Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, for what reason NS&I decided to discontinue sending paper prize warrants to winners of Premium Bonds prizes.

Since 2011, Premium Bonds holders have been able to have their prizes paid directly into a UK bank account in their name. Since March 2020, more than 750,000 customers have switched from receiving paper warrants (cheques) to having their prizes paid directly into their bank account or automatically reinvested. As of December 2020, 82.5% of Premium Bonds prizes were either paid directly into a UK bank account or reinvested back into Premium Bonds.

The decision by NS&I, announced on 17 September 2020, to pay all Premium Bonds prizes direct to customers’ bank accounts was informed by a number of factors. These included changing customer behaviors, the ability to manage Premium Bonds prize distribution more quickly, more cost-effectively and have a much lower environmental impact.

In addition, paying prizes directly to the customers bank account has significantly reduced the proportion of Premium Bonds prizes from going unclaimed. Between 2011 and end of June 2018, NS&I paid out 110,300,054 prizes by warrant. Of these 569,461 (0.5%) have not yet been cashed and are therefore deemed unclaimed. In comparison between 2011 and December 2020, NS&I have paid out 72,385,607 directly to customers’ bank account. As of September 2020, of these 8,610 (0.01%) of the prizes have not been claimed.