NS&I Premium Bonds Changes to prize fund
Following recent reductions in the Bank of England base rate, NS&I is making some changes to the Premium Bonds prize fund.
From 1 April 2009 we will:
- introduce a new £25 prize alongside the existing prize values
- replace one of the two monthly £1 million jackpots with a wider mix of other prizes
- change the shares of the prize fund allocated to the higher, medium and lower value prizes to 6%, 5% and 89% (currently 4%, 1% and 95%)
- reduce the prize fund interest rate from 1.80% to 1.00% pa, free from UK Income Tax and Capital Gains Tax
We guarantee to maintain this rate for at least the April, May and June 2009 prize draws.
The new £25 prize has allowed us to keep the chances of each Bond number winning a prize at 36,000 to 1, even with the lower interest rate.
The table below shows an estimate of the number of prizes of each value for the April 2009 draw.
| Prize band |
Prize value |
Estimated number of prizes for April 2009 |
Higher value
(6% of prize fund) |
£1 million
£100,000
£50,000
£25,000
£10,000
£5,000 |
1
2
3
8
20
37 |
Medium value
(5% of prize fund) |
£1,000
£500 |
645
1,935 |
Lower value
(89% of prize fund) |
£100
£50
£25 |
18,941
18,941
1,034,532 |
| Total estimated value for April 2009 |
£32.2 million |
1,075,065 |
