Farra is a death administration assistant for UK families. Get step-by-step guidance for registering a death, applying for probate, notifying banks, and managing bereavement admin. From essential documents to practical checklists, Farra simplifies estate paperwork and funeral-related tasks so you can focus on what matters.
NS&I (National Savings and Investments) is the government-backed savings bank behind Premium Bonds, and many people hold its products without their family knowing. To tell NS&I about a death, use the bereavement section of its website, call 08085 007 007, or write to NS&I, Sunderland SR43 2SB. It can search for everything the person held. It may ask for a grant of probate if their NS&I savings total £5,000 or more, and it currently takes about eight weeks to reply to a bereavement enquiry.
NS&I does not have a separate bereavement phone line, and it is not a member of the Death Notification Service, so it needs telling directly. There are three ways:
Have the person's full name, date of birth and last address ready, and their National Insurance number or Premium Bonds holder's number if you have them.
NS&I can search all its records using the person's details, so you do not need to know which products they held. The most common are:
Clues to look for at home include letters from NS&I, a Premium Bonds holder's number, and interest on old tax returns or bank statements.
If you think there may be older accounts that nobody has touched for years, the free My Lost Account service searches banks, building societies and NS&I. NS&I aims to reply within a month, and banks and building societies within three months. Our guide to dormant bank accounts explains how it works.
Not always. NS&I says it may ask for a grant of representation if the customer's total NS&I savings are £5,000 or over. That is across all their NS&I products added together, not each one separately. Below that, it can usually release the money without a grant, but ask NS&I what it needs for these holdings before applying.
If a grant is needed for other reasons, for example because of a house or bank accounts over their limits, our guide to whether you need probate explains how to tell, and our guide to NS&I's probate threshold covers the £5,000 rule in more detail.
NS&I says Premium Bonds can stay in the prize draw for 12 months after the date of death, unless they are cashed in before then. So the person's Bonds can still win prizes after they have died, and any prizes belong to the estate.
Once the claim is settled and the Bonds are cashed in, they leave the draw. Keep a note of the holder's number so you can check for prizes in the meantime. Our guide to Premium Bonds after a death covers prizes, unclaimed winnings and keeping the Bonds in the draw.
In 2026 NS&I said the search it used when handling bereavement claims had failed to find all the products some people held, so some estates were paid only part of what they were owed.
As at 19 May 2026, NS&I put the figure at up to 34,000 estates with a total value of about £367 million, down from an earlier estimate of around 37,500 claims and £476 million. It said it would contact estates where the money owed, with interest, is £10 or more, and pay interest on top for the delay. Payments are expected to finish in the first half of 2027.
NS&I says there is nothing families, beneficiaries or executors need to do: it will contact affected estates itself. It also said there will be a full inheritance tax exemption for the holdings repaid under this scheme. Our guide to NS&I's missing savings has the full story.
| Stage | What NS&I says |
|---|---|
| Reply to a bereavement enquiry | Currently eight weeks |
| Claims where a grant is needed | You need the grant first; see our probate waiting times guide |
| Missing savings repayments | Expected to finish in the first half of 2027 |
NS&I does not have a separate bereavement line. Call its main number, 08085 007 007, or +44 1772 329880 from abroad. You can also start a claim online through NS&I's bereavement page, or write to NS&I, Sunderland SR43 2SB.
NS&I may ask for a grant of representation if the person's total NS&I savings are £5,000 or over, across all their products combined. Below that, it can usually release the money without one. Ask NS&I what it needs for the holdings in question.
They can stay in the prize draw for 12 months after the date of death, unless they are cashed in before then. Any prizes they win belong to the estate.
NS&I says its current response time for a bereavement enquiry is eight weeks. If a grant of probate is needed, the whole process takes longer because you have to wait for the grant first.
No. NS&I is not a member, so you need to tell it directly, even if you have used the Death Notification Service for the person's banks.
Yes. Give NS&I the person's full name, date of birth and last address, and it will search its records for everything they held.
Yes, NS&I savings count as part of the estate. The exception is money repaid under NS&I's 2026 missing savings scheme, which NS&I says will have a full inheritance tax exemption.