income Bonds may offer a more reliable return:
This table shows what's changed:
| Account | Previous interest rate (from April 2025) | New rate (from 24 July 2025) |
|---|---|---|
| 1-year Guaranteed Growth Bonds | 4.05% gross/AER | 4.18% gross/AER |
| 1-year Guaranteed Income Bonds | 3.98% gross/4.05% AER | 4.11% gross/4.18% AER |
Source: NS&I
Compare savings accounts
Find the right savings account for you using the service provided by Experian Ltd
Compare and chooseGuaranteed Growth Bonds pay interest annually, and Guaranteed Income Bonds pay returns into savers' nominated current accounts every month. Both allow you to invest between £500 and £1 million.
While both accounts offer above-average returns, rates still fall short of the current top market-leading one-year deal of 4.3% AER.
- Find out more: best savings accounts
What's the difference between gross and AER?
Like many providers, NS&I lists rates using the terms gross and AER. The former is best understood as the flat rate of interest that's actually paid, while the latter takes into account the effect of compounding – the snowball effect of income earned from interest growing together with your original investment.
Understanding the difference between gross and AER matters when it comes to Income Bonds.
Because returns are paid out into your nominated bank account every month, interest isn't compounded.
The lower gross rate that NS&I quotes for those products is therefore a more accurate reflection of the amount of savings income earned over the course of a year.
NS&I is unusual in formally separating its fixed-term bonds by how they pay out. With most providers, it’s the same account, and you make the decision of how interest will be paid when you apply. So when choosing, consider if you really need interest paid out, and whether it’s worth it.
