Premium Bonds celebrate platinum anniversary as November jackpot winners come from Outer London and Shropshire

• Premium Bonds celebrates 70 years since first going on sale in November 1956
• ERNIE draws £1 million winners from Outer London and Shropshire
• Premium Bonds hit new milestone with over half a billion pounds in prizes paid in November
• Since June 1957, 871.5 million prizes worth £43.8 billion have been won by savers

Premium Bonds go platinum this month as it is 70 years since the UK’s most popular savings product originally went on sale on 1 November 1956. Over £500 million has been won by Premium Bonds holders in this month’s draw through more than 6.5 million prizes.

The first Premium Bonds £1 million winning Bond number this month is 175WW854599 and is held by someone from Outer London. They purchased the winning Bond in December 2010 and hold £30,000. They are the 13th £1 million jackpot winner from Outer London.

The second Premium Bonds £1 million jackpot Bond number is 652GW962089 and is held by someone in Shropshire. They purchased the winning Bond in November 2025 and hold £50,000. They are the fifth holder to win the £1 million jackpot in Shropshire.

Andrew Westhead, NS&I Retail Director, said: “Seventy years ago in November 1956, the first Premium Bonds went on sale, marking the beginning of what has become one of the nation’s best-loved savings products. It’s fantastic to celebrate this milestone with two new millionaires and generations of savers who continue to enjoy the monthly excitement of checking if they have won tax-free prizes each month.

“And the celebrations don’t stop here, as in June 2027 we’ll mark another special anniversary – 70 years since the first Premium Bonds prizes were won. We wish all our 22 million Premium Bonds holders the very best of luck in all future draws.”

Platinum Premium Bonds

• The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Harold Macmillan, introduced Premium Bonds in the Budget on 17 April 1956. He said: “I have something completely new for the saver in Great Britain; that is, a Premium Bond. Let me say at once that this is not a pool or a lottery, where you spend your money. The investor in the bond which I propose is saving his money. He will get it back when he wants it. But as long as he holds it saved, his reward, instead of interest, is the chance of winning a tax-free prize.” Source: Hansard 17 April 1956 vol 551 cc879-81.
• £5 million of Premium Bonds were sold on the first day of going on sale (1 November 1956) and £54 million of Bonds were sold by the end of the year.
• On 1 June 1957, ERNIE was started live on radio and TV by Postmaster General, Ernest Marples, and runs the first draw featuring 49 million Premium Bonds. By comparison, in this month’s prize draw (November 2026), there were 138,078,654,170 eligible £1 Bonds.
• The maximum Premium Bonds holding was originally £500 per person; it is now £50,000.
• The original jackpot prize was £1,000 and over time it has increased, reaching £1 million in 1994.
• Since the first draw in June 1957, ERNIE has drawn 871.5 million prizes, worth £43.8 billion.
• ERNIE has made 590 millionaires since the £1 million jackpot started in April 1994.

November 2026 prize draw breakdown

In the November draw, £500,535,100 will be paid to Premium Bonds prize draw winners totalling 6,575,175 tax-free prizes. This month, there were 138,078,654,170 £1 Bonds eligible for the draw.

What are Premium Bonds?

Since they originally went on sale in November 1956, Premium Bonds have offered savers an accessible way to invest with the chance to win tax-free prizes. The first prize draw by ERNIE was then held in June 1957.

Individuals can hold up to £50,000 in Premium Bonds, including those aged under 16. Premium Bonds offer the security of being backed by HM Treasury, alongside the excitement of potentially winning tax-free prizes.

Newly purchased Premium Bonds need to be held for one full calendar month after purchase before being eligible for the prize draw.

Prizes are funded based upon a prize fund rate applied across the total of all eligible Premium Bonds held.

Each £1 Bond purchased is entered into a monthly prize draw, where prizes range from £25 to £1 million, making it a different and engaging way to save. The jackpot prize was increased to £1 million from the April 1994 draw. There are now two £1 million prizes each month.

Checking prizes

The Bond numbers for the two £1 million jackpot prize winners are announced on the first working day of each month, having been contacted directly by Agent Million. Bond holders can check if they have won prizes ranging from £25 to £100,000 the day after the first working day of each month by using the Premium Bonds prize checker app, visiting the NS&I website, or by asking Alexa. For November 2026, this is Tuesday 3 November.

To check prizes on the NS&I website, Bond holders will need their Premium Bonds holder’s number. For those using the Premium Bonds app, they can use their holder’s number, or their NS&I number.

Premium Bonds prizes notifications and unclaimed prizes

Premium Bonds prize winners will receive notifications of their winnings each month via their chosen method such as email or text if they have registered their contact details.

There are instances where customers relocate or change contact or bank details and forget to update NS&I with the new details, which can lead to unclaimed prizes. Currently, there are 2,886,763 unclaimed prizes worth £129,571,000 waiting to be claimed by Bond holders. Over 99% of prizes have been paid to winners since the draw began in 1957.

The best way to avoid prizes going unclaimed is to have them paid directly into the holder’s bank account or automatically reinvested into Premium Bonds, up to the £50,000 holding limit. Prizes automatically reinvested are immediately eligible for the next draw. These payment methods now account for nine in ten prizes being paid in these ways.

Customers who think they may have an unclaimed prize (prizes over 18 months old) can check by entering their holder’s number into NS&I’s online prize checker or the prize checker app.

In Outer London, there are currently 313,717 unclaimed prizes worth £13,932,925 waiting to be paid out. There are two £100,000 unclaimed prizes in Outer London waiting to be claimed which were won in February 2007 and June 2023.

In Shropshire, there are currently 11,674 prizes worth £533,575 waiting to be claimed. There is a £25,000 prize from January 2025 yet to be claimed and this is currently the highest unclaimed prize ready to be united with its owner. Other high value prizes include £10,000 won in February 2022.

Notes to Editors

1. The variable annual prize fund rate for the November 2026 Premium Bonds prize draw is 4.35%. The odds of any £1 Bond number winning a prize are 21,000 to 1.
2. Details of previous prize fund rates and odds for Premium Bonds.
3. Spokespeople including Agent Million are available for interview, along with historical, national and regional facts and figures about Premium Bonds by contacting the media team (contact information below).
4. All Premium Bonds are free of UK Income Tax and Capital Gains Tax.
5. ERNIE (Electronic Random Number Indicator Equipment). The story of ERNIE.
6. NS&I is one of the largest savings organisations in the UK, offering a range of savings and investments to more than 24 million customers, including over 22 million Premium Bonds holders. All products offer 100% security as NS&I is backed by HM Treasury.