As the calendar flipped to 2026, millions of UK savers found themselves eagerly checking their accounts—hoping that the new year would bring a windfall. On January 2, 2026, National Savings & Investments (NS&I) held its much-anticipated monthly Premium Bonds draw, with results officially published a day later. For two fortunate individuals, the year started with a life-changing surprise: each became a millionaire overnight, thanks to the government-backed savings scheme that continues to capture the imagination—and the cash—of the British public.
According to NS&I, the January 2026 draw saw two £1 million jackpots awarded, one to a resident of Suffolk and the other to a saver in Berkshire. The Suffolk winner, whose bond number is 570QM451332, purchased their winning bond in February 2024 and holds the maximum allowable investment of £50,000. This marks the 11th time a Suffolk resident has taken home the top prize. Meanwhile, the Berkshire winner, with bond number 377PG290829, has also maxed out their holdings at £50,000, having bought the winning bond in December 2019. They are the fifth person from Berkshire to join the exclusive millionaire’s club. The details, reported by NS&I and highlighted by several UK outlets, underscore the sheer scale and reach of the Premium Bonds scheme.
But these headline-grabbing wins are just the tip of the iceberg. In the January 2026 draw, NS&I distributed a staggering £406,932,450 in tax-free prizes, spread across 6,165,674 separate awards. The draw included 77 prizes of £100,000, 156 of £50,000, 309 of £25,000, and 773 of £10,000, among many others. The lowest prize remains £25, but the thrill of possibly hitting it big keeps savers coming back month after month. In total, more than 135 billion individual £1 bonds were eligible for this draw, a testament to the scheme’s enduring popularity.
Since its inception in June 1957, Premium Bonds have awarded over 809 million prizes, with a cumulative value exceeding £39.5 billion. Today, over 24 million people participate in the scheme, holding more than £127 billion in total investments—making Premium Bonds the UK’s largest single savings product, as reported by The Independent and MoneySavingExpert.com.
Unlike traditional savings accounts, Premium Bonds do not pay interest. Instead, each £1 bond is entered into a monthly lottery-style draw, where prizes range from £25 up to the coveted £1 million jackpot. The process is overseen by ERNIE—the Electronic Random Number Indicator Equipment—a digital random number generator that ensures winners are chosen entirely by chance. The odds of any individual £1 bond winning a prize are currently 22,000 to 1, according to NS&I.
Checking to see if you’ve struck it lucky is straightforward. Savers can use the NS&I website, the official app, or the prize checker tool, which displays results for the current and previous six draws, as well as any older unclaimed prizes. To access their results, holders need their unique number, which can be found on bond records or NS&I correspondence. The system is designed to be quick and accessible, so even the less tech-savvy can join the excitement.
But while the allure of a tax-free jackpot is undeniable, the financial wisdom of investing in Premium Bonds is a subject of ongoing debate—especially as the UK heads into 2026 with higher interest rates on traditional savings products. The current Premium Bonds prize fund rate is 3.6%, which means that, across all bonds in existence, NS&I pays out prizes equivalent to 3.6% of the total invested each year. However, as personal finance expert Martin Lewis explained in a recent analysis, this does not translate into a guaranteed return for individual savers.
“The Premium Bond prize fund rate is currently 3.6 per cent. Now what that means is if you were to add up every single Premium Bond in existence in the UK and you take 3.6 per cent of it that's how much they are paying in prizes in a year,” Lewis said, as quoted by NS&I. “Now what that doesn't mean because it doesn't work that way is if you put £100 in Premium Bonds you're going to get £3.60 because that's impossible. The smallest prize is £25. So what happens on £100 is a lot of people get nothing and a few get £25. That means the mean average is 3.6 per cent but far more important is the median average which is zero on £100 in Premium Bonds over a year.”
Lewis went on to clarify that, statistically, someone with “typical luck” will win less than the mean average return. “What affects the amount you win, generally, is the amount you've got in. The more you have in, the closer you will get to the mean average of 3.6 per cent on typical luck.” For example, he estimated that a couple with £60,000 invested could expect returns of about 3.2 or 3.3 per cent—still less than the best easy-access savings accounts, which currently pay around 4.4 to 4.5 per cent.
That’s not the end of the story, though. The tax-free nature of Premium Bonds prizes is a significant draw, especially for higher-rate taxpayers who may have already maxed out their annual ISA allowance. For most people, the UK’s Personal Savings Allowance means that up to £1,000 (for basic-rate taxpayers) or £500 (for higher-rate taxpayers) of interest can be earned tax-free each year. But for those with larger sums in savings—or for additional-rate taxpayers who receive no allowance—Premium Bonds can become more competitive, as their prizes are not subject to income tax.
Martin Lewis summed up the calculation: “If you have a cash ISA allowance available, I'd recommend putting it there. Then, if you're paying tax on your savings and you've maxed out your cash ISA allowance, especially if you're higher rate taxpayers which means you'll lose 40 per cent off your savings interest on any amount you pay tax on, at that point, Premium Bonds with typical luck yielding around 3.2 to 3.3 per cent after tax start to look like good value.”
Ultimately, Premium Bonds remain a unique fixture in the UK savings landscape—a blend of safe government-backed investment, the thrill of a monthly lottery, and the hope of a life-changing win. For many, the liquidity (bonds can be cashed in at any time, though withdrawals take a few days) and the chance of a tax-free prize outweigh the lower average returns compared to conventional savings accounts. As the January 2026 results show, for a lucky few, that hope is more than justified.
For the rest, the dream lives on—one more month, one more draw, and always another shot at that elusive million.