Premium Bonds are one of the UK’s most popular ways to save, and can be a fun option for anybody happy to accept that there’s no guarantee it will offer you a consistent income.
The form of investment is offered by National Savings and Investment (NS&I), a savings bank owned by the Government.
Holders of the bonds are entered into a random draw at the start of every month, with tax-free prizes worth between £25 and £1 million, instead of earning regular interest on their money in the usual way.
When are the Premium Bonds winners for June 2023 announced?
Usually, the results of the latest Premium Bonds draw are fully accessible to holders from the second day of the month.
The winners are actually drawn a day earlier – so generally on the first day of the month – with NS&I releasing the details of the highest prizes (anyone who has won more than £5,000) at midnight.
However, this changes if the month starts on a weekend or bank holiday, with the prize draw scheduling pushed back to the next working days.
1 July falls on a Saturday this year, which means the Premium Bonds results will instead be drawn on Monday 3 July.
Bond holders will be then able to check if they were among the winners from Tuesday 4 July.
Here are the remaining Premium Bonds prize draw dates for 2023 – if you are a holder, you will be able to check your bonds the day after the numbers have been drawn:
- Monday 3 July
- Tuesday 1 August
- Friday 1 September
- Monday 2 October
- Wednesday 1 November
- Friday 1 December
How can I check if I won the Premium Bonds?
If you hold Premium Bonds and want to check if you’ve won a prize in the latest monthly draw, you can use the NS&I online prize checker here.
Alternatively, you can download the free app from iOS or Android, while Amazon Alexa devices can also check for you, “remembering” back across the past six prize draws.
To check on your Bonds, you will need your unique holder’s number, which can be found on your bond record or by logging into your account on the NS&I website. It will have either nine of ten digits, or be an eight digit number with a letter at the end.
Prizes don’t carry a time limit, so you can claim as far back as the original 1957 draw.
According to MoneySavingExpert, as of November 2021 there were more than two million unclaimed Premium Bonds prizes, with a total value of almost £75 million.
To reduce the potential for leaving prizes unclaimed, Premium Bonds holders can opt to have them paid directly in their bank account or automatically reinvested into more Bonds.
NS&I says that almost nine in ten prizes are now paid this way, and you can find out more details here.
How to buy Premium Bonds
You can buy Premium Bonds for yourself or for a child under 16 online here, or you can call NS&I free on 08085 007 007, from 7.00am to 10.00pm every day. You’ll need to have your debit card details ready.
Alternatively, you can apply by post at NS&I, Sunderland SR43 2SB, using an application form that you can find and print here.
Each Bond is £1, but you need to pay in a minimum of £25 for each investment. The maximum amount you can hold in Premium Bonds is £50,000.
If you think there is a chance that you could have Premium Bonds, but you are not sure, there is a tracking service on the NS&I website.
To check if you have any bonds you need to fill out a form with your personal details and send it off. If you do have Premium Bonds, then you will be contacted.
For July’s prize draw, the interest rate for the prize fund has increased from 3.3 per cent to 3.7 per cent – the highest in 15 years.
Although this hasn’t increased a holder’s odds of winning (which remains at 24,000 to 1), it means there are now more £100,000, £50,000, £25,000, £10,000 and £5,000 prizes available.
NS&I Chief Executive, Dax Harkins, said: “This is now the sixth prize fund rate increase for Premium Bonds in just over a year, making it the highest it’s been in over 15 years.
“With the changes, we’re expecting to pay out more than £374 million to winners in July with more higher value prizes, meaning that, each month, more lives will be changed by Premium Bonds.”
