Premium Bonds customers may want to check their numbers as NS&I has announced the winners for the April draw. The latest batch of winners come as NS&I changes the rules for the savings scheme.

Each prize draw includes two £1million jackpot prizes. The first top prize went to a customer from Surrey, with winning Bond 519FV988513. They purchased this Bond in November 2022, when they bought £5,000 worth of Bonds. They held the maximum £50,000 going into the April draw.

The second £1million prize went to a person from Hampshire And Isle Of Wight, for winning Bond 511HH360429, which they purchased in August 2022, when they bought £34,650 in Bonds. They also held the maximum £50,000 going into this month’s draw.

Unclaimed prizes

Customers can check if they have any prizes to collect using the prize checker tool on the NS&I website or with the prize checker app. NS&I figures show there are more than 2.7 million prizes yet to be collected, with more than £118million in the uncollected pot.

Looking at the two areas where the top prizes were won this month, in Hampshire And Isle of Wight there are over 79,000 unclaimed prizes. The largest prize is for £25,000 and was won in August 2024.

Savers in Surrey have just over 72,800 prizes to collect, worth over £3million in total. The biggest unclaimed prize here is for £50,000 and was awarded in June 2019.

Key changes to Premium Bonds rules

NS&I has reduced the prize fund rate for Premium Bonds from the April draw. This has dropped from 3.6 percent down to 3.3 percent. The odds of winning for each £1 Bond have also dropped, from 22,000 to one to 23,000 to one.

Each £1 Bond has an equal chance of winning a prize. You can increase your chances of taking home a prize by buying more Bonds, up to the £50,000 holding limit.

Many people arrange their accounts so if they win any prizes, the amount is used to buy more Bonds. One benefit of this is your new Bonds are eligible to go into next month’s draw.

Otherwise, when you purchase Bonds, you have to wait a full calendar month until they can go into the monthly prize draw.