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Premium Bonds held by someone who has died continue to take part in prize draws for 12 months following the date of death, unless they are cashed in before that. The executor or administrator makes a claim to NS&I for the Bond value and any prizes as part of the estate. NS&I may ask for a grant of representation where total NS&I savings are £5,000 or over — and reserves the right to ask for one at any value.
Premium Bonds are one of the UK's most popular savings products; NS&I says over 24 million customers save with it. When a holder dies, the Bonds do not simply disappear — they stay in the prize draw for up to a year, and the face value must be claimed for the estate. Many families are unaware of this 12-month window, and miss out on prizes the deceased's Bonds may still be winning.
This is the fact that surprises families most. NS&I's Premium Bonds customer agreement says: “If a Premium Bonds holder dies, their Premium Bonds become part of their estate. The Premium Bonds will continue to take part in prize draws for 12 months following the date of death, unless they are cashed in before that.” So a holder who died in March has Bonds that can still win in the draws up to and including the following March.
How the prizes reach you depends on timing. NS&I holds any prizes won before the claim is completed and sends them once it is. After that, it sends each future prize by warrant — a cheque — following each draw. NS&I states that it cannot pay these prizes electronically or consolidate them into a single payment at the end of the 12 months, so expect a run of individual cheques. The prizes form part of the estate.
You are not required to wait 12 months before claiming. You can request repayment at any time after death — but the Bonds leave the draw once they are cashed in. There is a trade-off between settling the estate quickly and leaving a large holding in the draw for the rest of the 12 months; which matters more depends on the estate.
Practical tip:
You can check whether the deceased's Bonds have any unclaimed prizes using the NS&I prize checker at nsandi.com, or by calling NS&I on 08085 007 007 (8am to 8pm Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm at weekends, closed on bank holidays). Prizes won before death that were not paid out are included in the claim.
The executor (or administrator if there is no will) should tell NS&I as soon as possible after death. NS&I says the first step is to make a claim, which is done online at nsandi.com without needing to create an account; a paper form can be requested instead. If you write, the address is NS&I, Sunderland SR43 2SB — NS&I states that it no longer uses its old Glasgow or Blackpool addresses and asks that nothing be sent there.
You will need to provide the following:
NS&I writes to you after the claim, explaining what to do next. It says this letter currently takes eight weeks, against a standard of 14 days, because it has changed its bereavement claims process. If NS&I asks for Bond certificates you can send originals, but photocopies are fine. If you do post original documents, include a covering letter asking for them back by recorded delivery.
NS&I sets its own threshold. Its wording is: “We may ask for this if the customer's total NS&I savings are £5,000 or over. We also reserve the right to request a Grant of Representation for savings of any value.” So £5,000 is the point at which a grant becomes likely, not a guarantee either way, and NS&I decides once it has your completed form.
The £5,000 applies to total NS&I savings, not per product. So if the deceased held £3,000 in Premium Bonds and £3,000 in an NS&I Direct ISA, the combined £6,000 is over the figure and a grant is likely to be asked for.
Where total NS&I savings are under £5,000, it may be possible to claim without applying for a grant at all. NS&I does not publish what it asks for instead, so it will tell you in the letter it sends after your claim.
Important:
The NS&I £5,000 figure is separate from the thresholds banks set. Several banks publish £50,000 — Barclays and Virgin Money do — and others publish nothing at all. A grant may not be needed for a bank account but may still be asked for by NS&I once total NS&I savings reach £5,000.
If the deceased left a valid will, the executor named in it has the authority to claim Premium Bonds and other NS&I products. Under £5,000 in total NS&I savings, NS&I will often not ask for a grant, though it can.
If there is no will, the next of kin applies for letters of administration in England and Wales, or for confirmation as executor dative in Scotland — NS&I's claim form asks about both. NS&I is likely to require that document once total NS&I savings are £5,000 or over, just as it would a grant of probate where there is a will.
For small NS&I holdings where no grant has been obtained, NS&I does not publish what it accepts in place of one. It will tell you what it needs in the letter it sends after your claim, so do not pay anyone to prepare a document before then.
NS&I makes monthly prize payments by bank transfer or cheque. If the deceased won a prize shortly before death, or if prize cheques were received but not banked, the prize amount may not have been collected.
When you make your claim, NS&I will automatically check their records and include any unclaimed prizes in the total amount payable to the estate. You do not need to request this separately.
NS&I says there is no time limit for claiming an unclaimed prize: it holds the prize until someone gets in touch. If a prize warrant was sent before the death and never cashed, send it back and NS&I will reissue it to whoever is entitled once the claim is complete.
Once NS&I has processed the claim and verified the documents, they will pay the Bond value (plus any unclaimed prizes) directly to the estate. Payment is typically made by bank transfer to the executor's estate account, or by cheque payable to the executor.
The proceeds form part of the residuary estate and are distributed to beneficiaries in accordance with the will (or intestacy rules if there is no will). There is no inheritance tax relief specifically for Premium Bonds — they are treated as a straightforward cash asset of the estate.
Premium Bonds cannot be transferred to a beneficiary's name. They can only be redeemed for cash. If a beneficiary wishes to hold Premium Bonds themselves, they must purchase new Bonds in their own name using the cash they receive from the estate.
NS&I's standard is to reply to a bereavement enquiry within 14 days, but it says its current response time is eight weeks following a change to its claims process. Build that into your expectations rather than the shorter figures quoted elsewhere.
In 2026, NS&I disclosed that the search process it used when handling bereavement claims had failed to find all the accounts held by some deceased customers, so estates received some — but not all — of the money owed. As at 19 May 2026, NS&I put the figure at up to 34,000 estates with a total value of approximately £367 million, revised down from an earlier estimate and expected to fall further. NS&I began writing to affected estates from 27 May 2026 and expects payments to conclude in the first half of 2027.
NS&I is explicit that there is nothing families, beneficiaries or executors need to do: it is contacting affected estates itself, the letter it sends carries a dedicated phone number, and it says there is no need to spend money on a claims management company or a solicitor. See our NS&I missing savings guide for the full details.
If you cannot find the deceased's NS&I holder number, NS&I can trace accounts using the deceased's full name, date of birth, and address. Contact NS&I directly and explain the situation — they have a dedicated bereavement team trained to assist families in exactly this situation.
You can also use NS&I's free tracing service at nsandi.com if you know the deceased's personal details. Alternatively, look through the deceased's paperwork for:
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