Outstanding Premium Bonds prizes have surpassed £100million for the first time, with winners yet to collect £105,022,575 across 2,615,187 prizes following the August draw.
The Government-backed savings scheme, which creates two millionaires monthly, has accumulated unclaimed winnings ranging from £25 to £100,000 jackpots.
Some 11 winners have yet to collect their £100,000 prizes, whilst nineteen £50,000 prizes remain outstanding.
National Savings & Investments (NS&I) revealed that despite distributing over £396 million in August's draw alone, the unclaimed total represents merely 0.28 per cent of the £37billion awarded since the scheme launched in 1957.
Britons are being urged to check if they can claim money the £100m in unclaimed Premium Bonds prizes
|GETTY / NS&I
The organisation has successfully delivered more than 99 per cent of all prizes to winners throughout nearly seven decades of operation.
Notably, the smallest unclaimed prizes of £25 account for 1,810,973 winners, while 2,387 people have not collected £1,000 prizes.
Higher value winnings include 78 unclaimed £10,000 prizes and 39 prizes worth £25,000 each. Prize distribution data reveals 608,659 unclaimed £50 prizes and 185,428 worth £100.
Mid-range prizes show 143,500 unclaimed at £250 and 7,404 at £500 value. Winners of two £100,000 prizes from February 2007 and May 2011, both residing overseas, have yet to claim their winnings.
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Premium Bonds holders can check to see if they have won a prize via the Premium Bonds prize checker app | NSICentral Bedfordshire alone has 9,732 unclaimed prizes totalling £371,175, including two £10,000 prizes from May 2022 and January 2024. Overseas holders account for 118,653 unclaimed prizes worth £4,612,075.
The South East leads the nation with 392,531 unclaimed prizes valued at £15,279,275, closely followed by London where 389,254 prizes worth £15,595,950 await collection.
Eastern England holds the third-highest amount with £8,956,425 spread across 231,671 prizes. The North West has 210,472 unclaimed prizes totalling £8,375,000, whilst the South West accounts for 208,259 prizes worth £8,156,000.
Scotland's 144,534 unclaimed prizes total £5,748,100, with Yorkshire and the Humber holding 128,001 prizes valued at £4,904,950. The West Midlands has 156,955 prizes worth £6,175,475.
Smaller totals appear in Wales with 102,573 prizes worth £3,981,050, the East Midlands with 124,876 prizes totalling £4,716,925, and the North East where 61,377 prizes amount to £2,482,025.
Northern Ireland has the fewest unclaimed prizes at 30,906, worth £1,179,175.
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Britons are looking to boost their savings | GETTYNS&I attributes the mounting unclaimed prizes to outdated contact information, particularly affecting those who receive winnings via cheque rather than bank transfer.
Approximately one in ten prizes are still distributed by post, resulting in 600,000 cheques sent in July alone.
"We want to reunite people with their prizes, so this is a timely reminder that even for small holdings that may have been held for many years, it is worth registering your details with NS&I," an NS&I spokesperson stated.
Winners can verify potential prizes through NS&I's online prize checker or mobile application, requiring either their Premium Bonds holder number or NS&I number.
Alternatively, holders can telephone 08085 007 007 or write to NS&I's Sunderland office. The organisation recommends switching to direct bank transfers or automatic reinvestment to prevent future prizes going astray.