{"id":335716,"date":"2025-08-11T12:34:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-11T12:34:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/335716\/"},"modified":"2025-08-11T12:34:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-11T12:34:10","slug":"3-7m-of-premium-bond-winnings-left-unclaimed-in-wales","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/335716\/","title":{"rendered":"\u00a33.7m of Premium Bond winnings left unclaimed in Wales"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\"\"A Premium Bond certificate from 1971<\/p>\n

More than \u00a33.7 million in Premium Bond prizes remain unclaimed in Wales, according to figures uncovered by the BBC\u2019s Shared Data Unit<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The unclaimed fund represents 100,861 unclaimed prizes in Wales. Across the UK, more than \u00a3100m has been left unclaimed, amid criticism the state-owned bank responsible for Premium Bonds is not doing enough to find winners.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

National Savings and Investments (NS&I), the state-owned bank which operates the scheme, said it had paid more than 99% of the prize-winners since starting its tax-free draws in 1957.<\/p>\n

The BBC\u2019s Hared Data Unit gathered figures from NS&I using the Freedom of Information Act.<\/p>\n

In Wales, there are more than one million premium bond account holders with \u00a35.3 billion being held, as of March 31, 2025. Each month, instead of being paid interest on their savings, bond holders are entered into a prize draw.<\/p>\n

The more money invested, the better the chance of winning a prize \u2013 which can range from \u00a325 to \u00a31m.<\/p>\n

The highest unclaimed prize in Wales is \u00a325,000 (winning Premium Bond number: 005AS653995) dating from a draw held in June 2013. The oldest unclaimed prize is for \u00a325 dating from February 1962 (winning Premium Bond number: 000PN241800).<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Wills and probate solicitor Patrice Lawrence said she had helped seven people trace accounts including clients, and friends and family.<\/p>\n

She said it was \u201cshocking that a government-owned bank is sitting on over \u00a3100m in unclaimed prizes\u2026[and] how many people are being deprived of some financial respite from the cost of living crisis as a result?\u201d<\/p>\n

NS&I said every jackpot millionaire had received their money.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Since the first draw in June 1957, its Electronic Random Number Indicator Equipment \u2013 known as ERNIE \u2013 has drawn a total of 772 million prizes worth a combined \u00a337bn.<\/p>\n

Premium Bonds prize winners should receive notifications of their winnings via text message, email or post if they have registered their details.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Some customers, however, relocate and forget to update their details.<\/p>\n

Other bond holdings are not registered. For example, people may be unaware they were gifted bonds as children, or they were never given the paper certificate carrying the account numbers.<\/p>\n

NS&I retail director Andrew Westhead said the bank recognised bonds purchased before digitalisation \u201cwere much harder to trace\u201d.<\/p>\n

Since 2011, people have been able to choose to have prize money paid directly into their bank accounts.<\/p>\n

Before that, the bank would contact prize winners and send out cheques in the post.<\/p>\n

BBC Morning Live\u2019s resident money expert Iona Bain said letters may be lost in the post or people\u2019s contact details were not updated.<\/p>\n

Nearly 23 million people had Premium Bonds accounts worth a combined \u00a3130bn.<\/p>\n

The oldest unclaimed prize was \u00a325 won in November 1957 in South Yorkshire.<\/p>\n

Mr Westhead said: \u201cThe \u00a3103m of prizes currently unclaimed represents just 0.28% of the total \u00a337bn awarded by ERNIE over nearly seven decades.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the bank provided information online and through its call centre on how to claim winnings, publicised details of unclaimed prizes and encouraged customers to use its prize checker.<\/p>\n

People can also use its tracing service to track down mislaid bonds, he said.<\/p>\n

Sam Richardson, deputy editor from the consumer group Which? Money, said NS&I could \u201cmake the process smoother\u201d if it joined the government\u2019s Tell Us Once service, or the private equivalent, the Death Notification Service, which were \u201coften overlooked and undersubscribed\u201d schemes aiming to simplify the process of notifying different organisations after a death.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mr Westhead said: \u201cWe recognise those purchased long before digitalisation, and primarily over the counter at Post Office branches are much harder to trace as there is limited recorded information.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

How can you find your account?<\/p>\n

NS&I\u2019s tracing service<\/a> can be contacted online, by post or over the phone, if people do not have their bond number or NS&I number.<\/p>\n

They can also use MyLostAccount<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n

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<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

A request can also be made for a trace by someone who is legally entitled to act on someone else\u2019s behalf, for example under a Power of Attorney or by an executor of a will.<\/p>\n

Support quality, independent, local journalism\u2026that matters
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From just \u00a31 a month<\/strong> you can help fund our work \u2013 and use our website without adverts.<\/p>\n

Become a member today<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

NS&I<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Support quality, independent, local journalism\u2026that mattersFrom just \u00a31 a month you can help fund our work \u2013 and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":335717,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5010],"tags":[120152,748,4884,120153,1356,16,15,1764],"class_list":{"0":"post-335716","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wales","8":"tag-bbc-shared-data-unit","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-national-savings-and-investments","12":"tag-premium-bonds","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-wales"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115010161234849208","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335716","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=335716"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335716\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/335717"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=335716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=335716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=335716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}